On March 7, 2010, I turned 20! Hard to believe I’m not a teenager anymore. I don’t feel 20 but I think that’s normal. We didn’t really celebrate my birthday in the traditional sense, which was fitting for Mexico. We visited two Maya sites: Becan and Chicanna.

At Becan we climbed to the top of its tallest structure and it was here, on top of the pyramid, that the group sang “Happy Birthday” to me in English, Spanish, and even Mayan (though I feel compelled to admit that Megan’s Mayan version was more of an interpretive expression of what the Maya might have sang in celebration of birthdays). It was an experience that I doubt can ever be duplicated and I reveled in its exceptionality.

I was then given the privilege of participating in a Dawley photo shoot within the mouth of a giant Chenes-style mask (apparently my sister Ashely O’Connell was the lucky student 2 years ago). I struck a number of poses: One excitedly standing within the mouth, one prepared for combat, and finally, one last one being devoured by the mask. Of course I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed posing in the great mask’s mouth, I was simply blessed with the direction of the group’s personal photographer.



Finally, my birthday ended with a cake! Now this should surprise you, since a cake sounds so typical and thus far my birthday has been anything but. I failed to mention the special twist inherent in this cake for it was a special Mexican cake. What makes Mexican cakes so special you ask? Well, in Mexico (or at least the Yucatan Peninsula) cakes are soaked in milk. So, the cake I celebrated with was a soggy milk cake. This cake was not moist, it was wet…with milk. It wasn’t too pleasant, but we all took time out of our evening to consume the soggy milk cake, and that’s what really matters. Though, Matt tells me that the Mexicans have also developed a Tequila cake using the same principle. Perhaps this is another recipe I should look into stealing? Milk cake = bad, but tequila cake = potentially brilliant.

We spent the last two days exploring the second largest nature reserve in the Americas: Calakmul. Calakmul is both a reserve and a Maya site, hence the two day commitment. We climbed one of the tallest Mayan structures, next to El Mirador in Guatemala, did lots of bird watching, and even saw a good deal of monkeys, both Spider and Black Howler.



These creatures must be fairly comfortable with humans, since on the first day they came down the trees real close to us. There was a, presumably, water bucket for them nearby; it is likely that the researchers here leave the water out for the monkeys thus explaining their calmness in our presence and their willingness to approach. But this is all too scientific, more importantly I SAW A BABY MONKEY! Oh my goodness, what a sweet and precious creature it was. But it was our encounter with one howler in particular that was exceptional addition to my list of Mexico jaw-dropping moments. Yesterday, a male howler actually repeatedly called out to us or to the adjacent howlers while perched above our heads. Then, in a group rebuttal, we Old World Monkeys mounted a loud and obnoxious response to which the New World Monkey loudly called back. We essentially engaged in a yelling competition with a Black Howler Monkey. It was an incredible experience that I was fortunate enough to catch on “film.”

The day didn’t end there though. I was blown away a second time with our visit to a bat cave at dusk.
We witnessed a massive bat population’s evening commute, the equivalent of our rush hour. The mouth of the cave was obscured by the high density of bats which flew up and cycled into a furious tornado column of hundreds and hundreds of bats. We were standing in the middle of one of the “roads” and were therefore met with a nearly continuous stream of bats flying straight at us, narrowly avoiding our faces, and flowing over our heads into the forest. The only way to catch this breath-taking moment and even begin to do it justice was via video, but due to the low internet connection, I cannot upload the video at this time. Eagerly wait for it in the future!

I am currently en route to Palenque. Today we are simply traveling to the city and tomorrow we will actually visit the ruins. So essentially, apart from the 4 hour bus ride, today is a “free day.” We’ve been running pretty rampant these past couple days, so today is a welcome break (and a perfect opportunity to catch up on work, but we’ll see if that actually happens).