Blogs from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, North America

Tijuana- Burning Sun, Tall Hills, Fresh Ceviche, and Donkey Shows. DAY 1 Right after we crossed the busiest border of the world, I felt the welcoming of a new land. The Mexican flag waving as we walked, the Spanish words jumping from my mouth, the kids selling chicles to us, and of course the great weather! Oh yes! Ladies and gentlemen, Tijuana and San Diego share the same sun. I was tired but also very excited, Fabiola the explorer, her Chinese monkey Bai, and our friend Joe were about to experience the scary city of Tijuana. My cousins Isabel and Lidia picked us up at the border; they took us to the Chinese consulate with their badass van that you no longer see in the United States. The driving was crazy; I was impressed by my ... read more

Padraic's mother had a very serious talk with Padraic, older brother Kevin, and younger cousin Finn. "Things are different in Mexico. You must put your used toilet paper in a trashcan. Never flush it down the toilet." "Why?" asked Finn. "Because Mexican toilets are different." "Why?" "Because they have less money." Crossing the border from San Diego into Tijuana was easy enough. Huge concrete walls and men in camouflage impeded traffic from the other direction. A nearly-empty toll road ran from the outskirts of Tijuana to the beach resort. Intense sunlight lit the dust of the scrubland, empty except for thorny weeds and a car full of relatives driven by the venerable patriarch, GrandDude. On the beach a teenager tried to sell a brown-skinned, sombrero-wearing, ludicrously-happy, marionette to the three young Americanos. Twelve-year-old Kevin tried to ... read more

Esperanza celebrates 20 years of helping low-income families to build strong communities and construct houses! We had about 35 U.S. volunteers, 30+ families from our communities, government dignitaries, and lots of friends join us for a wonderful celebration. There were videos, slideshows, kids jumping on the blow up bouncy thing, mechanical bull, speeches, delicious food, dancing. There just aren't words to describe how much this organization has done over 20 years and how much is has grown in the process. As always, I invite anyone who wants to experience it to come down and visit :) ... read more

A fun Friday night for Alysson (the other long-term volunteer) and I included ice cream, popcorn, and a movie! We watched Food, Inc - a documentary about the U.S. food system. But more than that, it touches on so many issues that affect the U.S. and the world (health, manipulation in the government, immigration, human rights, workers rights, disparity between rich and poor, the interconnectedness of every country and the world market, etc). I could go on and on about how I feel but it's probably better that you just watch the movie yourself. I know documentaries can have a slant to them and not tell the other side of the story (and I haven't done my homework to check the accuracy of the film), however I still highly recommend the movie as it really makes ... read more

Today we went to Tijuana in Mexico! How was it? It was kind of weird because you would see a skinny dog all skin and bones and you would see people rolling around on skateboards selling stuff trying to get money because Mexico is a very poor county. It is kind of sad also because you think about how much you have and how little they have and when they are rolling along looking for money and you cant do any thing for them you just feel like your sad and not caring about how sad they are. I wasn't able to take pictures but I am sure there will be pictures for when I go to Disney land. When we got into Mexico we had not had anything to eat so bye the time we ... read more

Random happenings and things I've learned today: 1. Boys (meaning young "men") can be extremely frustrating. No explanation needed. 2. When it has been raining and there is a lot of mud, you should not drive excessively fast with only a short distance to cover. Why? Because your tires don't necessarily stop when you want them to and you might kill a cute puppy who is almost always cooped up in a small pen and doesn't know what to do when a car is coming towards him :-( RIP Toby. 3. It is 55°F in my room right now. We got hail yesterday and rain off and on all day yesterday and today. I'm in MEXICO and it's the end of April... definitely not liking this. 4. I drove stick shift for the first time!! I ... read more

This morning, I went with Eduardo (the volunteer coordinator - main person I work with) and his family to the community where his mom lives to participate in the way of the cross for Good Friday. There were men dressed as soldiers, Jesus, the other two men who were crucified, women and men following Jesus. We walked from one church to another about 6 blocks away stopping periodically for each of the stations of the cross. Afterwards we went to a seafood restaurant for shrimp/fish tacos! I got to meet Eduardo's mom, brothers and sister, and get to know his wife (Sulemma) and kids (Brian and Andrea) better. After lunch, we returned to his mom's house and hung out a bit and then went to Sulemma's parent's house. There were sooo many cute kids to play ... read more