Baja Day #2

D woke up early to go running, as he was able to recruit some running partners (not me, of course).  At 6:45 a.m. we had a short devotional message by Gerald.  The theme of the week was God as the Potter, with us as the clay. 

Monday morning was probably our best breakfast of the week: egg, potato and bacon burritos.

We loaded up the vans and headed for the worksite.  Turns out that the two houses we were building were on the same lot, and the church  where the VBS was held was also within walking distance.

This is a picture of where one of the families was living.  (The boy in the wheelchair was a friend/relative of the family we were building for).  The two outhouses in the back were donated by our church not too long prior to our arrival.  (That’s what we used to go when we were on the jobsite).

Inside shot.

There were various kids that appeared throughout the week to check out the progress—very cute.

Here is a picture of the materials we started out with.  It is hard to believe that we were able to make two houses from this.  The only thing that was pre-made was the cement foundation, which you can see in the back left.

D and I worked on different houses.  I think most of the spouses were split up.  I was assigned to the wall team and D was assigned to the roof team.  The first day there was a lot of measuring, cutting and nailing.  By the end of the day, the walls were up and the roofs were in place!

As you can see, it was pretty overcast in the morning.  The cool weather was definitely a blessing, and it lasted each day of the build.

For lunch we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, ham and cheese sandwiches, chips and snacks.  The afternoon brought the heavy lifting.  Knowing that I could not be of much help, I decided to document the process. 

There was barbed wire right near the edge of the house, which made putting the roof on even more precarious.

D had the privilege of using the “Red Head” to attach the wood to the concrete for the first time.  These are the casings as evidence.  I think he just enjoyed yelling “Fire in the Hole!”

It was a good, productive day.  No major injuries, just sore muscles.

For dinner we had “Eat Like a Local” night: beans, rice, corn tortillas and nopales (cactus).  This vegetarian meal did not go over too well with some, especially after the hard day of work.  The nopales were reminiscent of green beans, and did not have much flavor. 

Norma did make us another cake though, so that was nice.  D and I both went to sleep early—we needed it.

Baja Day #1

This is the team that our church sent down to Baja this year.  This was D’s fourth time going, and my first.  We had a big team this year, 40+ people.  We built two houses and ran a VBS for the kids in Vincente Guerrero.

We rode down in four 14 passenger vans, plus two vans for another church from Northern California, Orchard Valley.  D was the navigator for our van, although our veteran driver Gerald, knew where he was going.  D was in charge of giving the driver the tolls.

We said goodbye to our kids in the parking lot.  We are so fortunate that they were able to stay with my parents for the week.

We left on Sunday, soon after our scheduled departure time of 8 a.m.  The ride was bumpy, and the back seats have no head support, so I started to feel carsick.  Fortunately, it was not too long before our first stop at a Costco in Ensenada.  I was able to get some Dramamine from “Dr.” Miles, and felt much better the rest of the way. 

The Costco food court was almost exactly the same as in the States.  D had our van’s food money and ordered hot dogs, and a pizza for us.  FYI, the exchange rates is about 12 pesos to a dollar.

One different thing is that they have mango slushies, which were very good and refreshing.

Our kids love mango, and they would have loved this drink!

We arrived at our base camp at around 3 p.m.

We received a short orientation and were told that the other group that was scheduled to be there cancelled.  We were happy, because that meant more room for us!  We picked out our beds, and unpacked our things.  About an hour later we were informed that it turned out that the group was in fact coming.  We had to consolidate rooms to make more room, and we ended up having to squeeze nine women into our cabin.  I ended up on a top bunk, but in the end it was fine. 

Here’s a picture of D’s room, to give you an idea of our sleeping quarters.

Here are some pictures of the IDT facility…

Kitchen

Dining Hall

Santiago’s—a small gift shop.

Bathroom facilities:

This policy took some getting used to!

For dinner, we went out to get tacos.

I ate one pork taco and one beef taco.  Both were good, but I especially enjoyed the pork, which they cut off a spit, as shown above.

D went across the street and Lynnus bought him a container of mango that was cut fresh in front of them.  I think this huge cup cost only around $2!  Again, the kids would have loved this.

Back at IDT, our leader Gerald had the kitchen staff make a special birthday cake for Pastor Curt of Orchard Valley.

Tres leches cake with fresh strawberries—yum!  We were well fed for the next day’s build!

Pool Party @ Splash Zone

The reason for our recent absence is that D and I spent the last week in Baja, Mexico building houses with our church.  I took a lot of pictures, but first I want to document a first birthday party we went to for k and n’s third cousin the night before we left for Baja.  The party was at a place called Splash Zone in Rosemead.  The birthday girl’s mom (my second cousin) is the ultimate party planner, and this was no exception.  There was Hawaiian food (yum!) and a really cute cake.  The kids (and D) loved the water slides.  It is a smaller place, with only two slides, but it was the perfect size for the kids.  n was excited, as he just barely made the height requirement for the slides. 

Birthday girl getting a push from her friend.

Personalized beach towel favors! 

Happy 1st birthday, Reese!