Mexican Ecology & Culture- 2006 Stuart Baker

Packing for the trip had to be the hardest part of the whole trip, because I was trying to think of what I was forgetting and what I might need that was not on the list. By the time my cousin had made a trip back to the house for me and I had Bruce go by my house before we left I knew I was in trouble. We made it to Ardmore and met all of the Emporia students for the first time and we really seemed to get along with them. From Ardmore we traveled down to Laredo and ate breakfast with the Mississippi State students. From Laredo we ventured across the border to find our first challenge of the trip. While Bruce was getting the authorization sticker for one of our vans he discovered that MSC had given him the wrong VIN# on the papers allowing us to use the vehicle. An hour and a half later all was well again though and we were on our way again.

Our first stop to eat in Mexico was at the Los Abuelitos were Bruce ate goats head, yeah the whole head, I think that that dish was mostly every students first look at authentic Mexican food. Few students ventured over and asked for a taste, but Aneisa came back reporting that the brains tasted creamy. After eating we loaded back up and hit the rode again. The Mexican roadsides were full of interesting scenery such as shrines , roadside military encampments, and other beautiful sceneries such as the mountains just before we entered Bustamante.

When we turned off of the highway to go to Bustamante we got to take a tour of a mescal factory. The process of making mescal I found was not very sanitary, but I also saw the agava being prepared and the device that was used to squeeze out all the juices and I thought that it was very interesting and would have looked longer if I could stand the awful smell.

When we finally got away from the smell of mescal we traveled through the town of Bustamante to Bustamante Canyon, were we camped for the night. The canyon was beautiful and had many places to discover and explore (pic. 7&8). That night everyone went to the spring to swim and some ended up jumping out because of a snake found living in the pool. The sunrise was beautiful coming over the mountain and pouring down into the canyon, unfortunately none of my pictures turned out to well.

While walking through some of the vegetation around the canyon I was able to see many plants I had never seen before and find the nest of what I think is a cactus wren . Before we left the canyon that morning we traveled to the end of it to a goat and cow farm was we saw what a small Mexican farm looked like up close. There was also an indication of new buildings recently made and new ones to come.