Computer!!!

Hola!

First of all, happy belated birthday to Dad, Grandmother, and Mom! I'm so glad that we decided to do this blog. I didn't get a chance to read it last week when we had a small bit of time to check e-mail, but I got sent a paper copy, and it was one of the best pieces of mail that I've gotten. It's amazing how busy everyone it. There's so much going on there, and it sounds great.

Mom, you hit it right on the head when you wrote that the key to this trip is flexibility. The Amor staff emphasize that so much that they nickname Mexico "Flexico".

Though I didn't have a group last week, I still got to do some building and explore Mexico. Six of us drove to Rosarito (about an hour away from our Rancho camp) to set up another camp there. We built 2 shower houses and 15 outhouses, or baños. It was kinda smelly work, but you could see the Pacific Ocean from the camp, and Roasrito has some fo the best taco stands.

Through this experience I go my first taste of Mexico driving! Our driver was sick one day, so the rest of us took turns driving. Driving is definitely a team effort. The co-pilot acts as the navigator, talks on the walkie talkie radio and acts as the D.J. The pilot does their best to stay calm, listen to the co-pilot, and drive like crazy. Of course, sometimes these roles get mixed up, but for the most part it works. You definitely need to be focused at all times when driving. There is no autopilot because you never know when sometone might cut you off, brake suddenly, or pull a U-turn in front of you. It seems to be accepted here that cutting people off is perfectly normal, but it's also neccessary to yield to those who cut you off.

Another thing that makes driving interesting is the random military checkpoints. A bunch of military guys, or "federales" set up large walls of sandbags to sit behind and they usher all the cars on that strech of the freeway into single file. A guard then stands with a bright orange flag and waves through most cars. Every once in a while he waves a car to the side and the driver and/or passengers get questioned and sometimes have to get out and be serached. The federales have large rifles and are all wearing camoflauge and there are large guns pointed at all the cars so at first they're a bit intimidating, but now we're pretty used to it. It's kinda funny though, because out of our two Nexus vans that we have, the larger one gets ushered to be checked a lot, but only when one of our guys is driving, not when it's one of us girls.

Street signs are somewhat optional, so we've definitely had some interesting adventures getting somewhat lost, but we know our way around Tijuana better now!

So yeah, that's the scoop on driving. Besides finishing the camp at Rosarito, other highlights here included a trip to the pay showers, four meals at taco stands, a trip to Target, exploring Rosarito, using our new kitchen tent (Thanks, Mom for mailing me Lipsmackin' Backpakin'), and a day at the beach.

I miss you all so much. I love talking to everyone each week, and I really appreciated everyone taking the time to stop what they're doing to talk to me. (And thanks for not dropping me when throwing me up to the roof and back down :-)

Tonight I get my first group, so I'm really excited and nervous. I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

I love you all!

P.S. The first picture is me screwing the roof on the top of some baños (we got to use power tools for camp set-up!). The second picture is me in my tent. It's hard to see, but the sign in my window has my name on it along with my radio handle, Road Runner. Stacey, one of the Nexus, made signs for all of our tents!