“Down  And  Out  In  Mexico”

By: Kalyn B. Hightower

 

 

Diez y seis de marzo-veinte y siete de marzo, dos mil y uno  (March 16-27, 2001)

 

destination:  san blas, nayarit, mexico

(was supposed to be Veracruz, mexico instead)

 

Mission: Yo quiero saber de mexico!

(I want knowledge of Mexico!)

 

 

v     March 16-Our group met at the college, loaded all the gear, said our good-byes to loved ones that we might not see again, and was west bound to The Prairie Kitchen in Ardmore to meet up with the group from Emporia State University in Kansas.  They say first impressions are everything,well, my first impression right off the bat was that the people from Kansas were snobby.  They didn’t come over and say, “Hi!” or nothing.  They just sat there.  I figured that they were intimated by Joe and Derrick...they are pretty scarey.  I can’t blame them, we did the same thing.  Neither of our groups wanted to make the first move, but leave it up to Joe and Derrick to go and break the ice. After that, we all started mingling.  We all stuffed our faces, loaded up once again, and were now on our way to Laredo, Texas to exchange our money and to buy Mexican insurance.

 

 

picture of Dawn & Katie eating

 

v     march 17-Woke up in Laredo, ate at Burger King....the last place for fast American food!  We are now on our way to Bustamante Canyon near Monterrey, Mexico. I am still cramped in a passenger van with people I don’t even know. Oh, sure I know of them because I have this class with them, but that doesn’t mean that I need to be going to Mexico with them.  Who knows what they might do to me, especially all the vet-tech students, they have skills in utilizing sharp objects!!!  Anyway, I am now asleep again. You will notice periodically through this trip that I will be sleeping. ;-)  I am looking out of the window and we are now crossing the bridge that crosses into Mexico. AAAWWWWWWW!!! I am down, wedged between the floor and the door of the van. I am now trying to go to asleep......now at 3:00 a.m., Brandi decides that she has got to go peepee and can’t hold it anymore, so she politely wakes me, so that I won’t just fall out, so she can go take care of business, but I am awake now and have to pee, too. Yeah!!

 

 

 

 

picture of the bridge crossing

 

 

v     March 18-I wake, up brush my teeth, and now Jenni, Dawn, Katie, Jahnna, and I are venturing to climb one of the mountains/hills of Bustamante Canyon. We are triumphant!!!!

 

 

picture of dawn, jenni, and me on the hill/mnt, & other mnt pics.

 

 

 

Bruce and a few others, loaded up in one of the vans to go see if there were other human life forms in this desolute area and maybe some vegetation of the area.  We encountered a man by the name of Jose Rodriguez/Gonzalez. He was nice enough to show us his home, garden, cattle, and his corral.  It wasn’t much, but it was a lot to him.

 

 

picture of jose & cacti species

 

v     march 19-