First Full day in Mexico

Hi yáll,

Three of four of the families arrived without luggage. By the end of our first full day, now only 1 is still missing luggage. We are making quick progress here in Mexico!

We are exhausted and exhilarated. Today was our day to tour Mexico City. We saw the National Palace and AMAZING murals by Diego Rivera documenting Mexican / Aztec history. National Cathedral, National Museum, Templo Mayor, and so much more. We also were sobered seeing the Circulo (town center) where protesters make their voice heard - and the tents where 44 hunger strikers are on their 36th day of only water and honey, to protest the layoff of 44,000 electrical workers in October with no notice.

Tonight we were treated to the history of our host site, Casa de los Amigos and a potluck. Mariah, when you come next week I think you'll be very interested to here about all the Casa is doing hosting both migrants and refugees - I thought about your school project from last year.

Now we are each preparing items to take to La Buena Tierra school in Cuernavaca tomorrow. Barry, Lilly, Paul and Mik are configuring about 8 computers. Terry, Lea and Mary are preparing puppets materials for the kids tomorrow, and Karen, Cathy, Steve, Gabi, Anne, Sonia and Liana are preparing materials for a craft project on La Oruga Muy Hambrosa (The Very Hungry Caterpillar). And here I am trying to upload some photos to share with you!

Paz y mor, Katie

Day 1

after a wonderful day of sightseeing around Mexico City, my feet are nice and tired but otherwise I'm none the worse for wear. I had 4 of the best tacos of my entire life last night at a little fast food place right on the street topped with mashed potatoes and cactus. I think i'm even going to start putting mashed potatoes on my tacos in the states if they'll let me...
Walking through the street vendors, seeing famous Diego Rivera murals i've seen in spanish textbooks, and cruising through ancient Aztec ruins made for an excellent day and I can't wait to begin work on the wonderful Casa tomorrow!

-Mik

todavia estoy confundida...

Well, here I am at the Casa de los Amigos... 12.50 am. (Mexico City is on Central US time, GMT-6.00) Katie, her two daughters, and I made it in but without our bags. Those apparently are still coming in on US airways so they will apparently be at the airport about noon tomorrow. Roar!
It´s so stupid though! because on both of the flights the four of us were re-routed on, there were empty seats! mi pobre madre!! anywho, this keyboard is really weird.
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What's with Dallas?

Before I grab 3 hours of sleep, my update is that I'm happy that Katie and her girls and my kid made it to Mexico City tonight! Our US Airways flight out of Denver this afternoon had a broken door, so we got removed from the plane. After 100 minutes standing at the ticket counter (seriously - and that didn't include the time I waited to talk to someone), I was put on a flight into Dallas after the other four made it onto a Continental Flight via Houston. My bag is (I hope) with them, being tucked away into a room at the Quaker Guest house...

I guess this option beats taking the red-eye from DIA to Charlotte, NC and then a 5 am flight to MEX to arrive at 12:30 p.m. This way, I will at least make it in time to join everyone for a lunch at the "House of Tiles".

Sweet dreams, y'all. Hope to see you in the morning!

Wow trying to figure this thing out. My first blog! Its almost midnight the night before leaving and we are still packing. We are excited by the energy is starting to wane. Cathy has finished packing but has several hours of charting to do for work. I think I am done and so may get some sleep yet. We must leave the house in Ft Collins by around 10 am. We'll post when we get to Mexico!

Steve

I'm excited!

What an opportunity! I've never been to Mexico. I speak only a few words of Spanish. I have limited construction skills. Yet... I love being with preschool age children. I love the crowd of folks with which we'll be traveling. I'm excited to be in a different culture (even if only for a short time). I fully trust that the time will be blessed! I have much gratitude for Paul & Mary's efforts putting this trip together. Our congregation blessed work gloves and presented them to us at our commissioning on Sunday, so we go as an extension of the congregation with their support and blessing. Our family will be packing (along with what we think we need to bring) workgloves, energy efficient light bulbs, donated laptops, donated binoculars, some craft supplies, and water filters to support this Service/Learning adventure. Sounds very promising, doesn't it?!? --Karen

Heading South!

One rough visual estimate would put the distance between Boulder, Colorado, USA and Cuernavaca, Morales, Mexico at about 1,566 miles. (Anyone can tighten up that number with a surer-fire measurement than mine ;). That's where we're headed! Cuernavaca has earned a reputation as a lovely tourist destination with predominantly pleasant temperatures, lush plant life (and bird life), as well as historic sites in town and not far away, for visiting.

This Sunday May 23 we'll have a commissioning to ask God's blessing on our work and learning. Paul and Mary McKay, our coordinators and group leaders, will head to the airport soon after to get a head start on our time. Two groups of us will go: Group 1 from May 30 to June 5, and Group 2 from June 6 to 13. Our work site is with the children and staff at Buena Tierra School, which was built along the no-longer railroad tracks in town. Some of us will work to build an office/meeting space for the staff, and others of us will lead classes in art, health, wildlife-spotting (think of the birds!), etc. We're looking forward to bonding with the children there and giving of our time, as well as learning what we can of the needs of these people and some important history of environmental and community-building efforts in the region.

We've met several times together as a group to hear from Paul and Mary and to plan what to pack, what to eat and not to eat, etc. I hope each member of the group finds some time on the trip to write at least a little of the experiences and impressions that we'll have. As for me, I'm set with my hidden pouch, my mosquito repellant, and my daughter and I will be packing along one of the water filters supplied by the McKays for our use as a group. Basic things that we tend not to think about -- water quality, for one, are at the top of the list.

For starters, we can all check out the information on the "Good Earth Preschool" on EPIC's website: http://pointe.bozonics.com/~dana/epic/projects/labuena.html
You can see photos there and get a sense of the history and how the director, Elizabeth Marroquin, has led the way for preschoolers and primary students in the neighborhood.

First Post

This summer, BMC members will be travelling to Cuernavaca, Mexico for their 2010 service learning trip.