When in Mexico, Drive Like the Mexicans Drive

Barely 9 kilometros over the border on Mexico 2 (a highway), and we'd already almost crashed twice. The speed limit was 60 kph (about 40 mph), and every car on that highway was going 80. 80 miles per hour, not kilometros per hour. Oy. That was a fun ride. And that was just the first day in Mexico. It was most definitely an adventure.


There are speed bumps EVERYWHERE in Mexico. In Rio Bravo, they're enormous...and painful, especially if one is sitting in the back of the van. Also, one of our drivers loved to go slow at first, then gun it to get over the bump. We were not very happy with him. After a while we just started yelling "SPEED BUMP" every time we saw one. Then there's the speed bumps on the highway. Yes, on the highway. Crazy place, Mexico. Their traffic lights are strange, too. Not only are many of them on the highway, but they also flash green when it's about to turn yellow. It just means go faster.


One frightening example of Mexican driving was actually done by one of our own. On the way back from our worksite one day, we were traveling down the highway when the assistant driver in the front seat said, "We missed our turn!" So, the driver immediately turned to what she thought was the exit. It was actually the way on to the other side of the highway. We were driving on the WRONG SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY! Miraculously, we got onto the right side without getting into a head-on collision.


If you're not in the town or on the highway in Mexico, the road is dirt. Or rather, mud...especially after 3 straight nights of rain. And we had to drive about 30 minutes to our worksite each morning. By the end of the week, the outsides and insides of the truck and vans were covered with mud. It was pretty nasty...but by the end of the week, we no longer cared, because we were covered with dirt anyway. (I never felt clean the whole week. I think there's something in the water.) We did get the vans cleaned at the end of the week at a Mexican car wash...all 3 vehicles, inside and out, for about $20. Unfortunately, it took about 3 hours. We also ended up having to cram 24 people into a 15 passenger van (because the other one was still being cleaned). Now that was comfortable. There were about 5 or 6 people in every row, and some people had to sit on others. It was just a tad overcrowded.


We made it out of Mexico alive and well. Although we came close, none of our vehicles ever crashed. Miracles never cease.

I'm Back!

I'm alive. Barely, but I'm alive. It was a great trip. Thirty people went; it was an awesome group. We had absolutely no people problems; however, we were not so lucky in other areas. We had some weather problems (rain, not heat), construction problems, and lots of illness problems. Lots of illness problems. Most of them from me, but that's another story. Even with our many problems, because we had no people issues, we can all look back and say it was a great trip. As I was telling 2 ladies at church today (one had gone, one had not), if we had had people problems, the trip would have been absolutely horrible. The lady who hadn't gone said, "Oh, such wisdom for someone so young!" I told her that it wasn't really wisdom, but experience. On my first trip to Rio Bravo, Mexico, we had no construction problems, no illness problems, and the only weather problem we had was heat, which we had expected. However, because we had people problems, the trip, at least the end of it, was like being in a living nightmare.

It was a great trip. We had amazing opportunities to touch a lot of peoples' lives. We were incredibly touched as well.
I've been working on a list of stories to write.
Here are just a few:
When in Mexico, Drive Like the Mexicans Drive
Ailments & Illnesses (a very, very long story)
Quiet House
Rio Bravo
Soriana
Travel
Construction
Music
Our Families
Boys Are Obnoxious
Newspapers
Shooting the Breeze
People
They won't be necessarily in that order, or be limited to just those stories. I'll think of more, I'm sure.

I'm just glad to be back alive!

Goodbye!

I'm leaving the country. I'm going with my church on a missions trip to Mexico and we're leaving bright and early tomorrow morning. Unfortunately for all you readers, that means I won't be blogging for quite some time. Last time I was there (two years ago), I couldn't even find a newspaper...in English or in Spanish. I was deprived of all current events for nearly a week. But I got over it.

After two years, I'm finally going back to Mexico. As I was telling a fellow team member, who knew going to bed late and waking up really early on uncomfortable mattresses in unairconditioned dorms to build houses in 90+ degree heat all day long (and then do it all over again) would be so much fun. I'm so excited!!

I'll tell you all of my stories when I return, don't worry!

ADIOS!!

Groups

When my youth pastor started at my church about two years ago, I really liked him (don't worry, I still like him now). We had the same last name, he wanted to update our youth praise band, of which I was and am a member (even though I haven't played in two months, but that's another story), and he wanted our youth group to grow in size and in God. However, he also wanted us to do small groups on Wednesday nights. I was not happy. I liked having everyone together and I didn't want to be separated from my friends. It got a little better when we got to choose in which small group we wanted to be. I really liked my leaders (even though I decided to switch halfway through the school year..yet another story). I learned a lot and I decided I really liked this small group thing. Then summer arrived. Now everyone in high school met together on Wednesday nights. Sometimes even the entire youth group. I could not wait for us to go back to small groups. We had a really great small group last year. And, by the end of the year, a really small one. Now we're back to big groups. The teachers this summer are wonderful...however, the people...yeah. It's going to be an interesting summer. I like all of the other highschoolers at my church. Some are just very immature. The leader had to get on to people a couple of times for being disruptive and finally said what I've been waiting for a leader to say for years: "If you're going to act like that, don't come. If you don't want to be here, don't come." A lot of people come because they think they have to. I hope that they still come, but because they want to.

I still can't wait for small groups.

Excuses, Excuses

Ok, I have a good excuse for not blogging. Sort of. I have a great variety of excuses...only one of them is good, though. There was a really big thunderstorm in my neck of the woods this afternoon. I watched two sections of our fence fall over in the 70+ mph winds. In between those two sections was one still standing. Unfortunately, in the short space of time that I walked away from the window...a tree fell on top of that one still standing. A really, really big tree. It also destroyed our swing set (which was too small for us and was only $30 at a garage sale a couple of months ago). For all of you Lakeside fans, do you remember the storm at the old house a few years ago when the enormous swing sets at the park were destroyed, and the power was out all night, and we had to make a Wally World run to get flashlights and lanterns? This was like that storm. And our swingset looks similar to the ones at Lakeside. Only smaller. And our power wasn't out all night. It came on just after we left for church (even though the electricity experts on the radio said it could take 2 to 3 days). So, no need to fear, we're all alive. My parents and a friend partially chopped up the fallen tree and repaired the fence. It doesn't look very pretty, but there aren't gaping holes anymore.
All in all, it was a very entertaining afternoon.