On the Road Again…and Again..and Again!
Oh boy, oh boy!! It’s time
to go!! After a long day of school the crew met at the vans and tried
to fit all of our stuff into two vans. Then
we picked our van partners that we were going to live with for the next two
days. Thank goodness I can put up
with Brandi Khi. She is my friend! J
After meeting up with the Kansas group we (Laura) drove the rest of the
night and most of the next day until we made it to the boarder.
Here is where the fun began. We
exchanged our money and a couple of laugh then back in the van again for a
little trip across the boarder (to Nuevo Laredo).
This is where the wait really began!
The Kansas group did not have the proper paper work so we had to wait for
seven and half-hours for them to be about to be able to drive in Mexico.
By this time I had met most of the Kansas group and I knew this was going
to be the best trip of my life
Late, late Saturday night we pulled into Bustamante.
We had no idea what kind of place we where in.
Our group slept in the van while the Kansas group was a lot braver and
put their tents up. Brave souls!
March
18
This morning had to be the best morning ever!
We awoke to the mountains coming right out of the sky.
This had to be by far the coolest sight I’ve ever seen!
After a little rock climbing and more socializing we jumped back in the
van for another fun day of riding in the van.
March
19
WE ARRIVE!! At 4:45 am our
time, so 5:45 their time. Which
meant some people only had fifteen minutes to get ready for their rotation. Thank goodness I was on the 9:00 am rotation.
This gave my roommates and me a little to put our tents up and take in
the view. This being Brandi's
first time to see the ocean, I wanted to be right there with her and see her face
light up.
My turn to go to work with my new found friends. Two from the Kansas
group (Jana and Sara) and then Joe and I from the Oklahoma group.
The first rotation was the fish group.
This was the coolest! We
caught a spotted stingray. The
first in two years, way to cool! After
going to the crocodile farm for a little snorkeling then the rest of the day to
play in the sun and walk to beach.
Jana
and I hit it off great and are becoming good friends just after a couple hours
together. Could you ask for a
better day?
Another day in paradise! The
sun is shining and the eggs our on the grill for the second morning. Today it’s up early for reptiles. I’m not much on snake hunting but this was kind of cool.
Jana found a snake that looked like a tree branch.
We spent thirty minutes trying to catch it.
Finally we did! After
walking about two miles in old banana farms we got to go back to camp for a
little break. Then at night in the dark we went out looking for frogs the
size of a peanut. This was pretty
neat. I can honestly say that
I’ll never put on my headlamp and go out on a riverside for look for little
red frogs, again
Jana and I have a lot more in common then I ever thought we would, but I
miss Brandi. I’m sharing a tent with her and I haven’t seen her awake
in two days.
March 21
Today we got the salve driver, Laura!
Early to rise and late to bed was the theme for today. Laura took me out on my first bird watching expedition and it
was very colorful. I’m not much
of a bird watcher but I really enjoyed today.
Even all the walking and heat. Back
to camp for a fast break, and then back out again to catch some birds with bird
nets. We caught four total and then
we keyed them in and let them go back to the free life they knew.
If we only knew the day was just beginning!
After about an hour break Dr. Moore took us out to start our rotation
with mammals. We had to walk into
this really tall field of saw grass (the name fits it) and set Sherman traps for
mice. We left them there over night
to see how many we could catch. At
dark we went out to the riverside again to put up bat nets. I never knew bats were so cool looking. We caught fruit bats and vampire bats. Dr. Moore being braver then me handled the bats; I did get to
touch them. That is something
I’ll never get to do again. Well
maybe I can wish for another experience like this one again. Who knows?!?
March 22
Up and out in the saw grass first thing in the morning! We caught four mice out of all the traps we set.
Not to bad, better then nothing! Dr.
Moore showed us how to stuff and key a mouse then he gave us the day off.
How nice of him! Jana and I
decided to take a long walk along the beach and just take it all in.
Later that night we all came together (every one at camp) around a big
campfire and talked. This was the
most relaxing night of all. Just
setting back with old and new friends having a GREAT time.
This was the life and I didn’t want it to end.
March 23
Time for the fun to begin! We
went on a boat ride and at the end of the river were a restaurant with a dock to
jump off and swim. We spent a
little time there and back to camp. This
is where Laura took us on the bumpiest ride of my life.
We drove over an hour away form camp to see this one hundred and fifty
foot water fall that was colder then the coldest of water falls. We jumped right in and enjoyed every minute of it.
We went back to camp for all of five minutes before we jumped back in the
van to go do what we had be waiting for all week.
SHOPPING IN SAN BLAS!! This
place was just a dream. Hand
crafted artifacts, beaded bowels and hand woven clothes. Let me tell you it’s a girl’s dream come true.
All this cool stuff and it was cheep!
March 24-25
Leaving camp! I’m going to miss it but I think I’d rather stay at
camp then get back in that van. This
was the day I realized that this dream trip was going to end and I was not going
to be around my new friends. We
drove for most of the day until we got to Reno de Corsa.
This town looked like someone just took a hammer to a really really big
rock. The market place was
half-American and half-Mexican. Some
of the stuff was really neat but on the other hand some looked like it was from
a flea marker. We spent two nights
here. We got to stay in this really
cool apartment. There was this car
in there, I think they just built the building around the car. I’m just thankful that Bruce knew some people with a lot of
extra beds and a really good restaurant.
March 26-27
On the road again! This time
we were heading home. Laura drove
for the most part, again! We
stopped about every two to three hours to eat and potty.
Our last stop was the saddest of all.
We had to say goodbye to our new family from Kansas. I really got to know Jana and will miss here a lot.
We drove forever to get back to Tishomingo and now I’d drive forever
just to get back to the trip of a lifetime.
Over all I could not ask for a better group of friends to go on a trip so far away from home with. I know the next time I get a chance to take a trip like this I’ll jump right in a van and set next to the same person for forty-eight hours. There were a lot of ups and downs but a lot more laughs then tears.
I would also like to thank Bruce and Laura all the driving and teaching
they did over the week. They really
made the trip worth it. To get to
know my teachers like that is something not every student’s gets to do.
So thanks you for all the great memories.
Dawn