Preparation:
Planning for my 2006 trip to Mexico probably began before I even left Tampico, but began in ernest at the start of the year. Writing emails, making phone calls, gathering information, making lists, etc. At one point it began to look like I would be spending time at the campsite property, possibly alone. I also began to work on the stuff that was to be shipped to Mexico by Amtrak checked baggage. There was a 3 bag limit, 50lbs per bag. Eventually, I managed to get everything into just 3 boxes, practically maxing out the weight of each box at less than 58 lbs each, which would mean I could send everything as checked baggage and not have to pay anything extra! There were only a few things that weren't able to go. For the first 14 days of 2006, I did things like this to prepare for the trip just about every day.

Departure Day, last checked box to the weight limit but not beyond!
Sunday, January 15, after church, we borrowed a hand truck from my sister, then headed to the downtown Philadelphia Amtrak station. I picked up my tickets while mom and dad used t-shirts to get the boxes to an acceptable weight on Amtrak's scale, adding them one at a time up to the weight limit, which was almost 51 lbs, but not 53 or 54, despite a 50 lbs limit. Then we came home via Dorie's place to drop off the hand truck we had used. Then back to my parents place, where I made final preparations for heading for Mexico.

Modern Train Travel: Delay, Linger and Wait:
Monday, January 16, mom and dad took me to Philadelphia to get on the train. The train was late, and dad was being friendly putting extra quarters in the parking meter while we waited. I changed trains in NYC to the Lake Shore Limited, bound for Chicago. While waiting for this train, the announcement came that it was on its way from Sunnyside yard, where trains are serviced, then an announcement came that it had a problem leaving the yard and it would be delayed. A little while later, it was announced the train probably wouldn't depart Penn Station until about 6pm (about 2 hours late). There was a noticeable collective sigh in my area of the station! So instead, I went to the subway and emptied my wallet of metro cards that had expired, and was able to renew one that still had $4 on it. Then back to the waiting game. The train finally showed up and we were on our way by about 6pm, but getting out of Penn Station was still a waiting game, as the lights went on and off several times (more so than usual) and we stopped to wait at least twice for 2 Amtrak trains and maybe another one. When we got to Albany, I stepped off the train and found Richard waiting right outside the door of the train! He told me of all the latest horror stories on the railroad, including a disabled train west of Albany that we would have to contend with. At Utica, my friend Tom from Toronto, who Richard and I met last year on my return from Mexico, got on the train. He was just a bit frustrated with the lateness of our train, but hey, what can you do. We shared stories and pictures, as I had plenty of pictures on my computer and he had plenty of pictures both printed and on computer CD.

Dead battery + no outlet + no phones with phone jack = no internet:
Tuesday, January 17, At Chicago, Tom and I went our separate ways. At one point, I realized my computer battery wasn't working. I wanted to check email, but there were no outlets by the payphones I had used in previous years for internet. I searched the rest of the station for pay phones with an outlet nearby. I found one set only to find out the outlet didn't work. Fortunately, I found another outlet near payphones that did work and was able to get online.

Under the Arch.
Amtrak's Texas Eagle took me from Chicago to Texas, via St. Louis. I noticed we took a new route into St. Louis, which went direclty beneath the arch! That made it hard to get good pictures of it, unfortunately.

Exchange in Dallas:
Wednesday, January 18, When the train arrived in Dallas, I was able to give some items to Sonja and Ray on the platform. Little Joshua was there too, and was able to identify different parts of the train, like the wheels and coaches. I also got to watch them unload the checked baggage, and was pleased when I recognized a tall cardboard box, then a more square cardboard box, and finally a suitcase with a big white label on the side. We walked up to them and I pointed them out to Sonja and Ray. They would, of course, have to go inside to claim them, but at least they knew what they were supposed to pick up, and at least I knew that they had arrived safely. Then the "All Aboard" call was made, and I got back on and we were on our way.

San Antonio Bus connection.
The train was running late getting into Dallas, but by the time we pulled into Fort Worth, we were right on time, and stayed on time all the way to San Antonio. Tom had rejoined me in Chicago and we had traveled together from there. Tom and I walked around and talked with other passengers as we waited in San Antonio, also watching freight trains pass and passenger cars being shuffled around. After the train was put back together, Tom got back on the train as he was continuing west. Meanwhile I lay down on the bench and waited for the bus. Another couple was also waiting for the same bus, people I felt were old enough to have grandkids, but apparently not too old to think the late night connection was absurd.

No bus:
Thursday, January 19, at precisely 1:55am, the bus didn't show up, and this despite the fact that the station agent called the bus company before the bus was supposed to get there to remind them that there were passengers to be picked up. Not long after that, the station agent told us he would call a cab to take us to the bus station to catch the 4:15am bus. He explained to us that greyhound subcontracts the service to Valley Transit, which often simply doesn't bother go to the train station. Ugh. Unfortunately, this reflects negatively on Amtrak, and it was no wonder that more people weren't using this connection. It was a wonder that anyone at all uses it, even if it worked seamlessly every night. In my experience, only once out of 3 times did it even work properly!

Reissuing tickets, boarding the bus, baggage issues, all challenges:
At any rate, at the bus station, we tried to figure out how to use our Amtrak tickets at the bus station for the next bus to McAllen and Brownsville, where this couple was going. We worked together well, and when the ticket counter opened, they reissued our tickets so we could use them on the bus. We had to jump through hoops to figure out what boarding lane to get into to get our bus to McAllen, but managed to figure that out when we saw a sign hanging above lane 2 that said McAllen and Brownsville. Somehow, last time I had to do this it was somewhat easier. Finally the bus driver came inside, announced Brownsville and walked out the door. We all followed him like sheep to a slaughter, hoping that this really would take us to the right bus, the driver walking much too fast to keep up with. But I could see him and saw which bus he went to. Our bags, though, were another matter. Someone instructed us to just leave them on the pavement next to the open bus bay doors, and we obliged. They didn't even give us tags! Hoping my bags wouldn't end up in Memphis without an identification tag, I boarded with my most valuables in my backpack, and it didn't take long before I was asleep in the somewhat uncomfortable chairs, especially compared with Amtrak's seats. I woke up at a place I didn't recognize, and when I turned on my GPS, saw that we were close to McAllen but at an odd angle, considering what I knew of the area. I hoped that they didn't move the bus station. Anyway, the bus then continued and it wasn't long before we pulled through the familiar sliding gate at the McAllen bus terminal. Only the gate wasn't sliding anymore, at least not the entrance gate. Only the exit gate was working now, as I found out later in the day. I waited next to the bus as others retrieved their "checked" bags, I think some checking against tags that they had the right bags. My bags didn't have tags, and I was beginning to wonder if I would even get my bags, especially as the baggage person moved on to the next bin after taking bags out of the bin my bags were in! Finally, I was able to point to my bags and retrieve them without a big hassle.

Busses to Morelia:
Soon after arriving in McAllen, I investigated busses to Morelia. I saw that there were multiple bus companies that had busses to Morelia, so I inquired at one I hadn't used before. When I had good information, I went to the other Morelia bus company, the one I had used before, and found the same bus I took to Morelia the last time, and for the same price. But the first bus company, Transportes del Norte, offered a lower fare for a round trip, plus a connecting bus that departed directly from McAllen! When the price came up, I discovered the savings: a mere $2. But hey, when you're a missionary, every dollar savings is good. But the big savings was I wouldn't have to even enter the Reynosa bus station, but merely walk down the bus platforms to my connecting bus.

Paying for the travel card, like going from pillar to post:
Soon after arriving in McAllen, I called Kingsway, and they sent someone to pick me up. When I got there, I checked in, then settled in, then went to mid morning snack. I decided to stay there until after lunch, then someone took me back to the bus station, and I took the Valley Transit to Reynosa to get my travel card. I found the Imigracion office just fine, and it took just a few minutes to fill out my travel visa card and get it finalized, except, of course, for paying for it at a bank. Then I realized I hadn't exchanged my money yet. Fortunately I found an exchange place, and they gave me what I felt was a good rate. Then back to the Banamex just on the other side of the road leading to the international bridge. When I got there, I found the place looking like it was under heavy reconstruction, though the sign was still there. Inside there was someone who looked like they worked there, who waved her hands and in Spanish was probably saying the bank was closed! I persisted and asked where another Banamex was, and she gave me vague directions. I then walked around aimlessly through the streets of Reynosa, but didn't wander too far from the central area. I found an Oxxo, a convenience store, where I asked directions to the Banamex. They gave it to me, but I had trouble following them. I did, however, manage to go in the right direction, and shortly came upon a 7/eleven store, and asked directions again. Those directions were better and I was obviously a bit closer. I continued following the directions for about 7 seconds before I decided that area looked just a bit too unwelcoming. So I headed back to the central area, and spoke to a cab driver who I had spoken to before, and asked him to take me to the Banamex. He said 70 pesos! I tried to bargain by saying 50 pesos, but probably said the wrong thing. So I took the ride and he got me right where I needed to go. I gave him a $200 peso note, since that's all I had, and he gave me change. At first I thought he had cheated me, and even when I tried to figure out what I had spent and the number of pesos I knew I had, I still thought he had cheated me. After looking at my pesos several times and checking my pockets several times, I still thought so. Then some pesos turned up from somewhere, and I realized I had just the right amount of pesos. Still, what amounts to $7 for a cab ride to take me maybe half a mile I felt was rather expensive, but hey, the guy probably needed the money a lot more than I did. Anyway, I went into the Banamex and realized I needed to take a number. Then I found the number counter, and sat at some nice cushy couches until my number came up, which only took a few minutes, despite several others ahead of me. The woman at the window looked at my paper a few minutes then said something in Spanish. I persisted, so she spoke again in Spanish. She seemed to be telling me something was wrong. Then she called someone over who spoke English, and he explained that they don't accept payments for these cards after 1pm. It was well past 1 pm at this point. I asked if there was another bank that would do it and they told me to go across the street. Sure enough, there was another bank there that was happy to accept my payment for my travel card. They stamped it, and I was on my way. I walked back to the border crossing not wanting to pay another $7 for a cab, and from this direction the streets looked and seemed safer. I paid 30 cents to get across the bridge (the fee for a pedestrian). Getting through customs was a breeze and the woman who checked me through was friendly and seemed interested in my travels. I got to the bus and it departed almost right away, and I was quickly back at McAllen. I started to walk towards the HEB grocery store but decided it would be too far since it was almost half a mile in the opposite direction from Kingsway. My feet were already starting to hurt and it was a long way yet to Kingsway. Kingsway doesn't serve dinner, but I did find someone who I asked if they could take me to a grocery store. They ended up taking me back to the same HEB I almost walked to!

The bus experience:
Friday, January 20, I got a ride late in the day to the McAllen Bus station where I waited for my Transportes del Norte bus. It came at the appointed time and got me to Reynosa with about 10 minutes to spare, just enough time to walk down the platform and find the Morelia bus. This time, to retrieve my bags, I had to squeeze between the bus I had just gotten off and the bus next to it, wondering how I would ever manage to get my bags through the narrow space to the platform. Somehow I managed, but I'm sure I cleaned thoroughly the sides of both busses and their front tires as well. Signs above the busses indicated their destinations, and I recognized Tampico, then walked farther and saw Morelia. They didn't seem to want me to board right away, but then someone took my bags and gave me tags, putting my bags under the bus, then a woman at the door of the bus handed me a bag of goodies, and I got on the bus. The bus was every bit as nice as the previous bus to Morelia, but the bag of goodies was more than I had gotten last time. No peanuts, but there was a sandwich, a bottle of soda, a breakfast energy bar, and even headphones! I wasn't sure if I was supposed to return the headphones, but it didn't take long to consume the sandwich. And the seats were quite comfortable, a row of single seats on one side and double seats on the other, and they went back much farther than Amtrak seats, with foot rests that folded out of the seats in front providing an unbroken resting surface. The bus departed just a few minutes after 6pm, close to schedule, and proceeded towards Tampico, unlike last time when we went through Monterrey. Then there were beeping noises and TV screens unfolded from the ceiling, and the movie, "Bubble Boy" played, in English, with Spanish subtitles. The volume was low but I could hear it, and watched halfheartedly. It was only mildly interesting, but had a few funny parts. Better than many other movies I've seen on Mexican busses. I stayed awake for a long time, probably too long. The bus traveled on the same road about 1/3 of the way to Tampico before taking another road. Just before falling asleep, the bus slowed down and we went across a patch of gravel and what looked like a lot of construction going on. We crossed at least one more and maybe a 3rd or 4th patch of gravel at what looked like construction sites, then I slept pretty comfortably.

Go through the right door:
Saturday, January 21, I woke up as the bus was passing a large city, with lights that seemed to extend to the horizon. The bus seemed to follow a road that bypassed the city, but the city itself was huge. Could it possibly be Mexico City? I doubted it. It was sometime around 4:30 or so in the morning. I fell asleep. When I woke up, the bus driver was announcing Celaya, a city I knew wasn't all that far from Morelia. It was only about 6:30 at this point, and I realized we would be in Morelia well ahead of schedule, something I wasn't particularly looking forward to. I stayed awake until I began to recognize the roads, wondering just how close to Morelia we were. I recognized the road as we headed out across a causeway which this time had water on both sides, unlike last time when this area was just a dried up lake bed. Now having seen it both ways, I knew it wasn't very deep. I then tried to sleep but couldn't. We arrived in Morelia around 8:30, and I tried to find my way into the bus station. I tried one set of doors that said "Exit" on them, or perhaps in Spanish "Salida" but someone told me that wasn't where I needed to go. Instead, they helped me find another set of doors they thought were where we needed to go, but instead led to an inspection station that was for people boarding busses! So we went back to the platform and eventually found another set of doors that said "Exit" and they were usable, and we managed to get into the bus station. The place reminded me of an airport, with all the bus companies each having their own ticket counter all in a row, plus a lot of little shops.

Connecting with David:
I tried calling David with my Mexican phone card, but twice got a message in Spanish that told me nothing except that I wasn't reaching David. There was an internet cafe in the station for just $17 pesos for an hour, so I went there and started checking my e-mail. I sent a message to David and my dad right away, then proceeded to look at my other e-mail and checking some other things. Then I rechecked my e-mail and saw I had a message back from David! He would be on his way shortly. I then waited in the terminal for quite a while watching people come and go, when all of a sudden, Caleb came charging up to me and nearly pounced on me! He took one of my bags and we went out to the van.

Off to Camp, off the top, and enjoying donated items:
We went to Wal-Mart, where I purchased a bunch of food, then we went to someone's house who lived not far from where Nico's parents house was. We picked up a bunch of equipment we would need at the land, especially if Nico was going to have a leadership camp there as the plan at that point was. Then to Elisare's house, where we got a huge water tank and tied it to the roof of the van. That made us as high as a bus, and we had to lift an overhead cable out of the way to get out from that neighborhood. We got all the way to Umequido, about 3 or so miles from the land, without problems, then I noticed the tank trying to slide off the side of the van. We stopped and tightened the ropes, but had to keep stopping every few minutes to fix the ropes holding the tank.

Los Domos:
Since my previous trip, which was to Tampico, David and his family had returned to Michoacan and were starting to focus on the land they had bought when I was in Morelia in 2003. On this trip, the plan was to take me directly to the camp land, referred to as Los Domos, which is spanish for "the domes". One dome had already been built before I got there, and more were in planning stages.

Unloading Gifts:
We finally got to the land, unloaded the tank and other equipment, and I settled into my tent. I started giving David some of the stuff I brought for him. He put the thermometer to use immediately, putting it up at the door of the dome with little wires that stuck out of the concrete. He put the whiteboard and dry erase marker next to it. I gave David a pair of my jeans which were slightly large for me, which he wore almost right away. I was also very glad I had the flashlight, as was David with a first aid kit, both donated by the group in New York, with me, instead if letting it go with the rest of the stuff to Dallas. The extra wool sleeping bag was helpful on colder nights, and the last minute decision to bring and wear my boots paid off big. We made a dinner, mostly with Caleb's help, then Caleb read a book which I had brought with me from the Dallas exchange, then we went to bed around 9:30.

Sunday Walk:
Sunday, January 22, I woke up and headed for the dome, where David and Caleb made some breakfast, then we had a time of bible study and fellowship. We had a generator, which I requested we fire up so I could unload my GPS track log. That freed up space so I could use the GPS that day to mark locations of landmarks on and near the property. Then David and I took a walk along the edge of the lake, finding a water source, then along 3 of the 4 edges of the property, while I marked everything with the GPS. We then headed across the dam, where I found a marker with the date of construction on it, and marked it as a possible virtual geocache. We also explored the land on the other side of the dam, which had a couple of slowly falling apart structures on it. David talked at length about using this various pieces of land for camp and camp activities. Back at the campsite by sunset, Caleb fixed us some dinner, namely soup, then read us more from the book. Then to bed around 9:30 again.

Five, Six, Pick Up Sticks:
Monday, January 23, David prodded me to get up, and to eat my own cold boletas, rolls with egg and ham on them. Then David instructed me to head up the hill and find a lawn mower and start mowing the weeds, being careful to clean up large sticks and not run over any stumps in the process. This turned out to be the challenge course area, and I began the process of clearing sticks and slowly mowing the lawn. It was dry. Very dry. The road through the property in many places were several inches deep in dust that turned to powder floating through the air when walked on. The lawn mower, of course, stirred up the dust and I quickly made a point to make sure it was spitting stuff out downwind. Only problem there was that the wind kept changing direction, sometimes almost as quick as I could turn the lawn mower around! At times like this I resorted to picking up sticks or digging up stumps. It also "helped" that the lawn mower would only work for about 3 to 5 minutes, perhaps 6 if it was feeling particularly "healthy" before sputtering out and dying. It would then take several minutes at least before it could be restarted for another round. Progress was slow, but I did manage to get a noticeable amount of work done the first day. Karen stopped by in the afternoon and delivered more food, clean dishes, and various other things. Caleb heated up some soup for dinner and read more from the book. David kept track of the temperature all day, which ranged from the low 40's in the morning to a high of 90 when the sun was shining directly on the concrete the thermometer was hanging against. Most of the day, however, was in the upper 60's or low 70's, then dropped back into the 40's at night.

The second day:
Tuesday, January 24, I continued mowing and clearing the challenge course area. Having a better idea of where things were going, I managed to get almost twice as much done as I did on Monday. David was pleased about that. And there was breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and more reading from Caleb's book; the second day. In the evening, though it was clear, there were flashes in the sky. After going to bed, the flashes got more persistent and there was rumbling to go along with them. That got louder and louder and it began to rain. Fortunately, the storm seemed to pass just to our north.

Seven, Eight, lay them straight:
Wednesday, January 25, it stopped raining just as I was waking up and ready to start the day. Still, it remained cloudy all day. The night was much warmer and the day cooler, which was quite welcome. David and Caleb were also ready to start the day, so I headed up the hill, and continued sorting out sticks, branches sturdy enough to be used for fence posts, prickly things that needed to be burned, mowing and pulling up stumps. I also marked with my GPS positions of the various elements of the challenge course and other objects on the land, including future domes, the current dome, the greenhouse, the trampoline, and other things. The mower didn't spit out huge clouds of dust, which was a very good thing. David spent much of the day using the chain saw to cut branches and stumps. Caleb wasn't feeling well though, and though just a cold, it got bad enough that David called Karen, who came to take him home. This was worrisome since David had told me he would be gone from Thursday night all the way until Monday morning! But God is in control. He always is. Karen also delivered a new toilet which will eventually be installed in one of the domes. David complained that it was purple, but it was actually blue, in my opinion, though it was indeed a dark blue. In the evening, David and I just chatted about all kinds of things instead of reading the book, including the web page, bees, camp ideas, lightening, bible stuff and finances. When I got up from my chair, I bumped my head then heard a crash as the kerosene lantern dropped to the floor and the glass globe and mantles broke. I quickly added that to my list of things to compare prices in the US vs. prices in Mexico, and bring with me next time if necessary. Flashes of lightening again graced the sky. During the night, another thunderstorm passed, this time apparently a bit closer.

To Camp or Not to Camp:
Thursday, January 26, it continued to rain well into the morning. To my dismay, David told me he had discovered one of the books, fortunately a soft cover one, had been sitting on a chair in the dome directly under a leak, and the water pooled in the chair, and the book soaked it up like a sponge. I continued to work at the top of the hill, and made good progress, though I suspect I worked just a tad slower than previous days. In the afternoon, we got word that Nico wasn't going to have his camp, since he had an all church meeting that weekend. A very important meeting, apparently. Such is life in Mexico. Tell someone you're going to do something then say, oh yeah, I have this really important meeting at my church I have to attend, and of course I have to attend, I'm the pastor! Well, I'm not sure if that's really how it was, but it sort of came across that way to me. But then again, in missionary life, you just have to go with the flow and trust God. I found out later that the meeting had come up after Nico had told David he wanted to do the camp. Karen returned that afternoon with Caleb and Kari, their oldest daughter, who would stay with me until Saturday. She also brought back recharged batteries, and David left with her. Caleb, Kari, and I were on our own. We fixed some dinner, then I began reading the first book in the series from which Caleb had been reading the second book. That began to make things fall into place.

Will there be enough to eat?
The three of us were easily humored. At one point we were investigating our food supply and determined we wouldn't have enough, seemingly missing some soup Karen had supposedly sent to us. So I said, "If nothing else, I have plenty of..." Just then something crashed to the floor, and I said, "Well, I DID have plenty of..." Just kidding. I had several packages of spaghetti from Wal Mart that we hadn't even begun to eat. We all got a good laugh out of that and many other things said during the evening, especially when I began reading the book. Kari especially seemed to enjoy the book. I don't think it thundered or rained that evening, and I know several times during the week, we all admired the stars, which were especially brilliant being that far away from city lights.

Clearing Land Continues:
Friday, January 27, I got up about the same time as Caleb and Kari, actually long enough before them that I made my own breakfast, then let them make theirs on their own. I continued working up on the hill most of the day. Caleb and Kari worked on the dome, but didn't seem to make much progress. Apparently they made more progress than meets the eye though. When I came down, they were bouncing on the trampoline, and I watched them for a while. Then we made dinner and I read more of the book. It was a rather interesting book, written by a Christian author. Caleb read for a while also, while I turned the pages of the wet book, giving it a chance to dry out. Saturday, January 28, I worked up top again, wrapping things up, both figuratively and to a large degree literally. The area I had been working in all week was finally cleared of all large piles of sticks, though other piles of sticks weren't too far away, they were far enough away not to worry about. Also, pretty much all stumps in the different areas were cleared, except for a few large ones and some that weren't all that much in the way, mostly to the side. There were, however, lots of stumps in an area that David had worked on. Of course, he, as just one person with lots of other responsibilities, couldn't have possibly cleared the stumps with the time he had. I also got pretty much all the necessary mowing done, at least to my satisfaction.

Stay by myself in rural Mexico? No! (At least not yet).
I was not prepared to stay at Los Domos on my own, and now that it was just Caleb and Kari remaining, and they too were planning to go to Patzcuaro, I headed down the hill for some lunch and to prepare to depart with Caleb and Kari. The plan was for me to go to Acuitzio, where David and Karen had an apartment. I had not been there yet.

Preparing to leave Los Domos:
I had to bring the equipment down the hill to be secured in a trailer, then I packed up my stuff, some to stay on the land, but everything of particular value I took with me. We read more from the book, with Caleb mostly reading this time. David had gone home earlier, and now Caleb, 17, Kari, 15, and I had to make our way to our destinations by bus. Caleb and Kari were headed to Patzcuaro but would make sure I was on the right bus to Acuitzio before going their way. It was about a mile walk to Loma Caliente, a tiny village on the other side of the lake, to get the first bus. We had arrived well ahead of the bus's scheduled departure, but the bus didn't show up even when it was supposed to. Finally, around 6 pm, 45 minutes after the bus was supposed to be there, Caleb and Kari asked someone walking by if the bus was going to show up. They essentially told us no, so we asked a nearby storeowner if we could possibly have a ride.

They agreed and took us to Umecuaro, arriving just after a bus had departed. Fortunately, a flatbed truck was just passing by, and since they were going out to the main Morelia-Patzcuaro road, our driver talked with them and they agreed to take us. Kari sat in the cab, but Caleb and I sat on the back, where our only protection from falling off was the flat part was rough and we could lean up against the bulkhead next to the back of the cab. Neither driver let us give them any money, even though Caleb offered.

We then went to the middle of the divided Patzcuaro-Morelia highway, a divided highway but not quite interstate quality. Cars zipped by in both directions in a steady stream. Almost right away, a bus a bit shorter than a regular bus pulled up to the little parking area on the south or westbound side, and Caleb ran across 2 traffic lanes to talk to the driver. He then signaled to me that this was the bus that would take me to Acuitzio.

The typical Morelia-Acuitzio transit bus:

I said goodbye to Kari and Caleb. They had left me with detailed instructions for finding the Caldwell apartment: the bus would go 16 miles on the Patzcuaro road and 4 miles on the side road. Or was it the other way around? I couldn't remember. Then I was to look for a narrow brown door in the wall next to two wide brown doors just as my bus would enter Acuitzio. And if I got to the town square, I had gone too far.

After continuing for a while on the Patzcuaro road, which remained a 2 lane in each direction fairly good quality road, the road split and we headed south. Immediately we started going through a town of what appeared to be disjointed buildings. Was this Acuitzio? No, it was too soon, but I was sure they had said it was the first village after leaving the Patzcuaro road. Then the bus started traveling through some more open areas, perhaps farms, but I couldn't tell since by this time it had gotten dark. We then started passing more densely spaced structures and finally seemed to be going along a solid wall with occasional doorways. Caleb had said the bus went right past their apartment, so I looked for anything that appeared to be what Caleb had described, but couldn't really tell.

Arriving in Aquitzio-Finding a Needle in a Haystack?!?
At one point, the bus stopped, and I asked the driver, "Acuitzio?" He said no. So I just waited. I had envisioned the main street through town being mostly straight, but it wasn't straight at all. The bus took a sharp turn to the right, and after one block passed what was most likely the center of the town, with a Centro and gazebo-like ornate structure in the middle. The apartment was before the center of town, so by this time I knew I had gone too far, but decided to wait anyway. At least I could walk back. Then after a block or two the bus stopped, and the driver said, "Acuitzio!!" I gathered my bags and got off the bus, thanking the driver.

I started walking back toward the center, looking for building numbers. Caleb had said it was number 317, but I wasn't even sure I was on the right street since the bus had made so many turns. Moreover, I wasn't seeing any numbers on any of the buildings! There was quite a bit of activity, and at least half of the stores appeared to be open with people going about doing business as if it was high noon.

I passed a place that sold phone cards, and thought, well, I'll just give them a call. At the Centro, still having found no buildings with street numbers on them, I stopped for a minute to catch my bearings, study my GPS, think of ideas, and dig up the Caldwell's phone number. Then I looked for a phone, which I found near the gazebo like structure. I stuck my phone card in, but got a message and maybe a strange beep, but wasn't able to use the phone. I tried again and got the same result. Apparently my card wasn't working at all.

The Pay Phone in Aquitzio:

Just then, a man walked up to me and said with a strong Mexican accent but in clear English, "Hello Friend! Can I help you?" He asked if I was looking for a family from Texas. I said, "Yes, I am looking for a family from Texas with six kids. You know them?!" "Yes!" He said. "I will take you to their place!" The man seemed to know what he was talking about, and started to lead me in what I felt was the right direction, so I followed. He also spoke of traveling to Alaska, and that reminded me I had seen an Alaskan license plate in a store while walking from the bus.

We walked down a less active alley, then turned the corner and walked down another road, lined with walls on both sides, then turned the corner again and I recognized that this street looked like where the bus had been. After just another few dozen steps or so, the man pointed to the wall where there were 2 large brown doors and a small brown door, just as Caleb had described. The numbers on the walls next to the doors were 317A, 317B, and 317C, the first numbers I had seen indicating house numbers the whole evening, perhaps even the first house numbers I'd noticed since entering Mexico! He knocked on the narrow door lightly, but remembering what Caleb had said that I should knock loudly, I pounded on the door much harder. It took just a minute before the door opened, and there was Karen!!! Karen and the man exchanged greetings, remembering where they had previously met, then welcomed me in.

Worried about my arrival:
Karen and the two youngest kids were there, and I stayed long enough to get something to eat and tell Karen my story. Karen also shared their story of waiting and watching for me. Apparently, Micah, 11, was nearly sick to his stomach because I hadn't shown up sooner. (He later explained he was only just a little bit worried.) Apparently both kids were waiting just outside their door scanning each bus that went by looking for me, but finally gave up when it had gotten dark. After that, they both returned inside and Micah announced he couldn't eat because he was worried I wasn't there. So Karen led them in prayer for my safety and that I would find their place.

Sore Thumbs:
God is SOOOOO good, and being on the mission field gives plenty of opportunity to see that. Nothing like in the familiar United States. Karen also explained that this town had a special connection with Alaska. In addition, an anthropologist had been living in the town since 1965, and had become known by most of the townspeople. Moreover, gringos in any Mexican town stand out like sore thumbs, and thank God for sore thumbs!

Alaska Connection and a little town history:
Apparently, this town is pretty small, but driving through and being plopped down in an unfamiliar part of the town, to me it seemed rather large, and finding the Caldwell's place almost as bad as finding a needle in a haystack. But both Caleb and Kari had explained that many in the town knew about this gringo family from Texas, and therefore, if worse came to worse, I could probably just ask two or three people before I found someone who knew where they lived. Instead, someone asked me if they could show me where they lived!

The "Hotel" in Aquitzio
Karen took me to one of the little grocery stores, where I got a few things to eat. She then led me to the "hotel" where I would spend the night. It was a bit of a walk up a street that went uphill, first very gradually, then became steeper. The place was set back from the road, with a building on either side of a short driveway that sloped downward from the street. A place I never would have found on my own, especially given the Spanish language on everything and the Mexican culture of building every house very similar to yet very different from to the one next to it. They all had the same boxy concrete block shape, though some had different colors.

The place looked rather dark and somewhat unattractive, but there was someone next door at what looked like a small shop, who said to knock on the door. We knocked on the door, then the other door opened. A woman let us in, and the inside looked much more attractive, though still Mexican in style. Karen spoke to her in Spanish, and then she led us upstairs. Upstairs, the walls were all brick and the floor was tile. She showed me a room simply but attractively furnished and noticeably clean. There was a bed, a nice wooden cabinet, and even a TV and a fan in the room! The entire "hotel" was really just a few rooms on the second floor that a woman rents out like a hotel. After settling in I took a shower for the first time in a week!

A real lizard, an imaginary lizard, and my GPS Sunday, January 29, during the night, I woke up thinking there was a lizard crawling on me. I flicked it off, and it flew across the room, hit the wall, and disappeared into my imagination. There really was no lizard. Sometime during the past week on the land, while talking to David, I noticed there was a lizard on his back. There were lots of lizards on the land and often while walking around, I would see them running away as they heard me coming. But after my imaginary lizard, I reached for my GPS to check the time, and it fell on the floor. The floor was hard tile, and the fall was only a little more than a foot or so. In the past, I have dropped the GPS on hard concrete many times from waist level with no effect. This time, however, after turning it on, I couldn't change screens to get to the screen with the time on it. It seemed to work fine otherwise. I studied the problem for a while then decided this was better handled in the morning. Later that day, I investigated the problem with the GPS, eventually taking it apart down to the circuit boards. I discovered that the mechanism that pushes the button to make it switch screens was broken. It was purely a physical break, and I managed to get it to change pages by poking a small object in the appropriate hole. I then put the GPS back together and cut a hole through 2 layers of tape and the rubber seal, then another layer of tape that held the rubber seal in place, all so I could stick tiny objects in the hole to make it change screens. With that, the GPS regained its full functionality, though utility was reduced because of the increased effort to make it change screens. At first, the bristle of a comb worked fine, then I started using a tiny screw driver I had with me.

How much work did we feel like we got done?
Monday, January 30, I woke up a bit earlier and went to the Caldwell's apartment first. David and Cherith had returned from the CCI Latin American board meeting they went to (north of Celaya, I think it was Quaretero), and Caleb and Kari had returned from Patzcuaro. Then either Cherith or Kari, I forget who, went with me to the internet cafe to ask if I could plug my computer directly into their internet. It turned out to be no problem at all, and they went right ahead and set me up. The connection worked flawlessly. I then spent about 2 hours continuing to go through my e-mail and got lots of stuff done. I then returned to the apartment where I just had to wait until David was ready to return to the land. Unfortunately, Caleb had hurt his ankle or foot while in Patzcuaro and was very limited in how much he could walk. That put a big crimp on things as far as being at the land, but at least David was preparing to go back. It took about an hour to get to the land, but Caleb stayed behind. David and I spent some time doing work on the land before sunset, me mostly moving reinforcement rods so they could get straightened out. David felt like he got a good amount of work done, but I felt like I hadn't done a whole lot. Then we heated up soup that Karen had sent with us, and chatted for a while. David took the flashlight while I kept the lantern and read from the book for a while. By the end of the day, I couldn't find the tiny screw driver that made it possible to push one of the buttons on my broken GPS, which limited my ability to use the GPS.

On the Land by myself:
Tuesday, January 31, David cut branches off of trees all day while I moved stick piles to the sides of the property along the fence. This day, David felt like he didn't get much done, but I felt like I had gotten quite a lot done. We also began to make plans for Wednesday and Thursday. Both the van and the little car were now on the property. Wednesday was Karen's birthday and David was planning on taking her somewhere. And on Thursday, Karen needed a car in the morning. We decided that now that I knew more about the situation on the land, and that I would have one vehicle with me on the land, and that I now knew the roads to Acuitzio, especially with my GPS, and that the roads were safe from crazy traffic patterns, and that there would be a cell phone on the land, that I could stay there for the day so long as David returned by evening. Better yet, he would return either with Caleb who would stay that night, or with Karen who would take the car home so she could use it the following morning.

A long wait to not sleep on the street:
Wednesday, February 1, David departed in the morning and I began moving stuff around the property per his instructions, then continued moving sticks to the side and thorny stuff to the burn piles up on top. David returned in the afternoon just as I was starting to get hungry and said he couldn't stay the night, nor could Karen come with him to get the car, nor could Caleb come either. So I said I would go with him and stay in the hotel. We then rushed to secure anything that anyone might wander off with, then headed back to Acuitzio. We went to the hotel first. Nobody was there and the door was locked. There was a small store next door, and the woman there said the woman with the "hotel" would return sometime around 8:30. So David took me to the central plaza, where the internet cafe was open till 9pm and there was plenty of activity. I would have gone into the internet cafe but I felt safe in the plaza, so I sat there and read the book. Then when I guessed it was getting close to 9pm, I walked back up to the hotel, where I found two other people waiting with their bags outside the hotel. I asked them what time it was and they said it was 9pm. Still nobody was inside. We waited and waited, and waited and waited. They chatted in Spanish, most of which I couldn't understand but at one point I was pretty certain they were talking about autobusses and Morelia. Were they talking about taking a bus back to Morelia? I decided to wait as long as they did, though I also wasn't sure if maybe they had the same idea. Of course, I had no idea where they would go if they did decide to go somewhere else. David had mentioned I could come back to their place if nobody showed up by 11pm. He had mentioned sleeping on the roof next to the water tank. I would have been OK with that so long as I was warm, safe, and it didn't rain. But there was no way he would just throw me out on the street for the night which at this point seemed like being on the verge of happening. So as I waited, I worked up the courage to tell David I would be on the next possible bus back to McAllen if the situation didn't improve. Well, finally, a vehicle backed into the short steep driveway that led down to where we were waiting and the woman I recognized from last time let us in. I went to the same room I had the previous time, and after settling in, I found that a part of my nail clippers would make the GPS work, and when I checked the time I saw it was 11:17.

Minor Injury:
Thursday, February 2, I awoke with the other problem I had been having the previous two days acting up. Probably on Tuesday, while moving branches, a branch with pine needles brushed past my eye. It hurt a little bit but not too bad. Wednesday, it continued to hurt a little but not too bad. But this morning, it really hurt and I lay in bed trying gently to find a position where it didn't hurt too bad. I finally found it and let myself rest for a long time. After a while, I finally got up and doused it with warm water which David had recommended, and that seemed to help enough to get up and eat some food, and start doing computer and other stuff.

Virtual Caches no more:
Among the things I worked on was setting up the virtual geocaches. I had everything ready to go, including having downloaded the web page on the geocaching web site for submitting a new cache. While looking at that page, after doing most of the work I knew I would need to do, I saw that "Virtual Cache" was not one of the types of caches listed that I could choose from! I thought this was a fluke and vowed to check it out when I got back to the internet cafe. In the afternoon, I probably went to the Caldwell's apartment first. They gave me a bowl of soup. I offered to buy some taco like things from a little place that they said nobody had gotten sick from yet despite eating there a lot, but nobody was ready to go there yet. I went to the Internet Cafe, where I asked them "Connexion por me computadora?" (Connection for my computer?) and they set me up in the same spot I had last time. I spent a bit more than 2 hours there, in part finding out what had happened to virtual caches. In short, they had been discontinued: existing ones grandfathered, but new ones not allowed. Instead, the owner of the geocaching web site had set up a new web site called waymarking.com which would handle all future virtual and locationless caches. David had been hoping to use geocaching including virtual caches as an activity for camp.

Real Mexican Food:
I then returned to the apartment where this time either Cherith or Kari and Micah went with me to the little food place. The things we got were OK, but tasted like they were full of grizzle and I got a hard thing in one of the ones I ate. Even so, I bought 3 more "for the road."

Safety on the Land:
We then returned to the apartment to pick up my stuff and print out the first version of my GPS generated map of the RYCCA camp land. While there, we had some discussion about the safety of the land, and Karen told me she had stayed on the land overnight many times all by herself. I also learned that David was friendly with the neighbors, owners of the properties on at least 3 sides, and that they were aware of and perhaps even quite interested in selling their land to David. On trips to and from the land, David pointed out a couple more places where people he knew lived, including the guy he rented the backhoe from and the guy who actually operated it.

Sticky Business:
David took me out to the land on Friday and I spent 2 days going back and forth along the road cutting through the middle of the property, taking sticks to the edge of the property and the prickly things up to the burn piles. I may have expanded the mowed area upwards from the area just above where the domes for the future house will be, but with so many sticks and prickly things to move and sort out, I by no means finished. I continued working right up till sunset on Saturday and David was pleased with my progress.

"I'll pay the rent"
Sunday, February 5, I made pancakes from a pancake mix from Dakin Farm in Vermont. Then we packed up everything and departed for Acuitzio. We stopped at the apartment briefly. Karen informed us that this time the woman who ran the "hotel" had given her the key to my room and that my room was already paid for. By who? I don't know. But that was a blessing. Moreover, she had left the front door propped open so I could get in if she wasn't there. I stayed in the hotel that night.

A fun dream...
The first thing I did was take a nap. It took a little while to fall asleep, but then I realized I was dreaming that I was with a group of Mexicans, young teenagers mostly, I think, who were playing with a superball in a very American residential neighborhood, with streets lined with nice apartments. The ball bounced all over the place and was hard to catch. It had been a fun dream.

The Superbowl (in Spanish!)
One Sunday afternoon while at the hotel, after getting extra rest from several hard days on the land and taking time to read my bible, I turned on the TV and to my surprise the Superbowl was just about to start! So I got to watch that, though the announcements were all in Spanish.

Picture this:
Monday, February 6, I knew I would be at the hotel all day. I worked on my computer sorting out the pictures Caleb had transferred to my computer, which was all the pictures David had ever taken with his digital camera, except possibly the Cabo Rojo pictures. I discovered many were duplicates of pictures I already had, but there were many from the latest construction of the domes and the work on the land. These I began to put into categories so I could eventually use them to make web pages of what is going on with RYCCA here in Mexico.

Schedule Uncertanty:
In the afternoon, I tried to get my computer connected to the internet at the Internet Cafe twice with no success. I tried at the library as well but still had no success. I also went to David's apartment where I got a bowl of soup and filled water bottles, among a few other odds and ends. The plan had been for David to pick me up Tuesday morning at 8:30, but Caleb told me David had to go to Morelia for the day to deal with the guy who had broken into his car. Caleb didn't have any more information, so I still wasn't sure if the plan had changed. It was either this day or the next that I ate my soup with Micah and Rosie while listening to riddles from the Hobbit. After trying again at the Internet Cafe, I headed back to my room and continued sorting out pictures. I went to bed soon enough so that I would wake up well before 8:30 just in case David came.

Waiting and working:
Tuesday, February 7, David didn't show up, so I got out my computer and continued working on pictures. In the afternoon, I again went to the internet cafe but still couldn't get my computer connected. I then went to the apartment for a bowl of soup and to find out if anything else was happening. But Caleb didn't know what was happening, so after a short visit, I returned to my room and continued working on pictures.

A day late...
Wednesday, February 8, I woke up around 8:30 but after waiting almost an hour, I started to settle into waiting another day. Just then I heard David arrive, and when he came to my door, he was eager to depart. I reminded him that at this point, he was already 24 hours late... actually 25 hours late! Karen was with him, and she got talking to the woman who owns the place. On both sides of the driveway leading down to the hotel, there were interesting plants of various kinds growing, and Karen was interested in them. Before we left, the woman had given Karen several of the plants, splitting some that would continue to grow from each section. We then departed for the land. Karen spent all day working in the greenhouse, while I continued to clear brush and mow. In the evening, David and Karen had to return to the house, so I returned also. Back in Acuitzio, I went to the internet cafe, realizing this might be my only chance to check e-mail before Sunday. My computer still wouldn't connect, so I used one of their computers. Then back to the apartment where I picked up water and also some food that Karen had prepared. Then up to the hotel. This time I didn't have to wait long to get in. I was quickly inside my room eating the delicious thing Karen had prepared. It wasn't a soup but was something else made of breaded small pasta shells and some other ingredients that made it a mostly solid mass that was delicious. I ate it slowly savoring its flavor. I then did what I needed to do, probably including taking a shower, something that couldn't be done on the land, then went to bed relatively early. David said he might come for me at 8:30, but this time 8:30 meant Spanish time, which could really mean 9:00 or even 10:00.

Plant this:
Thursday, February 9, I woke up probably around 8:00 and was ready to go by 8:30, but David was a little late. It was probably this morning that Karen came to the door, but I'm not sure which. She knocked but didn't call my name, so I had no idea it was her. She had started talking to the hotel woman and I thought I heard my name among the conversation, but couldn't decipher enough Spanish to be sure, and though her voice sounded somewhat like Karen, the Spanish made me unsure. Eventually they came for me, and after paying the woman, David, Karen, and I headed out to the land. On the way out of town, we stopped at a place that was selling plants. This took a while. Karen had also paid for my room Sunday night, and since they were short on cash, I paid them back right then so they could buy their plants.

...and a dollar short?
I also knew at this point that I would be short on cash in short order, especially if I had to stay in the hotel more than another night or so. At the land, Karen worked on the greenhouse, while I continued clearing brush and mowing up above. In the mornings and evenings, I began working in the area that was not under the trees, since the sun wasn't so bright at those times of the day in that area.

How do you want your eggs? Cooked...
Friday, February 10, Karen came out to the land with some additional food, but not till well after breakfast. We had a package of bacon, and David wanted me to fix pancakes and eggs. It took me a long time to get that going, and once I figured out how to make the bacon cook, I kept cooking it until it was nice and crisp, just the way I like it. When Caleb had been on the land, we also had bacon one time and he didn't cook it nearly as crisp. David hadn't specified, so I said to myself, I know what crispy bacon looks like and I'm going to cook it till it's crispy the way I like it, and if David doesn't like it that way, he should have cooked it himself. I guess I still have some rough edges. When the pancakes were cooking, David showed up and I explained about the bacon and he said he liked it crispy as well. Good. He also instructed me how to fix his eggs, which came out beautiful to his satisfaction.

Stick clearing continues:
I then continued working up above, mostly in the open area since it was partly cloudy most of the day and not too hot. I piled the prickly stuff high wondering how we were going to ever clear the upper area which was such a mess. A fire would take care of most of it but it wasn't wet enough to risk starting a fire. By the end of the day, I surprisingly had a lot of the area cleared, and there were large snarly piles of prickly stuff, some piles of which had things growing through them that made them even more difficult to sort through, and in most cases I didn't bother sorting them. I heated up soup for dinner, then David and I chatted both Thursday evening and Friday evening about a variety of things including goals for the web page, theology, bible translation, the future of RYCCA and other camps in Mexico, and many other things.

We didn't start the fire... oh wait... we did.
Saturday, February 11, I woke up surprised that I wasn't hearing David calling me. Moreover, the sun had come up to its normal position where by this time David was either just calling me or had already done so. Fortunately, David wasn't one to insist on beginning the day before sunrise. It wasn't a minute later that David did call. And not just my name, but then he said, "Let's burn stuff!" It had rained overnight, and it was still mostly cloudy and didn't look like it was about to clear up. I went to the dome to get a few things, then headed up the hill with a pail of water. I stopped at my tent and put together my papers that I wanted to have burned, grabbed two energy bars, and headed up the hill. David was up there soon after I was, and we began burning. I had set up the biggest pile with my papers but David wanted to start at another pile. He poured gasoline on the pile, waited a minute or two then lit it with the lighter. Whoomp! I thought he had maybe burned his hand. Fortunately he hadn't, and explained he knew what he was doing. We may have burned another pile before starting the big one, meanwhile, I piled up stuff that hadn't been piled up before, and began making a strategy for burning the other piles. When things were a bit calm, I gave David one of the energy bars and I ate the other one. That was in lieu of breakfast. David liked the energy bar, and we both seemed to hold out quite well until lunch time. David went back down the hill and I continued to burn piles. I then saw a pattern where I could connect virtually all of the piles with small piled rows of burnable stuff, and spent the rest of the day doing just that, coaxing the fire to follow my trails to the next pile while raking away stuff where I didn't want the fire to go. It worked out quite well. I only had to move coals once or twice the whole day. Karen arrived in the mid morning and brought some food up to me but explained she had had a bad experience with a fire and didn't want to stay. She and David worked on things concerning their house and at one point, I stopped at the holes where the house domes were to be built and we had a long chat about their plans. David was particularly happy when he discovered that the backhoe person had dug the areas for the house domes practically level, which meant he would have to do almost no work to level the area himself. He also walked me through the area and explained their plans for their house domes. Back up top, I burned most of the large piles that I felt safe burning, and was just about to start a small area when David came up and said it was time to pack up and head for Aquitzio.

Making the call:
We departed around 4pm. At the apartment, I stayed there a while. Karen brought me soup, and Cherith called the bus company to try to make a reservation for me to return to Reynosa. We think she was successful, but this was after my calling the number and getting a message in Spanish. Then Caleb tried and said the message said to buy more minutes on the phone card. Then I tried the number again and got a different message in Spanish. Then one of the kids tried and discovered I had to dial the 0 first. When I did that, I got yet another message in Spanish, this time sounding something like menu options. Finally Cherith took over and was able to navigate the menu, finally getting to a person. It took a few minutes, but we think we successfully made the reservation at least.

Yes, a dollar short...
I then headed up to the hotel. The woman who ran the hotel didn't show up for a long time, and I wasn't able to get in. When she did arrive, I told her "dos nochas" (two nights) but then discovered I had only enough pesos for one night. She said something in Spanish, but I don't know what she said. She eventually gave me a key and I went to my room. I spent most of the evening reading the next book in the series from the book Caleb had been reading to us from when I first arrived in Mexico.

Did I really eat the whole loaf?
Sunday, February 12, I woke up and continued reading the book until the afternoon. I had bananas and bread with me, so I ate them for my breakfast. I then headed for the internet cafe, where my computer still wouldn't cooperate, so I used their computer. When I signed onto AOL, I saw news that a big blizzard had hit the northeast, the Philadelphia area included. I knew that meant my parents. A message in my e-mail from them confirmed it and they indicated they weren't able to get to church. I then went to the apartment, but nobody answered. David had indicated they might not be home Sunday afternoon, and I guess that was the case. I also picked up some bananas and was fortunate to find a loaf of bread. When I had been in town for 4 nights the previous week, I had brought a long loaf of wheat bread from each of the four tiendas (stores), and though I continued to look for bread later during those 4 days, none of those 4 stores had any! It was almost like each store only got one loaf per delivery cycle, a duration of which I'm not yet sure of. I like bread, especially whole wheat bread, of which each store seemed to have just one loaf, but had I really been single-handedly responsible for eating all the whole wheat bread in town? I hope not.

One step forward, one step back:
Monday, February 13, when I woke up, it was 7:42. Near perfect timing. I got ready and ate more bananas and bread. 8:30 came and went. I read the rest of the book, which didn't take long. I then waited some more. I eventually started reading my bible. After doing that for a long time, I ate some lunch, bananas and an orange. About 1pm, I decided to walk down to David's place to see what was going on. Half way there, and checking the various tiendas on the way for bread, I saw their car coming the other way. David I thought. But it turned out to be Karen. I got in the car and she found an out of the way place to park along the street, and explained that they were waiting for an important e-mail from Dallas about their taxes. Things were too crazy for me to be at the apartment. She had brought some soup for me to eat, and took me right back to the hotel.

Connected at last:
After eating the soup, I started out again, stopping at the apartment but not going in. I gave them water bottles to fill then Kari and Cherith came with me to the internet cafe to see if we could get my computer to work. It still didn't work. So we went to the library, where right next to the library was a room with computers and internet access. They asked if I could connect my computer and they moved another computer out of the way so I could try to connect. Success! My computer worked just fine. I sent a bunch of e-mails that had been waiting for almost too long and checked new ones that came in.

Just need an outlet:
I then returned to the apartment, this time being allowed in. I got my water bottles, then David and I discussed various things and improvements he wanted me to make to the web page. Karen gave me another bowl of soup and I headed up to the hotel. The hotel door was closed and nobody was there when I knocked. So I rested while I read the first chapter of the next book, then decided to return to the apartment to report to David the situation that I wouldn't be able to do anything with the web page without being able to get into the hotel to plug my computer in. On the way back I realized I could try going to the library and seeing if they would let me at least just plug in my computer to get power. The woman in charge was pleasant but didn't speak English. I think she understood what I wanted but I wasn't sure. I eventually pulled out my power cord and showed her the plug end. Then she got up and walked over to a shelf of books, moved some books around and pointed to an outlet. I was able then to begin the work David had for me. I got a good amount of work done before the librarian told me it was time to go.

Character Accent:
Tuesday, February 14, I got up again and went to David's apartment right at about 9:00. We spent the morning uploading the changes I had made to the web site and taking care of other things. To our dismay, we discovered that the RYCCA web site incorrectly displayed all the accented Spanish letters. They had worked fine up till then, but now they didn't work. I knew what needed to be done, but I couldn't do it in the time we had. Then we departed for the land. When we got there, I spent some time organizing my stuff so I would be ready to depart the land for good late on Wednesday. I then worked up top, clearing the last corner that was really bad, with the hope that we would be able to wake up early the next morning and burn the prickly thorny stuff. It was lighter later into the evening than it had been earlier in January, enough to really notice the difference. Then the almost full moon came up. We chatted about many things, walking down to the lower edge of the property to see the moon shine across the lake. It looked really nice.

Keep the Fire Burning:
Wednesday, February 15, David got me up well before sunrise and said conditions were good for burning. So we went up the hill and started the fire. At some point during this time, I noticed a really bright star about half way up the sky in the east. It must have been venus. It was surprisingly bright. We lit the fire and it burned slowly through the small piles right near the fence. Then it finally got to the big pile and threw sparks pretty high in the sky. David was quite concerned about sparks getting into the neighboring property, which was full of trees and undergrowth and some dry dead stuff. One spark did land over there but it went out fairly quickly. When the fire had burned pretty much everything we wanted it to burn, David went below and burned another big pile I had built up early in my time in Mexico. I continued to tend the fire and started clearing the now manageable sticks and things left behind. I moved logs that could be used for fence posts to the fence, sticks that weren't good for much to piles along the fence where they would rot, and pieces good for firewood to another pile. We ate lunch, then I continued working up above. Around 4pm, David came up the hill and announced it was just about time to go. We decided I had time to finish up a few odds and ends with the sticks, which pretty much finished up everything, then I sprinkled water where there were still some hot coals where the fire had been, took some pictures, GPS marked a couple challenge course elements, and headed down the hill.

My hotel room connected to another occupied hotel room:
I stopped at my tent to reorganize there, then headed down the hill. David had a few things to clear up, then we did a few last minute things and departed around 5:30 or so. It was just getting dark when we arrived in Acuitzio. When we got there, it was announced that Karen was sick, so she wasn't able to fix me anything for dinner, and I wasn't allowed to go up into the apartment, not that I needed to anyway. One of the kids filled my water bottles, then two of David's daughters went with me to the little restaurant in the middle of town that makes and sells these little soft taco shells with chopped meat in them. I ate 5 of them, then asked for 2 more. The girls also ate 3 or 4 each, and one of them got a couple extra as well. They're good tasting, with a good flavor. We then walked together as far as where the road to my hotel and their house split, and I walked up the road to my hotel. The woman owner was there, so I paid her for the room for the night, then she showed me to my room. It was a different room then the one I had been in. This room had two beds. The bathroom connected to an adjoining room like my previous room, but this time there was someone else staying in the adjoining room. The door to the other room was opened, and I didn't have a key to my room. I needed to use the bathroom but didn't want to leave my computer unattended, nor did I want to use the bathroom with the other guy's door open! I finally discovered that the bathroom was in a room to the side of a short hallway connecting the two bedrooms, a door at each end of the hallway entering into the bedrooms. The bathroom had its own door. Finally I decided to use the bathroom. The bathroom door clanged loudly when I closed it. Pretty much all the doors in Mexico are heavy metal doors and make a lot of noise when they close but this one was particularly loud. I then got back to the "safety" of my room and fixed the accented character problem with the RYCCA web site, plus made other changes that David and I had talked about. I also began working on the Newsletter bonus pictures web page. It was past midnight by the time I got in bed.

The Bug:
Thursday, February 16, I woke up around 4am or so, and was feeling kind of yucky. I used the bathroom and knew I had the bug. After that, I was able to sleep till around 9am. I then did some more stuff on the computer until about 11:30, then packed up everything and headed to David's apartment.

Departure Day:
When I got there, he told me I was half an hour early and I said, "Oh yeah, that's right." I left most of my stuff there and went to the internet cafe to go through my e-mail for one last time in a few days. Then back to David's place, where there was steady and frantic activity to get together everything that was to go with me and be handed off to the Dallas crew. I also uploaded changes to the web site that fixed the accented character problem. However, the pictures didn't seem to work for whatever reason. That was a last minute thing that I didn't have time to fix. Karen was doing better and was able to give me some lunch. Then it was time to depart.

Will we make it?
David and Karen drove me to Morelia. We got to the Morelia loop in plenty of time, but just as we were approaching the outer loop, the car began sounding very tinny. David thought it was overheating. We made it up onto the loop and made it a short distance until we found a spot to pull over. There was smoke coming out of the engine compartment. Fortunately, the loop was full of taxis and combi's, so getting the rest of the way wouldn't be too big of a problem. But thank God we had made it that far! We pushed the car into a safe spot and hailed a cab. One showed up almost immediately, and we got to the bus station with about 5 minutes before the 2 hours before departure that the person on the phone at the bus company said we had to be there in order to finalize my ticket. That took a while, in part because I had given them the wrong slip of paper, but also because David asked lots of questions about busses between Morelia and the United States. He found good information about a bus that went from Garland, TX directly to Morelia! It cost a bit more than the bus from Reynosa, but it departed Garland at a time that would make it a good connection with the train, in Dallas, at least southbound. Then we found out the bus also stopped in Dallas, which would be even better. Unfortunately, the northbound bus made a pretty close connection, but even one way, it would save me a whole day vs. going via McAllen and Reynosa. And even better, this bus stopped at the border deliberately long enough to let people fill out their immigration and visitors papers at the border. This bus went via Nuevo Leon, which is further west than McAllen.

Mexican toilets have no seat, and sometimes no toilet paper, and charge for it too!:
While doing this, I had to use the bathroom, which cost 3 pesos. In the stall, I quickly saw there was no toilet paper! I found the toilet paper in one big roll mounted on the wall outside of all the stalls. And oh yes, this toilet had no toilet seat, so I had to kind of balance on the edge. Then back outside, I got pictures of David and Karen, and pictures of the bus station. Then they took a combi back to their car, and I wandered around the bus station for a while, then entered the more secure waiting area where bags had to be inspected to get to. There were bathrooms in that area that it appeared didn't need to be paid for, but I didn't have to use them.

Donde es el autobus?
After waiting there for a little while not able to see a clock, I walked out to the bus platform and walked down to lane 45, which was only about 1/3 of the way around the entire bus terminal. There were 3 separate terminals, but the bus platform formed a semicircle around all 3 terminals and were continuous, one bus stall after the next as far as I could see, which was about 2/3rds of it. And the stall where my bus was supposed to be was 45, and that was only 1/3rd of the way around. There was nobody waiting at stall 45, and no bus there either. There were people walking by, including passengers and bus personnel, but it wasn't overly crowded. Across the bus equivalent of the tarmac, there were two busses parked that looked like the kind I had been shown at the ticket counter as being the kind I would be on. And after a little while, I saw that one of them had the number 17, which was the number of my bus. After a while, a few others gathered around where I was, and I noticed a couple official looking people approach bus 17. Finally the bus drove across to the stall, and we boarded and were on our way a little after 4:45.

The trip north:
My seat was the first seat in the front, and I had a pretty clear view of both the road ahead and the bus driver and his controls. That was nice, but I think the leg rest was just slightly less comfortable than in seats further back. We made a stop in Queretaro, then continued north. Late at night, we followed a slow moving flatbed truck through the construction area. I then tossed my sleeping bag over me and slept on and off until I realized we were in Reynosa.

American cars in Mexico office:
Friday, February 17, we arrived at the bus station around 7:30, and knowing I wasn't in a rush, took my time getting off the bus. Fortunately others were also taking their time, and I began to wonder if maybe the bus was continuing on somewhere else. But there was no driver in the driver's seat. After claiming my bags and taking care of necessities, I bought a ticket for Valley Transit and struck out on Reynosa streets walking slowly toward the border crossing. I was looking for the place where Americans can register their cars for short term visits deep into Mexico. I didn't find the specific one David was talking about, but I did find lots of places that seemed to say they were for nationalizing automobiles. I took pictures of a few of them. Then I saw a sign that looked even more promising and took a picture of that. At one point, a man talked to me and seemed to think the car place was down a certain way, but I wasn't sure he really knew what he was talking about. I then stopped at the immigration office right at the Mexican side of the border crossing, and asked in there. The man said it was in the office next door and that you didn't need to go to that other place. I was also able to turn in my Mexican travel papers at that point. I then headed for the bridge, paid the 30 cents and slowly walked across, stopping to take a picture of the plaque that marked the US/Mexican boundary. There was a long line of people waiting to go through customs, and a Valley Transit bus pulled up right then and unloaded some more people. That was a good thing since I wouldn't have to wait long when I got through. Or was that a bad thing since I had so much time. With all the time I had, I could have walked all the way to the McAllen bus station and saved the $2! The guy at the customs place asked a few questions, then asked me to put my bags on the table behind him and wait. He poked through my bags and asked a few more questions, then let me go. Last year, when I had returned from Tampico, I felt slightly uneasy about going through, and even answered the question about anything to declare with a hesitant "yes." They had asked, "Are you sure?" And I said a more confident yes, and they had let me through. Yet this time, I felt and spoke confident the whole time, and he chose to search my bags. Anyway, when I got through to the bus loading area, the bus was right there and we were off to McAllen. But what was this? The bus turned where it never had before and started going north on 10th St. instead of 23rd. Then I noticed a store with 10th in its name. David and I had talked about this too. There was an American auto insurance company that you needed to go to to get insurance for your vehicle in Mexico, called Sanborns. It was on 10th street and David was interested in getting its more precise location and maybe a picture. But the bus from Reynosa to McAllen goes up 23rd St., so I wouldn't be able to get a location. But here we were going up 10th St. I got my camera ready and kept my eyes peeled. Then there it was! I snapped a picture but it came out a bit blurry. Still, I was pretty excited.

Back in the USA, a Long Wait:
In McAllen, I repacked my stuff to get better organized, then found an outlet and unloaded information from my GPS. I found a place that stored bags for $2 per piece, a price I felt was a tad high but I decided to pay it, then headed out to find some geocaches and go to the nearby HEB. After finding the caches, it was a long walk back to the HEB. It was cloudy which was nice, because it was quite warm and the sun would have made it almost unbearable especially with all the walking I was doing. But it looked like it might rain. At the HEB, I got some of my usual things: bread, applesauce, peanuts, raisins, and bananas, the applesauce in a jar this time. Then back to the bus station. I then called Cheryl and chatted with her for a little bit but she was really busy and wouldn't be able to come to the station to visit. I then sat by an outlet and ate some food, inquired about prices for shipping by Greyhound, retrieved my bags, set up again next to an outlet and started working on my computer. I had hoped to find a spoon to dig out the applesauce, but all the Subway sandwich place had was straws. So I took a straw. It was slow at delivering apple sauce to my bread, but it did the job. Then later, I tried sucking the apple sauce directly out of the jar with the straw, like drinking a soda, and found it worked remarkably well. After several hours of sitting at one spot with the computer, and twice being passed by security people with a dog, A different security person stopped and talked to me, probably wondering why I had been there so long. I said I had a bus around 1am and he immediately said it was OK that I was there. But he kept talking to me, so I showed him my ticket. After we interpreted the ticket, he went on his way. I continued to do computer stuff until about 11:30 or so, then packed up and went to the main seating area.

Bus to San Antonio:
Saturday, February 18, the bus showed up at 1:30. There were quite a few people getting on the bus. I gave my bags to the guy putting bags under the bus and I asked him for claim tickets. He said something about getting them inside, and I said I didn't know I had to do that. He put them under the bus anyway. I then gave my ticket to the bus driver who looked at it and looked a bit confused, so I explained that the ticket stub portion was supposed to be returned to me. He said, "Nope, not this time." I showed him that it folded and that the small stub end was my receipt, but he refused to give it back to me. Then he made a point of explaining to me to put my sleeping bag and back pack in the overhead rack, as if I didn't know to do that. Of course, my intention was to lay out my sleeping bag on my seat to make it more comfortable. But now I was also concerned about whether this driver would let me have my bags back without a baggage claim ticket, or if he would even stop at the Amtrak station. He didn't seem too friendly. That kept me awake for a while, but I finally did sleep. When I woke up, I saw we were approaching whatever sports arena dome San Antonio has, an approach that seemed familiar from the last time I had been dropped at the Amtrak station. The bus stopped at the station and in addition to me, another couple got off as well. Then the driver let us get our bags from under the bus. Then I chatted with a couple, a conversation that started when the wife took a picture of me insisting she liked my Mexican hat.

Meetup in Dallas:
In Fort Worth, the baggage express car and 2 private cars on the end of our train were taken off. Apparently there was a mechanical problem with the baggage car. That cost us almost an hour delay. A guy got on the train and sat behind me and we quickly discovered a common interest in trains. So we shared lots of stories. When we got to Dallas, I told the coach attendant I was going to hand an envelope to a couple people on the platform. She was hesitant since the stop would be abbreviated due to our delay but I convinced her I'd be quick. When I scanned the platform, I didn't see the two I was looking for! I eventually did spot them, they were walking casually from the station to the platform! I waved, ran up to them, handed them the envelope, gave them a quick hug, explained what was in the envelope as best I could, and reboarded. We didn't depart for another few minutes.

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