Great experience

I did a Mayan agriculture project outside of Valladolid. It wasn't my intended program, not did I sign up for it. Nonetheless it was probably better than my original choice. We stayed in a small farm near Temozon with a Mayan family. Their food was amazing and the family itself were the sweetest people I've ever met.

Had I gone on vacation I would have ended up in Cancun or playa del Carmen, and it wouldn't have been the same. I probably wouldn't have gotten to hold and be kissed by a spider monkey. I wouldn't have learned basic Mayan. I wouldn't have learned the joys of sleeping in a hammock. But most of all, contrary to the tourist experience, I found many similarities with my own culture. This trip obliterated that idea of otherness.