The Trip To the Mountains

It was our third day in Mexico. We (my group) had all gathered at the church in Queretaro around seven, and piled onto the bus, bundled in sweatshirts and jackets our host families had given us for the freezing mountains. "Very Cold!" "Mucho Frio!" they said when we protested on their kindness. We smiled and thought, guess they never visited New York in November! We put our jackets and lunches on the cabinets above our seats, cameras in hand, and when we were all settled, started off! Headed down the highway and waited impatiently to get to the mountains we'd been anticipating for. We went bus surfing, slept, and looked out the window (which included seeing a horse on the bed of a truck.... a moving truck.) We got to a small city (or large town), where we stopped to switch buses. The smaller bus we transferred to was not as comfortable as our bus...the light came through dirty windows, and we had to squeeze into the double seats with our jackets and lunches piled on top of us. We drove across the flat terrain seeing a mountain here and there, nothing really, except that blue hue looming ahead of us. That of course was the mountains, dark, blue and beautiful. It seemed to take forever to get there when up we went! The road narrowed and the barriers on the side of the road didn't seem like much help as we looked down the shear drop edge. Higher and higher we drove until we came level with the clouds. The sun seemed to shine brighter and the colors of the sky and terrain seemed to become louder. After about a half and hour of taking in all the beauty we turned onto a narrow, steep and bumpy dirt road... with shear drops and no barriers. After laughing at the comparison of it to my driveway, we reached a little house with a huge view where some residents were setting up a church. The church was four walls of brick, with cutouts for windows and an entryway, with a cement floor and a tarp for the roof. We parked the bus, and feeling the 80 degree air, took off our layers and put them in a dark room, The room looked like a sort of pantry with lopsided shelves and bags of food. We met together out front, and started to hike up the mountains to tell people of the meeting. After about 30 seconds, I started to feel the outcomes of the 10,000 foot elevation and quickly took out my puffer. We walked from house to house, (little thrown together shelters built into the mountains) telling people some Spanish phrases we were taught to say. We admired the view and the independent people who supply for themselves and were glad to meet them. We did, however, stay away from the numerous, greasy, sick looking dogs that approached us. Well, everyone but Cotter, who pet a little puppy that looked cute, but well, like the other dogs. I told Cotter why he probably shouldn't pet the dogs, and he flipped out wiping his hands vigorously on his pants. Anyway, we took a team picture and started to head down the mountain, noticing that while we were exhausted, a little boy (11 or 12) was roding his bike up and down the steep road without even a heavy breath. Boy did we feel like beached whales! We got back to the little church and ate our lunches. Then I met....the bathroom. The bathroom was a dark room with old cement walls, brighter with the light off than with that dull light on. It had no door, just a curtain, in which the whole time I prayed that no one would walk in. Oh the idea! The floor was all wet and there was a big bucket there for the water dripping from the roof. In the bucket I noticed that someone had accidentally thrown their toilet paper in it and I was relieved that I wouldn't be the one to take it out. The toilet was like a toilet without the seat but twice as wide, wet and with no flusher. I'll never complain about an American toilet again! We had the meeting, which was great, then had a dinner with the residents that came, and we gave balloons and candy to the children. Finally, we got our stuff, and after I used the dreaded toilet again we got in the bus and headed back.


Well that's the story for the day. I'll try to write again soon!