Day 6

The day began with breakfast at 7:00 am before leaving the hotel to head towards San Lucas. We loaded our stuff on top of the bus and set off towards the Mayan ruins in Iximche. After three hours of driving through clouds in the mountains, we were greeted by our tour guide, Alex. He was able to give the tour completely in English as well as speak fluent Mayan and Spanish. During the tour we learned that the ruins we visited were not the whole settlement of Iximche, but actually just the home of four rich families. The area was divided into five plazas in which the families each had designated spaces. Only 200 people lived in this area, while 80,000 resided in surrounding areas. 

The ruins visible were the foundations of the buildings that were once there. In each plaza was a designated area for ceremonies, a sun temple, a moon temple, and sometimes a sporting arena. The Mayan architecture was extremely symbolic to their culture and was very beautiful to witness.

After our tour, we loaded back onto the bus to continue our journey to our new home for the next five days. Along the way we stopped for a quality family-style lunch, which consisted of different meat options in addition to potatoes, green onions, guacamole, and tortillas. Once we finished eating, we all headed outside to explore the small store owned by the restaurant and walk down by a small stream. We then loaded back onto the bus for another two hours to arrive at the San Lucas mission at 6:00 pm. At the mission we were greeted by Mynor to settle into our rooms and go to dinner. At dinner we met another college group from Marywood University and had an orientation to explain what we will be doing for the rest of the week. We finished the day by getting ice cream after and going back to our rooms for the night.

-Emilie and Julianna