Getting to Mexico: Tuesday, March 25, my journey began in Philadelphia near my sister's place. I took a SEPTA train to Philadelphia, then took Amtrak to Chicago, where I changed to a train to San Antonio.
Pick up stuff in Dallas, please: Thursday, March 27, at Dallas, the train stopped long enough for me to meet up with Marj and Ray Dubert (parents of David's wife) on the platform, and pick up some stuff for the Caldwells.
A little delay, a lot of wind: Later, south of Fort Worth, we came to a stop and didn't move for about 4 hours. Word came quickly that a freight train ahead of us hit a fuel truck. During this time, I talked to a bunch of people, and gave my support letter to two people. Friday, March 28, we got to San Antonio after the bus to McAllen had departed. Amtrak provided a taxi to the bus station. The next bus to McAllen didn't depart till 8:30am, so I had to wait for about 3 hours. On the bus somewhere well south of San Antonio, the wind was blowing strong, and in places was kicking up enough dust to turn the sky a brownish color. In McAllen, I stayed at Kings Way Institute for 3 nights.
In southern Texas and still cold! Saturday, March 29, I woke up during the night and discovered I had very cold feet. I adjusted the thermostat, but that didn't seem to make any difference.
Getting my travel visa... open 24 hours, but not in a row! Cheryl is the sister of Dan, and Dan is the fellow whose house I lived in the past 3 years. Cheryl lives near McAllen, and she took me across the Pharr international bridge where we filled out forms for the Mexican tourist card (she needed one also). But it was Saturday, and the bank where we were supposed to pay for the card had just closed. Back in the US and several phone calls later I found out there was a place at the Reynosa bus station that was open 24 hours where the card could be paid for, so on Sunday, March 30, I got a local transit bus to Reynosa. Getting to Reynosa was the easy part. At the bus station, the security people told me the office was closed because it was Sunday. So I got back on the same bus, and the driver was surprised to see me so soon! On the way to the border, we got stuck in the backup of traffic, so a man got off the bus, bought something from a local store and got back on. I then explained to the driver my objective and he said he would drop me off at the border without punching my ticket. When the border crossing offices came into view, I got off the bus and walked over to them. I found a security guard who directed me to where I needed to go, but that place was of no help. He did point out where to go for an office that would allow me to pay for my visa, which was down a street off the zocalo. I went there but couldn't find the office he was talking about, so I returned to Kings Way.
I'm going in: Monday, March 31, I decided that everything was in order except for the tourist card, which supposedly I could pay for at the bus station, so I decided this would be the day I would take the plunge and head for Morelia. I took the bus over to Reynosa in the afternoon. At the bus station, the office that was said to be open 24 hours a day was still closed. I waited just outside the door to the office for about an hour and a half but nobody came by to open it. I then asked for help to find my bus: "Dande es Estrella Blanka autobus a Morelia?" The bus was very nice, with overstuffed and quite large seats, and the leg rest folded out of the chair in front, and was wide and comfortable. The seats tipped back much farther than Amtrak seats, almost as far as seats in a passenger car. The bus was about half full, maybe less. I slept pretty good, but kept waking up when we stopped, looking to see if each stop was where we were supposed to buy our tourist card. The first stop not too far out of Reynosa seemed the most promising as some officials walked the length of the bus as if looking for something. As we continued along, we stopped at many other similar places and I soon realized some of these were just toll booths. We didn't stop in Monterrey, which surprised me. I watched the road signs as best as I could, trying to learn a few Spanish words. It was close to midnight that we stopped for a while at a restaurant, and someone who seemed nice sitting behind me encouraged me to get something to eat but I told him I had food with me. Several others in Reynosa and other places in Mexico were also friendly and helpful.
Arriving in Morelia: Tuesday, April 1, we stopped for a while at a roadside stand and many of the others on the bus had breakfast. I stayed on the bus hoping we'd get moving. I just wanted to get there. The scenery from Reynosa to Monterrey was flat, then it got hilly, then it got flat again, then in the morning it got hilly, but the road seemed to follow a valley. There weren't many trees, and at one point, there was a wide flat valley that looked like a lake bottom. When the road crossed it, I could see that there was water in parts of it, and the road seemed to cross on a causeway. Then we were up into the mountains again, going through a pass, then we descended into Morelia.
Experience: Stand out in a crowd. At the bus station, I seemed to be on my own, though there was a regular stream of people coming and going. Nobody offered me any help, and I wasn't even sure which way to go. I found my way though and found a phone. After several failed attempts at using the phone card, I finally got through to David's office answering machine. The phone was in a corridor from the bus area to the station, and I could see that it was a one way corridor. I hoped that there would be phones, or maybe even David, in the station, so I continued. As I was looking for phones, I found Nico instead, one of David's helpers. He had a sign with my name on it, but he was studying his bible, so he probably would have figured out who I was eventually anyway, if nothing else, the fact that I was the only gringo in the bus station!
Finally paid for tourist card: Nico speaks some English, so we were able to have a conversation as he took me to the house where we'll be staying. On the way, we then went to a bank where I was able to pay for my tourist card.
My house in Mexico:
The house is in a neighborhood that looks kind of poor, but when we got inside, the house was very nice. The lighted china closet in the dining room is nicer than one my parents have, and the dining room table and chairs are just as nice as the china closet. The rest of the house seems to be just as nice. There is a back yard similar in size to what you'd find in urban America. It had walls about 10 feet high, and a fence on top with barbed wire on top of that. There is a concrete walkway that goes back to a water fountain (not operating right now), and enough grass to warrant a lawn mower. The view from the balcony makes me think of what Daniel saw when he prayed from his apartment window overlooking Babylon. The house is nicely and sufficiently furnished but somewhat spartan. We have what we need, and the stuff that is here is very nice, but there is little more than that. After a few days, I noticed the lack of a linen closet. There is also virtually no clutter anywhere; indeed, it seems like they could use more stuff than they have. The stove and hot water ran on gas, but the gas was turned off and we never figured out how to turn it on. So we had cold showers and cooked in the microwave the whole time. The family who lives here was in America. Nico had made the arrangements for him and I to stay there. They didn't return while I was there, so I never actually met them.
First Mexican meal: please cook the veggies! Nico went out for a few hours while I unwound and got myself organized in my room. When he came back, he had two friends with him, one a taxi driver, and the other a girl about the same age he is. They were both very nice and we had a good time as we worked across the language barrier. For dinner, we cooked up some beef in the microwave because we couldn't get the very modern gas stove to put forth any gas. We had tortillas and there was also cut up tomatoes and hot green peppers. I sent the vegetable stuff through the microwave again in an attempt to kill anything that might be on them. I haven't had any of the local water yet, even though Nico says it won't make me sick.
First day "on the job": Wednesday, April 2, Nico and I went to David's house, and I spent most of the morning doing stuff on David's computer. David came back at lunch time and I was able to get information needed to be able to get on the internet. In the afternoon, we loaded the computer, printer, scanner, and numerous other computer related and office related stuff in David's small car and took the stuff over to the church, where we dumped everything in the office that the church was letting him use. It was my job to get it all set up and organized. I spent the next few days doing the same thing.
RYCCA: RYCCA is the name David chose for the organization that would run camps in Mexico. RYCCA stands for Retiros Y Campamentos Con Aventura, which in English means Retreats And Camps With Adventure. The office space provided by the church was the RYCCA office
A sign pointing the way to the RYCCA camp land:
Worship in Mexico: a great way to learn Spanish! In the evening, there was a worship and prayer service at the church. They sung several songs I knew the tunes for. The words were projected overhead, so I was very enthusiastically trying to determine what words meant what. Then the sermon was very good, except I didn't understand a word of it, that is until he started numbering a series of points rather quickly.
Experience: Market Day. Thursday, April 3 was market day. The market was close to David's house, and Nico took me there. Typical third world market, with individual or family based farmers selling their produce. Lots of fruit and vegetables. At one place, a man was putting chickens in cans upside down, then slicing their necks. They were clucking while being held by their feet and plunged into the can.
Food from a street vendor: We also ate some tortillas cooked right in front of us so I figured it was OK. It had chicken and cheese. There were a couple tables set up where we could sit and eat, and there was sauces on the tables that I determined not to touch.
How Morelia is built: Fall of the House of Eisher:
Sometime in the afternoon, I went with David to take a load of stuff for the summer camp activities to a nearby house. It was like a maze to get to where the stuff was stored. The whole city seems to be built like a "fall of the house of Eisher" picture, where all the stairways seem to interconnect, and the water flows downhill forever but always returns to the same place. Where we took the camp stuff was a perfect example; the staircase led to another set of steps, bent around corners and more steps, and the whole house seemed to be one solid piece of concrete or bricks, connected to every other house on the block all moulded in one solid piece. Getting to the RYCCA office is just as complicated. At a minimum, I have to walk through 3 gates, up 2 sets of steps, down two flights of stairs, along a hallway, and make 2 u-turns and two left turns to get from the street sidewalk to the office. I repeat, this is a minimum! (Well, almost. I could go through another gate but that's only in special cases because that gate is supposed to stay closed.) It's wall to wall concrete for each city block, including the block and the walls. If anything grows, it's because it's in a pot or someone cut a hole in the concrete. The bigger streets are lined with trees and/or grass. However, there are also parts of the city that if it weren't for the Spanish spoken around you, you would think you were in America. Just down the road there is a "Plaza Americana" place, complete with Sears, McDonald's, big name modern banks, an office tower maybe 20 stories high, and plenty of parking space around each building. But the rest of the city is one continuous moulded concrete maze of walls, doors, passageways, stairways, and gates. In other parts of Morelia, there is also Burgher King, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Wal-Mart, and Costco. The difference between the ancient and the modern city is in sharp contrast here. The ancient style of concrete walls ends abruptly at either the edge of the city or where the American looking portions start.
Mission Work: I went to David's house for a long time in the evening and we discussed many things about life in Mexico plus needs for his work, and many other things. I learned things about his ministry that I didn't know and that sounds very exciting, making me thrilled to be a part of it.
Office Work: One day early on, we had plenty to do and didn't get much done, which seems to be the regular pace of things. One major project was trying to get the word processor to print the logo on top of another picture.
Cultural Experience: American and Mexican culture mix. In the afternoon, I went with Nico on my first ride on the local transit busses, really hollowed out Volkswagon vans.
Typical Mexico transit bus:
We went to Cosco; yes, the same Cosco in the USA. I felt very much at home there. After eating some pizza, we bought some good old American food including a carton of Quaker Oats, American peanuts, and Rye bread. There were several security guards at the door of the store, and they stopped us and held my bag while we went through the store.
Cultural Experience: how long is that thing?!? After working till after dark, I walked home. On my way, the streets were still active, there were random small groups of people (1 to 3 each) walking around or doing different things. Perhaps the most unusual was someone who was maneuvering a long flat piece of metal, so long that as he held the middle of it at waist level, both ends either touched or nearly touched the pavement. It had been resting on wooden saw horses parallel to the street, but he turned it so it was perpendicular across the street, stretching across nearly the entire street. As I went by I had to step over it. I could also see someone else in a lighted area about the size of a one car garage that looked ready to receive this thing, and it was obvious that they were working on some sort of project.
Only in Mexico: At some point that evening, I saw something walking across the kitchen floor. At first I thought it might be a cockroach, but then I looked closer and saw it was a scorpion! This was the first of 3 live scorpions I saw in our house. David, the missionary, had told me he had never seen a live one.
Only in Mexico: fix your roof with concrete. Saturday morning, outside my window, I could see several people on the roof of a nearby house pouring what was probably concrete and fixing it with hand tools.
Office Work: David and I took a load of stuff to the office and ended up spending all afternoon doing many things, including cleaning up computer files, getting a brochure printed, discussing his ideas and plans for his ministry, and so on and so forth. We eventually packed up one of the computers there and took it back to David's house. By then it was getting towards evening, but I still got the computer set up, made it on-line capable, and helped get educational software for the kids installed.
Cultural Experience: Night life. Saturday evening, I walked home at twilight, and the streets were even more lively than the previous night. On the way, I passed two places with catholic services in progress, and in various places I passed adults with children, and even a few children on their own or with a few other young children, riding bikes, playing some kind of ball game, and doing various other things. At a few places, I could have brought some food from the street-side vendors, they had their sidewalk tables set up. Just across the street as I was going in to my house, a mother gave her young child a swat apparently for being bad. Several hours later, it still sounded like there was a game of kickball going on out in the street. I heard young loud voices and what sounds like children running for short distances then stopping. And where the woman swatted the young child earlier, they still had a table set up, and one person was working on something behind the table, someone else had an apron on, and someone else was there too. It's 10pm!
Experience & Morelia sights: A trip to the orphanage. Sunday afternoon, I hung out for a while at the church, then David hooked me up with Pablo Lewis (an American) who was taking some of the young adults to the orphanage downtown that evening. On the way to the Orphanage, we drove along Aqueducto St., where there was actually a Roman style aqueduct.
The Aqueduct for which Morelia is famous for:
The orphanage was in a large square building with an area in the middle large enough to play various games including baseball with a tennis ball and a wiffleball bat. It took a little while before I got involved in stuff, but eventually I was playing catcher for a game of baseball with the tennis ball and the wiffleball bat. Later, I got out my Rubick's Cube and Some of the kids really took an interest in it. I put it into a checkerboard pattern, and one of the children got it back to solid colors on each side. Most of the other children ended up getting it mixed up. I let them watch as I put it back together. Often, another child would want to play with it before I got it back together, so I would end up having to start over from scratch. After a while, someone got some organized games going, mostly relay races. We then had cake and more "free time," so I continued to entertain kids with the cube. A couple of the kids knew some English, so I helped them learn some and they tried to teach me Spanish. Still, I felt like an idiot at times having to tell a 5 year old child I didn't know what they were talking about!
Office Work: Downgrade to Windows 95. Monday, April 7, at the office, David was there and he had plenty of work for me, including modifying a file for eventual merging with the database. That process was interrupted frequently by other projects and discussions. Then Juan Carlos came by to help us get Windows 95 installed on one of the computers that had been running Windows 98. David didn't have a legal copy for Windows 98, so that's why we had to do that.
Men's Group & I don't know what they said: In the evening, I went to Pablo's house for a young men's group. Pablo speaks English and Spanish both quite fluently, but the other guys spoke only a little English. The meeting was a discussion of life goals, but I couldn't tell you what the others said their goals were!
Office Work: Tuesday, April 8, I spent the whole day picking away at things David had given me to do, including stuff for his computer, the web page, and various other things. More of the same on Wednesday. Thursday, April 10, David was in the office, so we spent most of the day discussing issues concerning the database but also preparing a newsletter and dealing with his web page space provider who was installing a new server.
Office Work: After an interesting morning of mostly waiting for others, I spent the afternoon studying the database and finally getting my new database system to print labels the way David wanted, and seemingly more effectively than his system did. It still needs a lot of polishing and we're a long way from being able to use my system for everything David needs. But this is progress.
Morelia sights: downtown. Friday evening, Nico and one of his friends and I went downtown along Ave. Aqueducto, and Nico showed me around all the downtown places, large buildings, nice churches, fancy restaurants, and store lined streets. There were also many open spaces where there were statues, information booths, trees, etc. In one place, a bunch of children were playing soccer.
Morelia sights: The City Ends Here, a hike, and a Cebu (Moo Moo): Saturday, April 12, I got up a bit early and went to Pablo's house where some of the other young people were going to go on a hike. I was expecting we would be hiking to the top of a mountain, but we didn't. Instead, we hiked into a valley that began at the edge of the city. A very well defined edge. Solid walls of houses and paved streets simply ended where the hiking path began. Looking back, you could see a solid wall in both directions clearly marking the city edge, beyond which there were simply no structures. Continuing on, we hiked into a valley that weaved through the hills on a gentle sloping path that followed a stream. It was scenic in parts. We got as far as the end of the flat part, then some of us more energetic ones continued up a hill and there was a view of Morelia in the distance. According to my GPS, we were at 6855ft elevation. On the way back, we stopped at a location where we rested for a while alongside the stream. While we were there, a bunch of cows descended the far bank, stood in the water and drank and used the "toilet." One of the cows was a saboo, said to be a Hindu variety with exceedingly long ears and a hump on the back of it's neck. It was also obviously male. It was a very interesting looking beast. They seemed to be gentle creatures, they looked at us but left us alone. I joked about getting out the red carpet and shaking it.
More Morelia sights: Sunday, April 13 in the afternoon, I joined Pablo's family and some others who were going downtown to watch their 11 year old daughter participate in a skit. The skit was a part of something like a talent show. The show started with a clown who went on for quite a while, then there was a series of different performances. Most of the performances consisted of belly dancers and similar ethnic dancing. The 11 year old's skit was very different. We finally left before the end of the show.
Internet in Mexico: how slow can you go? Sunday evening, I attempted to check e-mail, but the system was impossibly slow. I finally switched to the local AOL number, and that was fast, but I found out later that AOL charge 10 cents a minute for international connections. The next couple days, I continued to have trouble with the internet which made doing office work somewhat difficult, so I concentrated on other office projects, including David's database.
Moon rising: or is it a fire? One evening while Nico and I were walking home, we got to watch the moon come up over the horizon. It was nearly full and it only took about 3 or 4 minutes from being completely below the horizon to being nearly completely above the horizon. At first, Nico thought it was a fire! Later on, I realized why Nico thought it was a fire. Nearly every year near the end of dry season, there is a fire on the same hillside where the moon had come up.
Vacation and touristing in Mexico: Thursday, April 17 it was vacation, so Nico and I went to Patzcuaro, a town about 40 miles away. We took a combi half way around Morelia to the start of the main highway to Patzcuaro. There, Nico led me to where the busses stopped. He tried thumbing a ride but was unsuccessful before the next regular bus came. It cost 27 pesos to ride the bus. The bus wasn't quite as nice as the one I was on from Reynosa, but still much nicer than the average Greyhound bus. The road was mostly low-grade US interstate quality, which seems to be the better roads in Mexico. Nico pointed out one spot where David wanted to buy some land for the RYCCA camp. When we got to Patzcuaro, Nico led me to another bus that took us from the bus station to the downtown area. There, Nico purchased a fish from the open market (yes, an entire fish, head, fins, tail, and all) then proceeded to eat the good parts off the fish. When he was done it looked like the typical cartoon fish that had been eaten by a cat. We then walked a short distance to the zocalo where there was a large open market with different booths of people selling all manner of stuff except food, well, some were selling candy, but not other food. In the middle, we watched for a while as an ethnic dance was going on. After walking around the entire market, I purchased a sombrero and one other small item. I wore the sombrero as we walked around other parts of the city, as Nico showed me several interesting spots, including some stores, a church, a museum, and a place with a pool in the center, where I ate some food I had brought with me. We then went to a restaurant where Nico ordered what he claimed was the best soup in the area at what he also said was the best price. Since I had just eaten, I didn't order anything, but I did try the soup and after tasting it I wish I was hungry enough to order it! I marked the place on my GPS and took some notes so I'll be able to find it again. We then walked around some more and Nico started looking for the bus to take us to Ziruhen (pronounced Zituwen). After walking a distance, we took a combi to the edge of Patzcuaro, where Nico again started thumbing for a ride, but eventually found a bus that was as nice as the one we took from Morelia.
Wake me up when we get there, Bill After we were on the bus for a short time, Nico told me to wake him up when we got there. Like I knew when we'd get there, much less where "there" was! Later on, Nico woke up. By this time, we were on a windy two lane road that led I couldn't tell where, when Nico told me we were on the wrong bus! We went forward to the front of the bus and waited till the bus came to a split in the road and there was also a patch on the side where there was a bus stop sign. There seemed to be some houses nearby, and I could also see some railroad tracks. After a few minutes, we walked over to where the road split, and there was an island in the middle of the split (outlined only by yellow paint markings and not raised above the rest of the road) where a white car that looked something like a taxi was waiting. Nico talked to the driver and told me for 5 pesos each he would take us the rest of the way. Well, the road wound down through the hills and eventually we got to a small town. From there, I followed Nico through some streets that I would never have guessed led to where we were going, and without Nico I never would have gone! We ended up at what was apparently a very popular hangout for families and anyone who wanted to camp out for the night. It was also alongside a lake of pretty good size, at least a mile across and probably 2 miles long. There was a strip of grass fit for a golf course between a dirt road and a small cliff about 5 feet high that dropped down to a very narrow sandy beach, then the water. On the other side of the dirt road was a line of booths selling food, candy, and various other things, including a sign for a bathroom with $200 on a sign near the door. I couldn't imagine it would cost 200 pesos to use the potty, but that's what it looked like. It was probably 2 pesos. We pitched our tent there then hung out for a while and rested, then Nico went for a swim and I waded in the murky water near the shore for a while. As I stood there, I wondered how many microbes, parasites, bacteria, worms, and who knows what else was eating into my skin. I then made 7 drip castles out of the sand along the beach, placing them just barely out of reach of the waves. A handful of young children sat on the top of the "cliff" watching me. Later, we read our bibles for a while, then Nico got some firewood to make a fire with. Three boys from the neighboring campsite visited with us for quite a while, the oldest was probably 10 or maybe even 12, but none of them spoke English. Nico talked with them and I said a few words once in a while (mainly because I only knew a few Spanish words). We then decided it was time to go to bed, but we took a walk down past the end of where everyone was camping to use the 'facilities' and avoid using the $200? peso facility which Nico said was worse than using the woods. Just about this time, in the other direction from our campsite, a band was striking up. They played Mexican music that was interesting, but disturbing to Nico because he wanted to sleep.
Do they ever shake the dust out of the blankets? It got quite chilly, and after I had all the clothes I had with me on me, I was just barely warm enough. Eventually, Nico decided we needed to do something about it and said there was a family nearby that he knew who might be able to help. He came back about 10 minutes later with several blankets. Well, these blankets must have never been shaken out because just in the process of wrapping myself up in them, my nose went from just fine as far as breathing to virtually impossible, so I breathed through my mouth, this time wondering how many dust mites from these blankets I was breathing in. Plenty warm now, my nose wasn't doing so well and even began to drip some. I finally got to sleep.
Friday, April 18, This is how much dust there is: After taking my time to wake up, I suggested shaking out the blankets before we returned them. With the first shake, each blanket emitted an enormous cloud of dust, not to my surprise to the least.
Getting home was a trip. Nico then went around talking to people to find out who was going back towards Morelia and when he came back he said he had found someone. After we packed up, we walked into town, stopping for a while at a church he said he knew. We then walked into town where someone handed us a paper advertising a car show. We sat in the shade on the main street of the town waiting for a ride (maybe the one he had arranged? He kept thumbing rides from others!) As it turned out, the person we got a ride from was going all the way to Morelia fairly close to where our place was!
Culture: Passion Play. We got back to Morelia after noon, and along the main street was a huge crowd surrounding a live moving display of Christ carrying a cross and being whipped by Roman soldiers. We watched this for a while till the parade turned off the main street to go down the side street.
Nico's family: Saturday, April 19, Nico and I went to his family's house, which was on the farthest west portion of town I've been to yet. His mother was there and she had some good food for us including soup, eggs and beans. We then did some work for her in the house, including removing nails from the concrete block walls. There were wires and nails sticking out of the walls of the room with the concrete roof, and after removing the stuff that was hanging on the nails, we removed the nails, then I removed the wires by bending them back and forth till they broke off. The wires were apparently left over from the construction of the house, used to hold concrete molds together. Nico also swept the cobwebs off the wall and swept the floor. The first nail I took out of the wall came with several pieces of concrete and dust. Fortunately the other nails were easier to remove. Their house is in a neighborhood that looks pretty bad, several "houses" are just brick or concrete walls that obviously nobody lives in. A nearby place is patchworked together with a tin roof. Nico's house is one of the nicer ones, but still it is just concrete block walls and a concrete ceiling in one room, and the bedroom also has concrete walls but a tin roof. We then sat around for a while and chatted, looked at pictures and watched TV. We also went up to the roof for a while. There was an old and large car parked outside the house, and we took that car back here because Nico had something large that needed to be transported (I think it was a tent).
Easter Sunday: Palabra de Dios & templo de Dios. Sunday, April 20, The church had a special choir and a really good skit performed mime style. The sermon was about the temple of God and the Word of God, those three words I understood, the rest of the sermon I didn't.
This is Mexico?!: The neighborhood horse. Sunday afternoon on my way home, there was a horse in the middle of the church parking lot! Other observations about Morelia is that occasionally there is what is probably an ice cream truck playing the "It's a small world after all" song as it goes along. Also, sometimes someone walks through the street ringing a bell. I've been told that this announces the approach of the garbage truck.
Office Work: Monday, April 21, among my major projects for the day was helping David finalize his next newsletter and getting it posted on his web site, then working on and successfully figuring out an important element (searching) of David's database.
Late night walk home: I went to a men's group at Pablo's house that evening. We mainly played games and ate food this time, probably partly because nobody but me showed up until over an hour late (not unusual for Mexico!) Nobody was able to give me a ride home this time but Pablo showed me which combi to take. I walked home looking for the combi, which was supposed to be Cafe 1 with a brown stripe. I saw one combi that had a 1 on it, but it didn't say Cafe. I think there was one other that either had a brown stripe or said Cafe, but it didn't have the 1 or was missing the other marking. I ended up walking all the way home. Despite it being later than I have walked home before, I found even the most desolate streets to have at least a few people walking about on them, and often this was adults with children.
T-Shirt Screen Printing: Tuesday, April 22, David was in the office and Nathan was next door with a Mexican young person doing screen printing of tshirts. I worked on the database, then came back home and worked on the web page.
More American Food in Mexico: At the house, Nico came home rather late. However, it was Tuesday and we decided to order the Domino's 2 for 1 Tuesday special anyway. It was relatively expensive, two medium size pizzas for $130 pesos. At the very least, we had some leftovers for the next day, since I didn't even eat half of my share.
More Office Work: Wednesday, April 23, David was using the computer all day, so I worked on the web page all day, fighting with the code, trying to get it to do everything it wasn't doing.
Outside of office work: Land at Loma Caliente! At some point during the day, I found out that David and his family were going to go to what they hope will be their own property for the RYCCA camps. This would be a camping trip since absolutely nothing is on the property now except trees, shrubs, and sort of a road, plus various small animals. I helped Nathan load some things into their van in preparation.
To the land, and beyond? Or will we even get there? Thursday, April 24, we departed around 9:15, and drove towards Patzcuaro on the main road, going maybe 1/3 of the distance to Patzcuaro. We then left the main road and went through a small town on a two lane road, then another small town and onto a road thatd looked like they were in the process of paving. At one point, it was one lane because there was a pile of rocks parallel to the road for several hundred feet, and there was a truck coming the other way. We eventually got to where the road was just dirt, then after going around a hairpin turn, we continued on a one lane dirt road going along at about 10 mph through fields. This seemed to be the best road in the area. We eventually got to another small town (very small, perhaps only 40 people in the whole town). We stopped there for a while as David talked to who I think was the land owner, then we stopped again and David talked to someone else, then we stopped again and talked to yet someone else. We finally arrived at camp, and we got into setting things up immediately. The first day, we got accustomed to our surroundings, and Nathan and I staked out the perimeter of the property using my GPS. At one corner, a large dead tree was on the ground in the farmer's field adjacent to the property, and an active hive of bees were busily making honey. Yes, these were honey bees! I got into the corner to mark the position with the GPS but one of the bees started coming after me, and I ran from one edge of the field to the other several times before the bee gave up. We trimmed a lot of branches and other brush and I burned anything that had thorns on it. Some of these things had very long thorns. Karen kept us supplied with food.
Friday, April 25, we continued to work on the property, cutting branches and brush, staking out locations for camping and other activities, and numerous other things. I stayed in a tent with Nathan for the two nights up on the southwest corner of the property, which was the only flat spot we could find after the others took all the flat spots near the "kitchen." The kitchen was in the lower corner of the property accessible by a "road" that the van could navigate. Virtually the entire property is a gentle slope upward from a corn field at the lower end to another field at the top. Below the corn field there is a lake that is plenty big enough for small boats, jet skis, sailing, wind surfing, and swimming, but not a whole lot bigger than that. Karen continued to cook wonderful food the whole time.
Saturday, April 26, we continued our various projects while Karen continued to cook wonderful food especially for a camping trip, and David spent a lot of time in the hammock resting.
This is Mexico, On the road: Moooove over! On the way back to Morelia, we took a different road that was a bit shorter. Along this road, at one spot there were cows laying down in the road. As we approached, they didn't move. David drove the van very slowly as we approached, and finally had to actually nudge the cow. I saw the cow wiggle as we bumped into it, then on the second bump, the cow got up and moved. The other cows moved without needing to be nudged.
In rural Mexico, it's not unusual to see a cow in the road
Nico's church in Tzitzio & travel experience (Don't take that bus!) Sunday, April 27, I went with Nico to one of the churches he preaches at. I left everything of value with David, ad his suggestion, then I asked David to pray for me, and he did. Anna and Gaby, who both know David, and I know at least that Anna works with David, went with Nico and I. Anna had also just returned from Spain. We started our trip by walking to where the road to Tzitzio intersects the main loop road around Morelia. We waited there for probably 20 minutes until the right bus came. The bus was one of those busses the magic bus web site (a travel site) suggests americans not take, so we took that one. The bus climbed into the mountains on a winding two lane road, making me think of the bus plunge web site that catalogs every time a bus takes a plunge off a mountain road, usually in a 3rd world country. This road was better than typical 3rd world country mountain roads, and I never felt unsafe. The scenery was indeed spectacular, and we must have climbed at least a thousand feet above Morelia. I wish I had my GPS with me for this trip. The bus took about an hour to get to Tzitzio, then it was a short walk down a very steep road that appeared to be a main road through the town. Tzitzio is a small town nestled in the hills that surround it, the hills reaching probably 1000 or more feet above the town in virtually every direction less than a mile from the town. We did not have to go into the main part of town. The church, like virtually every other structure in old Mexico, was a concrete block building not bigger than an average living room/dining room in an American house. Nico started with prayer for a long time, then we prayed as a group. Nico gave a message and had me and the other two girls give a testimony. I tried to use as many Spanish words as I could for my testimony, which actually ended up being close to 1/4th of what I said, though I chose my words carefully and my Spanish was probably hideous. Towards the end of the service, Nico also asked me to pray over the other people who had come to the church, so I did and he translated in Spanish. There were only about 4 or 5 others in the church that day, plus one little boy who came and left several times. We then hiked back up to the "main" road and waited for the bus.
This is Mexico: Don't take the bus, just hitchhike! After waiting a while, one of the girls flagged down a pickup truck and we all hopped in the back. The truck was driven by a man and in the cab were two children, I think both girls. In the back with us was a boy probably 12 years old. The truck was going all the way back to Morelia, so we were able to get a free ride. I asked Nico if he happened to know who the driver was and he said he had no idea!
Office Work, just do it: Monday, April 28, I was in the RYCCA office all day. David added things to my list faster than I could get them done, which seems typical. He knows I can't get everything done, so at one point he said, "Well, just do whatever you want!"
RYCCA & playground ceremony: Monday, April 28, there was a ceremony to officially open a playground area that RYCCA had helped clean up with the assistance of community leaders and others, and just after I had shut down the computer in preparation for departing, David arrived and needed the computer to offload pictures from his camera! For more info on this project, seethe RYCCA in the park.
Babysitting? at the office: Tuesday, April 29, Miguel, an 11 year old boy, spent the day at the office with us, and I spent a good deal of time entertaining him, partially just because he was easy to entertain, and partially showing him my work. It was interesting to do this across the language barrier, but we came up with enough hand signals and pointing plus my limited Spanish so we could communicate. Among other things, I tried to teach him how to juggle!
Office language barrier: Anna and the other girl (I'm not sure her name) speak very little English but they talked to me a lot, so it was interesting trying to interpret them. Since Sunday, they have been trying to teach me various different Spanish phrases.
Office Work: Park web page. Later in the day, David got me started on building a web page for the RYCCA celebration/ceremony of the opening of the playground area. I worked mostly on the web page that evening.
Singles Conference: Thursday, May 1 was the first day of a singles 24 and up conference put together by Pablo Lewis. I had been requested to help with luggage, but when I got where I thought I was suppsed to be, I couldn't find the people who were doing the luggage. I went back and forth to the RYCCA office and helped David with odds and ends, and the crowd grew in the patio area around the church in preparation for the conference, but I still never found the luggage people. The conference started and I enjoyed the music but didn't understand the various seminars because they were in Spanish. In the evening, the conference continued, and a portion of it included getting together with a small group and coming up with a group song. Our group did very well with that, and there was an English teacher who helped me understand what was going on. I also talked to some others who knew a little bit of English.
Entertaining the Mexicans, and good chicken: I joined several of the conference people on a trip to a restaurant called Pollo Loco, which means Crazy Chicken. We had to go to the upstairs portion of the restaurant because there wasn't enough room for us in the downstairs part. We told a lot of stories and jokes as we waited. There was also a high chair with a fold-down table. Someone tried to sit in it but couldn't fit. So I tried to sit in it, and I was able to put the fold-down table into position in front of me! The chicken was very good.
Conference continues: Group games. (Lazarus, Come Forth!) Friday, May 2, I continued to attend the conference I didn't understand, but I also went to the RYCCA office and helped David with odds and ends. In the afternoon, there were some games that each group cycled through and we had to do various things. I was able to follow along, but at one point I didn't understand I was supposed to catch a marshmallow in my mouth that was on the end of a string hung from someone else's mouth, all while I was blindfolded! At another game, we were supposed to act out Jesus calling Lazarus out of the tomb. The group nominated me as Jesus. So I said, "Lazarus!" and "Lazarus" said, "What?!" which was very funny.
Food: It's still in its packaging! In the evening, I thought things were over, so I got my stuff from the RYCCA office, but as I was on my way out of the church area, one of the guys stopped me and said there was a camp fire and I should come there. So I did. They were roasting hotdogs and marshmallows, and a group of people was singing. I didn't realize that the hot dogs were wrapped in plastic till after I had roasted one of them and started eating it!
Midnight festival: Then some people I had met earlier invited me to join them to go downtown to the festival. This was at around 10:30pm! There was quite a group going, perhaps as many as 15. The festival, even at that late hour, was quite active. We spent probably 2 hours there. I rode one ride called Crazy Mouse, and felt almost sick afterwards. I didn't go on any more rides, though some of the others I would have enjoyed more. We walked around the whole area and there were a lot of people there, even well past midnight.
On the radio!: Saturday, May 3, I slept in, and got to the conference around noon and went to the RYCCA office first. I ended up staying there as David needed this and that and I needed to take care of many things as well. While online, Steve Myers came online and invited me to be on his radio show! So I ended up staying in the office all afternoon instead of going to the conference. Nico and at least one other girl was in the office when Steve's show started. Steve called at 5:21 eastern time, about 20 minutes into the show and when I said, "hello Steve," a voice that didn't sound like Steve said, "Wait while I connect you." I then heard a commercial that sounded like Steve's show. Eventually I heard the show music, and it was a couple minutes before I got to share anything. The show topic was hypocrisy in families, schools, the church, and government, so my missions field topic didn't quite fit, but I was able to share several things about what it was like here. There were several other guests that we cycled through with a variety of questions, and I got to share a little about how an addition onto one church in America costs the same as building 20 churches in Haiti, and related this to the show topic by suggesting that many churches could do more for missions if they weren't as focused on keeping everything "just so" at their home church. Nico got to talk a little as well, and they let him speak Spanish since someone there could translate (sort of). Toward the end of the show, I got to share a few closing comments, so I jokingly added "I don't want to see this phone bill!"
Special banquet and food at the conference: Since I didn't know where Pablo's conference was meeting for the evening special banquet, I went to David's house. He sent me with Caleb up to the main road to get me on the right combi. The place was right on the main street. Pablo and his family arrived just after I did. I helped them bring in the stuff, then hung around till things got started. Pablo's usually very quiet son talked to me quite a bit for a while as we made up silly stories. The program was interesting, including awards for the different activity groups, and my group got first place, I think! Usually laid back Pablo then put on his fancy sombrero and sung some Spanish songs which was very entertaining. There was chicken and salad for dinner, with two drinks, one made from boiling the pedals of a certain kind of flower, the other from a mixture of milk, rice, and I forget what else, but it tasted kind of like milk, kind of like silk milk, and kind of like tapioca pudding. I drank mostly the flower pedal drink, which was quite similar to a cherry drink. Things didn't wind down till close to midnight.
Very Late night walk home: I managed to not make arrangements for a ride home, and Pablo and his family were too tired to take me any farther than McDonald's, so I walked the rest of the way, about a mile. I just said, Ok Lord, I didn't get into this situation intentionally, so my life is in your hands. Well, walking along the main street was fine. There was a steady flow of traffic, though light, but not many people. On the narrower streets leading to my house, there were a few people but not many. Surprisingly, there were even a few children here and there. One person I passed said, "buenos nochas!" to me. I kept my eye on anyone who came the other way being prepared to run if they looked the least bit threatening. I crossed the street at one point to give myself space to get around some people, but in the process, I passed a parked car and was surprised to hear voices coming from the car! I just kept going. It was 12:30 when I got home. I was glad not to be out any later. Not long after getting into bed, I heard a car race its engine, then a screech of tires. Then I heard the same thing again sounding just a bit farther away.
Locked Out!: Sunday afternoon after church, I went into the back yard to water the grass, and heard the door close behind me. The door is a one-way door, not openable from the outside, and none of my keys worked in the lock! I thought I would be there all night, but there was enough space to poke through the edge of the door to reach the latch, and after trying many other objects, I was eventually able to use the stem of my glasses to pry the latch away from its holder and I was able to get back inside. For all the security they have around here, this would have been perhaps the biggest threat I have faced so far if I was stuck out there all night with nothing but shorts and a tee shirt, as it does sometimes get quite chilly at night. Nico came home a little while later and we ate some food, discussed many things, and discovered that one of my keys did in fact open the back door!
Mexican holiday: Cinco de Mayo Monday, May 5, Nico announced it was a holiday, and said I should join him and his family for some activities. After spending a good portion of the day doing work, we finally got to his parent's house in the mid-afternoon. At his house, I went with his mother to the store where a tortilla machine was popping out tortillas at the rate of one every second or so.
Buying snacks: On the way back, I happened to see a large bag of what is so far my favorite Mexican snack. The shop owner got out a small bag and said "uno peso." But I wanted the whole big bag, and it took a little convincing to get the point across, despite my eagerly pointing at the large bag and saying "todos!" He eventually sold me the whole bag for 15 pesos. This particular snack is actually just flour deep fried in fat till they become like starch packing peanuts. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.
More food: At Nico's place, Nico let me try some dried up meat that is sort of like beef jerkey that comes from some kind of animal about one foot long that lives in the mountains. Nico's grandmother sung a song about the animal, repeatedly making a sound like a monkey. I later determined that the animal was probably a raccoon. I think it was also this day that I tried some jelly like substance about a quarter inch thick (maybe a bit thinner) that they said was pig skin. It was brown and translucent.
Office Work: Tuesday, May 6, I worked on the database till I felt I wasn't being productive anymore. At about that time, Nathan showed up. I then worked on the web page for the playground park above the church that David and his crew had been involved with in getting fixed up. To show the ribbon for the ribbon cutting ceremony, Nathan and I spent quite a while unsuccessfully trying to cut a ribbon out of one picture and paste it into another picture. After a lot of fiddling, I finally figured out how to cut and paste the ribbon. The modified picture is on the Park web site. I then worked on the rest of the web site.
Completed work!: Friday, May 9, I put final touches on the RYCCA web site and we got it uploaded. David and Karen spent time with the lawyer finalizing the purchase of some land which will be used for the camp this summer. Miguel came by the office for a while so I let him watch what I was doing. David also came into the office in the evening and we spent much of the evening finalizing the web site and getting an e-mail sent announcing the land purchase.
Cleaning the House: Saturday, May 10, I started preparing for the return of the family who lives in the house I was staying in. I cleaned part of the house in the morning, then tried to fix the vacuum cleaner. A belt that turns the sweeper brush was broken, so I couldn't fix that problem.
More Mexican food: Saturday after cleaning some of the house, Nico and I went out first to a church where his mother was working. There, we ate a very Mexican snack. They unwrapped three things from corn cob peels and put them on a plate for me. They tasted like very thick corn bread. They tasted pretty good, but I quickly discovered I could only eat one bite at a time, as they were very thick. We then went to Wal-Mart. They had many snacks and other "try this" things, so we ate a variety of cheese mostly. Nico also insisted that I buy some tortillas stuffed with something very Mexican, and I found it tasty. I think it was chicken and some kind of jellied substance which might be pig skin, probably the same stuff I ate at Nico's house earlier.
El Chavo and my hat: I had been hearing about a TV celebrity by the name of El Chavo who had a hat similar to one I had, the one with the flap in the back. So similar, in fact, that when I first arrived here and was wearing this hat in the street market, some small children pointed at me and said something in Spanish, and Nico said it was because my hat looked like the one that El Chavo wears. Apparently, El Chavo is pretty popular. Wednesday, May 14th, I finally got to see the El Chavo show. It was pretty funny even though I didn't understand much of it. His hat is not exactly like mine, but it is similar.
No power at the office: Thursday, May 15, when I got to the office, we had no power! For the next several hours, we had no power, or the power flickered on and off. At one point, the power came on for a relatively long time, and we began to do computer work. Then the power went off again! I was able to work on my lap top for a while using the battery, and I did online work.
Office Work: Friday, May 16, I worked on a new database for camp guides. I got that database to where it needed to be for the day, then worked on other things the rest of the day.
This is Mexico: A bad Dog My walk to and from the office involves going past a used car lot in which there is a dog that is particularly bothersome. Most dogs ignore me, but this one seems to make a point of barking at me whenever it is around. It isn't always around. One night walking home, I nearly ran into the dog because it came out from behind one of the cars! I now walk in the ditch alongside the street along this section. The ditch is slanted, so walking there is difficult, but it is better than being bothered by this dog.
Day at David's land: Saturday, May 17, we (Nico, his friend Thao, and I) all got up at 6 am and headed for David's land where the RYCCA camp will be this summer. We took Thao's truck, and he drove. We picked up Anna from the church. There was much talk in Spanish, which I understood virtually none of. When we got to where Wal-Mart is, where the road to Patzcuaro exits the city, I got out my GPS, which seemed to make Nico and Thao happy because they didn't know how to get to the land.It seemed they didn't even know they had to take the Patzcuaro road! Fortunately, I still had the trail in the GPS from the previous trip to the land, so I followed the trail all the way and told them which way to turn at each intersection. When we got there, David told us he had given Nico directions to go a different way. We worked all day on the soccer field near the top of the property, cutting and moving brush and digging out stumps. By the end of the day, the field looked like a field, not much bigger than a big volleyball court, but big enough. It wasn't finished, but we had made good progress.
This is Mexico: In the late afternoon, Thao, Nico, Anna, Anna's father, and I all headed back in the truck. I rode in the back. I guided them back the way we should have gone the first time. There was saw dust in Thao's truck, which wasn't a problem till we got back on the main roadway and started going along at 70mph. The sawdust blew around everywhere and got into everything I was wearing.
And a little fun and games: Sunday, May 18, after church, I went with Pablo's family and some others for a meal at their place. We spent the afternoon playing games. I built structures out of dominoes and lined them up in rows so they would all fall down in sequence. The following night at the Men's group, Pablo's daughter and I built bridges so the row of dominoes would cross over itself on a triple-level cross over. The dominoes all fell down in their proper order, but the two bridges collapsed in the process.
El Gringo! On the way to Pablo's house one evening, a group of school children were walking the other way when one of them said, "Hey gringo!" I waved my sombrero at them and smiled.
This is Mexico: As I got closer to Pablo's house, I could see a fire burning on the hillside above their house. In this part of the city, the city ends very abruptly, and the hillside is speckled with trees and brush. Apparently, the fire burns every year about this time because it is the end of the dry season. Because it can't go past the concrete, nobody does anything about it.
It's a small world after all: At a Wednesday evening church service the last full week I was in Mexico, a black person was in the row in front of me and he asked me if I had been at Kingsway, back in McAllen, Texas, where I spent 3 nights before going into Mexico! Sure enough, it was someone I had spoken to during my time at Kingsway.
Really good food, Mexican style: after the service, Nico and I went back to the house and drank mango and banana shakes. They were really good.
Garbage pickup, Mexican style: Saturday, May 24, I finally was able to get rid of the garbage. I heard the bell ringing in the street which means the garbage truck was nearby, but it was a long time before the truck and the bell came down my street. They took a full load and an extra bucket for just 10 pesos. Later, I told Nico about the garbage experience and he was stunned that I had given them 10 pesos. So I had to think back to what happened, and I remembered the following. I only had a 20 peso note at the time, and when I handed it to the garbage people, they stared at me, I stared at them, they stared at me, and I stared at them. I tried to mumble bad Spanish/English to ask about how much I owed them, and after what seemed like a long time, they went up to the truck driver and got me a 10 peso coin. I was happy because they had taken a large garbage can quite heavily loaded with garbage, plus a large waste basket (also pretty full, plus a medium size cardboard box. And based on what Nico said, I guess they were happy to get so many pesos!
Office Work: At the office I worked on the database, the RYCCA logo, and a few other odds and ends. These projects took most of the afternoon.
Rainy season starts: We had a thunderstorm in the afternoon, which wasn't serious except for the quarter to half inch hail! When it first started, I thought someone was throwing rocks! David told me he was glad I got to see that because it marked the beginning of rainy season.
You're from New Joysey?!? Sunday, May 25, I got to church in time to miss the music, so I had to sit in the farthest back row and listen to a sermon I still didn't understand. I typically interact with a variety of people between services, and at one point during my stay in Mexico (I'm not sure when it was, I'm sure it wasn't this day) someone mentioned, "Oh, you're from New Joysey?" I had to correct them that only outside New Jersey do people say "New Joysey" where ever I go, I guess now even in Mexico!
The house owners: I had been told that the owners of the house I was staying in had travelled to the United States. I had not met them yet but they were expected to return while I was still there. Perhaps even that evening. So after church, I went back to the house to continue cleaning. I cleaned and mopped, and tried to mow the lawn but couldn't get the lawn mower or the weed wacker going. I then wrote out a note for the family to welcome them. I then went back to the church for the evening service. Even after my solo combi ride home that evening, the family still hadn't arrived.
Riding a combi by myself: I went to Pablo's house after an evening church service, then came home by combi, my first ride by myself. I had a long wait for a Cafe 1 which was the one that went into my neighboorhood. While still on Libremiento just before the turn to my neighborhood, another Cafe 1 came up beside us! Both combis stopped at the traffic light side by side, and the drivers chatted till the light changed. Then the other guy, who had nobody with him, went straight while our vehicle turned right.
Mexican food, this stuff is GOOD! It's mole, but what is mole? Monday, May 26, after a men's group meeting at Pablo's house, we all ate mole, pronounced something like molay. It had been made by one of the guys mothers. The mole was the main course of what seemed to be a regular meal. Now I'm not sure exactly what Mole is, and the Mexicans aren't quite sure either. That's because it's made differently every time. But it was spicy, and also very good. It was a sauce, very dark in color, with meat in it. The rest of the ingredients were finely chopped spicy peppers, tomatoes, onions, and a variety of other things, including a small amount of chocolate. Apparently, everyone has their own recipe. But it was very good! We mixed it with rice and wrapped it in tortillas, and had a rather good meal.
This is Mexico: I had stayed overnight at Pablo's house since I was there late the night before helping him with his web page. In the morning, he gave me a ride to the church, and we took a little detour so I could take pictures of some of the more upscale sections of Morelia, including the largest house in the city, which was as big as a city block! I took many pictures along this stretch, until a white non-descript car forced us to the side of the road, with a well dressed man directing us with his radio. A police looking person talked to Pablo for several minutes before I figured out that the problem was probably me taking pictures! Then one of them came around to my side and started speaking in Spanish, so I said, "No hablo espanol"! He then asked in English where I was from, and for identification, to which I showed him my visitors visa (this was the first time I had to use it). Later, Pablo told me they wanted to take the roll of film, so Pablo told them the camera was digital and there was no film! So with this other guy at my window, I tried to figure out how to delete the picture that was the particular problem. I couldn't find the right control to get to the picture in question, and after fumbling with it for a while, the guy smiled and said it was OK. Later, Pablo told me that during this time, he convinced them that he would talk to the "real" police about this matter as they were bothering a tourist, which Mexico really depends on for the money we spend here. (Not like _I_ have been spending a lot of money here, but the comment seemed to work!) It was at that point that they began to back off. Apparently, these guys were more guards for the ritzy area of town rather than real police.
Finally some railfanning: Tuesday, May 27, Nico and I took a combi and went to the railroad tracks, since I wanted to get there at least once, and they were kind of on the way to his parent's house, where we were going anyway. However, we were not on the busy line. We waited there probably half an hour and I got several pictures with David's digital camera. I believe this is the same line now owned by Kansas City Southern used to access a port on the coast to the southwest of Morelia, at Lazero Cardenas.
My last day: Wednesday, May 28, Nico's friend, Victor, who I had met the first or second day in Mexico, is a taxi driver and he offered to drive me for free (a gift) to the bus that morning. We got to the bus in plenty of time, and Victor even took me right to my bus!
This is travel in Mexico: On my way through inspection, I beeped the metal detector, and a guard said I couldn't have any knives. I told him I had a small knife, then mentioned it was for cutting vegetables, but by this time he was waving me through. The bus was not as nice as the one coming from Reynosa, but still nicer than the average Greyhound bus. The guy behind me told me he was also going to El Paso. He seemed friendly and we chatted a bit. Pretty much everyone else on the bus was pleasant and/or kept to themselves. A little child got fussy at one point, but other than that it was a nice ride, and there were quite a number of other children on the bus. It seemed slow going for the first couple hours as we were on lesser roads and stopped at several towns. Then we got on a main road and cruised right along. The road was also very straight for long distances in places, as we drifted through flat areas pock marked by mountains.
A guyser in the bathroom?!: I used the bathroom at one point, and was surprised to see a guyser come out of the sink when I flushed the toilet! If I had been sitting on the toilet when this thing blew, I quite literally would have gotten soaked! It shot about 2 feet above the sink and soaked the mirror on the back wall. The water in the sink was full of suds; fortunately it didn't seem to also be toilet water. We continued to roll along.
Inspection Stations: At several locations, there were military inspection sites. At the first one, everyone had to get off the bus as the military, complete with high powered guns/rifles, pawed through our bags. They were polite about it and it went fairly quickly. This did not happen on the trip down, except possibly leaving Reynosa where someone looked under the bus briefly.
Snow, Ice, or Hail?: At one point in the evening, it looked like there was snow along the road from a snow storm where most of the snow had already melted. There were patches of white at various places right along the side of the road as well as in the fields. It must have been a hail storm. I pointed this out to the fellow behind me who didn't believe me at first till he saw one of the patches that was too big to be mistaken for anything else.
Movies on the bus: They showed a series of movies, all in Spanish except one which was subtitled. Most of the movies were shoot-em-up types, but one was about a kid who races motorcross. I would have enjoyed it except it was in Spanish.
Changing Bus Drivers: At various places along the way, especially the first time this happened, I was surprised to see one of the bus drivers open up the smallest of the three luggage bays, climb in, then close the door from the inside! I figured there must be a bed down there after this happened every few hours or so, as the driver and the guy underneath kept switching places.
Yes, they clean the bus at 5 in the morning in Mexico too. Thursday, May 29, about 5 in the morning, we stopped at Chihuahua, and my El Paso bound friend behind me who spoke pretty good English told me we all had to get off the bus while they serviced and refueled it. That took about half an hour. Continuing northward, I slept on and off as we travelled on pretty good roads through flat land pock marked with probably 1000 foot mountains. In Cuidad Juarez I was able to get to a Greyhound bus just as it was departing. Apart from a couple people who worked for Greyhound and got off the bus before we got to the border, I was the only person on the bus!
Overall Experience: My experience in Mexico was very good. I learned a lot, had a lot of fun, did many useful things, and came back in good spirits. I got a little sick, but it wasn't anything I couldn't live with. But more importantly, I got to see God at work in ways I've never seen before. Aside from the cultural differences, human nature is much the same, and therefore so is the message of the Bible. I am already making plans to return to Mexico, hopefully next spring.
Visit Camps International web site to learn more about doing Christian camps in different countries.