Jr. High Camping Trip

This past weekend Jay and I were chaperons on a the Jr. High Camping Trip for Binimea. Saturday morning we, along with 2 other teachers, loaded up 12 students (9 boys, 3 girls) for an overnight camping trip in Majalca, a park that is about 20 miles from Chihuahua.

The campsites are all situated along a riverbed, and the riverbed, if it hasn't been raining, acts as the road.

Saturday we set up camp and the kids played football, went on hikes, and ate a lot of food. Unfortunately, that afternoon it started raining, and it kept raining into the evening. That caused the river to rise.

After we had roasted some hot-dogs and it was dark, we heard a truck coming down the riverbed. It made it about 200ft. past our campsite and then we heard a "clunk" and the truck stopped moving. The driver had gotten his truck balanced on a boulder. We helped him get it off in the morning.

Most of the kids had spent the day in the river, and when the temps dropped at night, they all froze throughout the night.

The next morning Jay and I made eggs for all the kids and we held a devotional time. Then it was back to the hikes and the football.

The river rose through the night, but Sunday was bright and sunny and by the time we left, it had dropped enough for us to try and get our cars out.

We did run into some trouble when we came across a half sunk Jeep Liberty. We tried to help pull them out and almost got stuck ourselves.

Soon we were past the block and on our way home.

We made it safely. We were all exhausted in school today, but we all had some good stories to tell.

Caborachi - Part 4 - Food Deliveries and Cerro Grande

On Tuesday of our trip we traveled with the Finches to a neighboring valley to drop off food. Apparently it is a bad food year in their area. The rains came late, and the corn that was planted early all died. The Finches happen to have a generous donor who donated $8,000 to buy food for the Tarahumara. When we arrived the Finches' kitchen was full of rice, beans, oil, tuna, and sardines. By the time we left, it was all almost gone.

The house pictured here was the house of the governor or chief of the tribe. He and the other men gathered to meet us and they would distribute the food.


The day was freezing (it barely got above the forties) and it was raining.

The women and children were very shy. It took us being there almost a half an hour for them to emerge from the house. That pot held some sort of corn concoction.We did end up getting to go inside the house. I didn't get a picture, but to sum it up, it held a wood stove in the center and two planks with blankets on top of them that I think served as beds. Other than some saved bags and cans in the corner. . . that was it.

That afternoon, in the rain and fog, Jay and I climbed Cerro Grande, the tallest mountain in the valley.

This is a picture of us about half-way up. You can see Caborachi in the distance.

This is a picture from the very top. . . we couldn't see a thing the fog was so thick.

Also, at one point we sort of lost the trail. . . stuck in the bushes, we thought it was an appropriate picture moment.

The next day we went to Rancheria, another nearby valley to deliver more food. They weren't expecting us, so we ended up leaving the food with the school teacher at the one-room school house. Then we set off down the valley to tell the people there that there was food waiting for them.

There was a trail part of the way and we forged the trail the rest of the way.

The valley was beautiful, and a lot more rustic than we had seen up to that point.

After we recovered from that hike, Jay and I took off on the bike to try and find a cave from his childhood that he remembered camping at.
It took much longer than we thought, but eventually we found it. Inside there was an old grain mill and a goat pen.

Much later, after dark, we ended up hot-tubbing with the Finches. Yes - Hot-Tubbing. They got one this past year, and we had a great time with them, just talking and enjoying the evening.

We caught the bus at Agua Azul the next morning. We went with another bus line than the one that we travelled (most of the way) there on. With the help of Dramamine, I had a wonderful trip back to Chihuahua.

We got back to our little house and our very excited Prince around 2:30 in the afternoon, and thus ended our Caborachi adventure.

End Note: Between Jay and I we took about 300 pictures in 5 days. This is just a warning. When we see you all at Christmas, be prepared to look at albums and relive the trip once again!

Caborachi - Part 3 - Sinforosa

On Monday of our stay in Caborachi with the Finches we went to Sinforosa, which is a park on the edge of the Copper Canyon. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

They have a lookout that puts you out and over the canyon, and also they have some waterfalls that are 2-3km down the side of the canyon. You can hike down to it or, if you have a really good 4 wheel drive vehicle, you can drive down.

We opted to walk.

The waterfalls were like a playground, and we used them to their fullest: jumping around, climbing etc. . . Above the waterfalls there is a suspension bridge that fell on the good side of shady. It did have a few boards missing, but mostly, it seemed sturdy.

Here are some pictures with us and the Finches down near the waterfalls.
The hike back up was rough. The elevation there is over 8,000ft, and we got out of breath pretty easily. We also hadn't eaten lunch yet by the time we took the climb and it was near 3pm.

Here is a pic of the "road" that we were hiking on.
We ate lunch at Los Adobes, a really nice restaurant in Guachochi. I had trout for the first time and the whole meal was delicious.

Caborachi - Part 2 - The Old Stomping Grounds

Well, after that horrible bus ride, I was ready to live it up for a few days.
We woke up Sunday morning and it was Jay's birthday, therefore, it was his day to decide what he wanted to do. We began by drinking tea out on the rocks by the Finches; just watching the village come to life.

Than we went and explored Jay's old house. It is bright blue now and used for the church building. Jay showed me his tree fort and his old bedroom.

Then he showed me more large rock formations that they (the Taylor, Finch and probably the Corley kids) used as forts and protection for all of the tag and chase games they used to play.

After that we hiked up a creek bed that used to be Jay's and Crystal's "secret" place. It had been raining there, so there were lots of waterfalls and pools.

On the way back to the Finches for lunch, we first hiked further up the mountain towards "Popsicle Tree", and then down and around the pottery making "factory"

This is a kiln that they once used to fire the pots.
After lunch, we tackled "Big Rock". In spite of the fact that we were still getting used to the elevation we made it up pretty quickly (and then had to sit for a while to catch our breath).

This picture is us on top of "Big Rock" with our loyal companion this whole week, the Finch's dog, C.B. He was sort of pulling me backwards, which is why I am making that face.

After that was church (they hold it at 3pm), and after the service Jay and I were asked to help lead games for the kiddos. This was an adventure since neither Jay nor I speak Tarahumara, and most of the kids barely spoke Spanish.
Lauren made Jay homemade pizza for his birthday, and we crashed pretty early that night because we were exhausted after all that hiking.

More of the story to come later!

Caborachi - Part 1- Getting there

I have decided that this trip was so massive and full of so many stories that it is going to need more than one post.

We left this past Saturday morning to go to Caborachi, the valley where Jay grew up in. It is in the Sierra Madre Mountains in central Mexico.

Our friends, the Tylers, gave us a ride to the bus stop and we caught the 11am, Estalla Blanca bus to Guachochi.

Theoretically, the bus should have had all the amenities (bathroom, T.V., air conditioning, etc), and I say "theoretically" because I could actually see them all, but the T.V. and Air never turned on and the bathroom was locked.

The bus moved SLOW. It took us four hours to make the easy part of the trip that typically only takes 2. Part of it was the traffic and part of it was the bus driver taking his dinner break while all of us sat on the ridiculously hot bus for a half an hour.

All his stops were taking a while, so when we stopped in Balleza (about an hour and a half from Guachochi), Jay got off the bus to get me some snacks for my bus-sickness. But this stop the driver did not take his time and soon we were pulling away. . . without my husband!

I quickly racked my brain and searched my very small mental dictionary of Spanish phrases to come up with one that might stop the driver.

"MI ESPOSO! MI ESPOSO!" ("my husband!") I cried from our place in the back of the bus. The woman in front of me soon joined my cry and (I think) told the driver that there was one more person. He stops the bus and everyone looks out the window to see Jay running after us, holding the Sponge Bob sucker that he had risked being left behind to buy for me.

After twenty minutes, the bus took an unscheduled stop. . . it had broken down.

Here is a shot of our trusty steed:
Here is a shot of what we had a around us at that point:

We sat there for almost an hour, cooking in the sun, as the driver kept hitting parts of the engine with a screwdriver to try and get the bus working again. Jay suggested hitch-hiking and we prayed about the decision. As we finished praying a red pick-up truck pulled up and offered a ride for anyone who wanted it.

I looked at Jay and said, "Do you want to?"

He just got this big grin on his face and he grabbed his backpack.

So we did it. We hitch-hiked the rest of the way.

Here is a pic of us in the back of the truck:

And this was our view:



The driver generously dropped us off right at Agua Azul, which is the town at the top of the mountain, 2-3km from Caborachi.





(This video cracks Jay and I up - mostly because of my hair!)

Once we got feeling back in our legs from the ride we hiked down to Caborachi. The sun was setting, and we took a few tumbles, but soon we were at the house of Tony and Lauren Finch. Unfortunately, they weren't there. All the lights were out, the house was locked and their truck was gone.

When we asked some people in the woodshop where they were, we found out they had gone to Guachochi, presumedly to meet the bus. So, we were in the tribe but unable to rest (or eat) since our hosts were waiting for our ill-fated bus in Guachochi.

Jay and I tried to call them on our cell phones, but there is very little reception in the middle of nowhere, so once again, we prayed. As we said "Amen" we heard the beautiful sound of diesel coming down the mountain. The Finches had arrived!

We ate dinner and slept about 9 hours, and looked forward with anticipation the four days in Caborachi we had ahead of us.

An Interesting Meal

We went out to eat tonight with the speakers who are here to do the Spiritual Emphasis Week(S.E.W.) at the school. One of them is actually an old friend of Jay's dad from when they both were MKs in Brazil. The food was mostly beef, chicken and pork served on giant kabobs, but one of them was not. . . It was gland. From a cow. It was fried. I ate it.

Jay leaves me tomorrow for the S.E.W. camping trip. He is going to be gone for three days and I am so unhappy about being left alone in Mexico. I think I am staying at a friend's house, but those plans have not been solidified yet.

If you think of it, pray for the kids on the S.E.W. trip, that they may have their passion for Christ renewed, and pray for me as I am going to try and survive in this foreign country.

Things I've learned (. . . and a little Miles)

To begin, here is a message that Miles sent to Jay and I. I loved it, so I thought I would post it.

I thought I would share with the world the nuggets of knowledge that I have acquired since moving to foreign country.

1. Never leave the house without your keys. Mexican houses do not have handles on the outside of their doors. Keys are the only way in (believe me - we checked).

2. Never go out your front door barefoot. They have these things called "toritos" that will flatten your bike tires and kill your feet. They pretty much make up our "lawn".

3. Jalapenos will give you the runs, so consume at your own risk.

4. Liquor is cheap here. Milk is not.

5. Big black labs named Prince like to show their affection for you by rubbing their muddy faces on your favorite white pants, so wear brown on rainy days.

6. When the internet is shotty, you don't have any friends nearby and your only source of entertainment is every MaryKate and Ashley video ever created, bedtime is 9:30.

Well, it looks to be about that time. I will post again soon.