The end of one chapeter and begining of the second

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The last few weeks at Pez Maya were full of divemaster exams, lots more cool sightnigs, lots more divemaster practice and a little bit more monitoring. we still did 2 dives a day, the first usually going out monitoring, counting more fish, and the second dive was usually practice and learning skills for divemaster. which i proudly have now completed! i just need to send PADI some more money and some parpers and photos and then good to go! I probably wont begin to use my divemaster for a while, maybe next summer thgough.
i made good friends with the manager of a nearby resort so spent afew of my last days hangingout down here, which ill goo into more detail soon. we did a final clean of the base, had a final party, which i actually missed because i wanted to go camping instead. its good to be gone, althought= i loved my time at pez maya, it was the perfect amount of time and was definetly ready to move on. i learned tons while there. it inspired me to get more into diving, try harder in my conservation efforts, and has confirmed my beliefs in not doing things just because people tell you to. i dont think i would join another research expedition but i would definetly start my own! creating the standards, whats to be researched, and acty=ually getting to analyze my own data, which i did not get to do at all here.
i became pretty close with the guys who work at the resort, josh the manager (who randomly is form olympia, the place i will be going to school at in the fall), ana the cute mexican cook whos about my age, bombim her younger brother 15years old who just hangs out here whenever he has time off school, and chucho the somewhat older guy who says fuck a lot but in spanish. they are all geat fun to hang out with, we play futbol on the beach, listen to music, play cacahuates locos(a game we created with bamboo sticks, old rope andd fishing bouys). i cam down a couple weekends ago and me and josh took some tourists out snorkeling(saw a 7foot nurse shark!!!, sooo tight just laying on the bottom) and then the next day we went for a long kayak adventure exploring the mangrove lagoon. we seaarched for crocodiles but couldnt find any. i asked josh if i could stay and help out on the resort for a week or so after pez maya, so thats where im at now. i help clean the beach, i made tortilla chips this morning, give travel advice to the tourists, and just generally hangout. today is my second day here and ill saty about a week.
this past weekend i went up to playa(near by city) to stay with a friend who i met in punta allen(small fishing town in the reserve). he is a 46 yr old greek, cave diver instructor, who used to work for the UNHCR, the refugee agency. he was top dog for them, writing contingency plans, etc, in 15countries or so, barundi, albania, iraq, sierra leon, congo, the list goes on. it was amazing to talk with him about his work living in these countries trying to help the refugees get settled. he took me on my first cenote dive!!! it was the best dive ever. we went 15m down into a dark cavern(cenotes are underwwater rivers), i got to sine the flashlight around at the underwater stalagmights and stalagtights, and point out the catfish swimming around in the dark. it was spectacular, like a whole nuther world! we did 2 dives and the second we surfaced in the sugar bowl another opening to the cenote that only had a 10m rope leading up to the ground level. we went back down and explored some more, not going beyond the PELIGROSO(danger) signs that led deeper into the cave areas. im only allowed to go in the caverns until i am a certified cave diver(but no worries mom and dad im just into the sea right now). the next day, sunday we picked up my friend marcela(from pezmaya) and fillipos friend Nelson(who is a archeological guide in training) aand the 4 of us drove to Coba, nearby mayan ruins. home of the tallest pyramid in the yucatan 42m. we got to climb to the tippy top of it! the mayans were so advanced. they had the concept of zero, could write numbers to millions with only 4 symbols, predicted past astrological events aswell as future ones, that have been confirmed by modern nasa science. they predicted the soon august 27th i believe, venus will be so close it will look like there are 2 moons in the sky. nobody really knows why their civilization died out so quick. there are however tons of mayans still alive today living in mexico all the way to elsalvador. ive learned afew words quim=sun, ik=wind and ha=water and caphe=two. after the ruins we drove to fillipo's friends hidden jungle farm, whre they were growing fruit trees, sunflowers plants(that are hi in alot of good stuff i cant remember) and lentils. they were building their won houses, had a small restaurants and were trying to just live of the land and not have to buy anything from the towns. there are so many inspiring things going on here that i wish i had more time to get involved with!
i said goodbye to my friends,hopped in the back of a pickup truck and wizzed off the xamach dos the friendly eco resort where im sitting now. ill be here about a week, then off to belize, where hopefully i will cross the border on a little boat!

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