Greetings from Pez Maya - week 1

Hola Caballos Locos!

It’s been a quiet, but eventful, first week for Phase 1 of 2009. The weather has been pretty rubbish so time in the ocean has been minimal 

On the plus side this has meant that we’ve all been cenote diving!

We’ve already seen some of the cenote wildlife; a baby crocodile, baby barracudas and a 

dancing blue crab – who viciously attacked our very own Ozzie Jacques Cousteau! Poor Joslyn risked her life for this photo and now has to hold someone's hand whenever she’s on the bottom.

As we haven’t had much ‘bottom time’ thisweek we’ve all been studying hard, doing lots of theory work for our diving certificates

and learning about the reef.One of the most informative – and entertaining – lectures came courtesy of Rob (ably assisted by Mike on backing vocals) with a little ditty on the threats to the coral reef. Rumour has it that their next hit will be on diving theory… Watch this space for the Pez Maya compilation album…

It’s not all hard work though; the ‘Carnies’ (circus folk for those not in the know) have been sharing their skills with the group. We now have several EMs (and staff) proficient in poi, diablo and juggling. We’ve also had a couple of impromptu salsa lessons courtesy of Lluvia, and various holistic exercise clinics on the beach.

For those of us who might’ve been a bit apprehensive about the food, we needn’t have worried (although dedicated carnivores are having bacon hallucinations). There have been some culinary ad

ventures already, including veggie-toad-in-the-hole, stuffed peppers, calzone and chocolate bread. Huts 2 and 4 have already earned their first Pez Maya Michelin stars - is it just first week 

enthusiasm? We’ll have to wait and see.

To celebrate the end of our first week on base everyone let loose at the Saturday party. Much beer, dancing and shenanigans were had by all, and Luke now has a compressor training dance set to the Foo Fighters; he’s developing his scuba skills dance which will hopefully be premiered at next week’s shindig. Those who went to adventure in Playa certainly missed a blinder – but we’re sure they’ll have a tale or two to tell when they return.

We’ll end on a note of caution for those EMs from the US under 21: you are legally allowed to drink here, but you don’t have to drink 10 weeks worth of booze in one night. You have been warned!

            That’s it for our first instalment – until next time “manten la fe y serás grande”.

Greetings from Pez Maya - week 1