or...
"we'll be sleeping on the beach, keeping oceans within reach"
either title is completely appropriate for a week of camping in Mexico!
We just got back from 7, or maybe it was 8, I lost count! of days camping....
I slept on the beach 2 of the nights.
Once because I chose to, the other time b/c we were at a youth conference, and they decided to shock the kids out of their comfort zones by waking them up in the middle of the night, grabbing only their sleeping bags and pillows to walk in the dark to follow clues to what would end up being the beach.
that was fun!
over all, a very eventful week.
and now I realize just how thankful I am for hand soap (hand sanitizer just can't replace it!), toilet paper (NOT paper towels. ick.) warm water, running water, changes of warm clothes (only took one sweatshirt for the whole trip! Oops!)...etc.
We spent the first couple nights at a beach (near Mulege) 10 hours south of where we live. Our group was helping put on the youth conference, so we wanted some time to become more unified, as well as to be able to tell the dudes at the military checkpoints that we were on vacation. Apparently they are suspicious of missionaries/church groups.
Even while we were at the beach camping out we ate gourmet food b/c Tani is that good. She made pasta salad. That was COLD. Who would have thought that using ice to cool down noodles can make pasta salad without a fridge????
The last half of the week we drove 2 more hours (to Loreto) to camp out in the back "yard" of a church that was hosting the youth event. *If yard means gravel. But they had running water!!! and real toilets.*
There and back we went through 8 military checkpoints and 2 border crossings. I think the outside of the bus got sprayed for insects, but I could be wrong. We only had to get off of the bus ONCE!! What a blessing, and we never had to present our papers, even though we had worked so hard right before the trip to make sure we had the appropriate things in order.
I feel like I saw 8000% less green/grass/plants while we were there. But it was also uncomfortably hot by 10 in the morning (all the way in Loreto, not in Mulege where we were camping for real.) and we drove through a gigantic uninhabited desert to get down there. I'll have to post some sweet pictures later.
We met a lot of great people, and now my girls are talking about visiting Loreto again, or even moving there!
Baja California Sur is BEAUTIFUL. It's much hotter than up here, but it was SUPER windy some of the days we were there. The sea was beautiful because we were on the Sea of Cortez side, and it had these shallow bits that seemed tropical and perfect. (On Pascua *easter* morning we a friend and I saw a gigantic dust cloud envelope a semi. It was strange how when you were in the dust, you could see the cloudiness of it, but when you were safe behind some glass you could see the fine gray dust EVERYWHERE. The night before, I got up twice in the middle of the night thinking some boys were playing tricks on us by shaking our tent violently and realized it was just the wind and that no one was awake!!!)
I had looked forward to snorkeling while I was there, but the water was so cold and pretty choppy, and I had a cold, so I was too chicken to get in it! You can make those chicken noises now. Louder!! Louder!!!! :)
I really enjoyed staying up all morning to see a beautiful sunrise on the Sea of Cortez. God's creation amazes me.
I had a lot of opportunities to translate (Sp-Eng mostly) for the other house "aunt" that we took, as well as for the bus driver, and a couple other people. I really enjoyed it. I think I'm discovering more and more how much I enjoy facilitating conversations, or facilitating understanding.
I feel like the girls grew and matured a lot! I just hope that being back home doesn't set them in old habits.
I really enjoyed seeing the girls interact with so many Mexican young people, and forming new relationships with adult leaders.
One of the nights we did a evangelistic/Christians can have fun too! program out on the boardwalk...I was on the dance team (yay!) and we danced to a Kirk Franklin (Gospel/R&B) song called Revolution, and also to another similar one called Shackles by Mary Mary.
I was ABSOLUTELY in love with their modern and beautiful grocery store. There was probably more than one in Loreto, since it's a big city, but I only visited one.
We saw a lot of European and English speaking tourists. It's a place cruise ships stop to dock. During an afternoon of free time, Julia and I were separated from our large group of young people 'cause we went to the rest room, for a moment, and these two dudes, young back packing types, casually (but seriously) invited us to travel farther down the Baja with them. Julia commented that people that travel for a time, or who are consistently living outside of their comfort zone are so welcoming and hospitable. I thought about my own travel experience and realized how right she was. People are just looking for others to invite on the journey they are already taking.
We asked each other if they stay that welcoming/hospitable/chill once they return "home"...
We decided that some might, but others might not.
or really that we have NO CLUE.
(I was super hospitable/friendly when I was traveling in CR by myself, not so much when I got home, but just asking me is not a good scientific test.)
There was enough wind our last night in Loreto, that I thought some guys were trying to play a prank on us. I thought people were outside our tent shaking it, but it was just the wind!
We had a very safe trip there and back, and I'm excited to see what my girls think of "missions" now.
A couple more days of Spring break till it's back to the grindstone.
I'm sure there is much more that I can say that I just can't think of right now. If you have specific questions, shoot them at me!
<3
Jen
(oh and Steve is permanently back from radiation!! Everything tastes salty, since his taste buds have been messed up. He needs prayer for his facial skin to go back to normal, as well as better use of his jaw.)
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