Kaiizen Mexico Orphanage Trip

I was so lucky to be able to go with a group... Kaiizen... to Mexico to visit an orphanage and play with the kids. This was an adventure for sure...first off never have been to Mexico except for a little 3 day cruise that was as Mexican as TacoBell.
We caravaned down...stopping outside of Vegas at Whiskey Pete's for a night to break up the 12 hour drive. Next morning we headed out for Ensanada Mexico. Now... before I begin...every person that I told about this trip prior to leaving made sure I knew that there was a chance that I could get beheaded by the drug cartel and they were targeting Americans. Just GREAT! I was pretty uptight about it...and ready to kick some drug lord ass if I got messed with. HAHA..ya right!

Anyway, I digress...

So we headed to the border and was told by Josh ...whom I will refer to as Shosh or Yosh depending on which Orphan was saying his name...to stay right behind the white van they were driving when they got pulled over at the border and then to just follow them into the city. And if we took a wrong turn it would take us to downtown TJ. Shaun was driving...and just as suspected...the van we were following got signalled to pull over to be inspected...Shaun didn't pull right behind them, but rather chose to just keep going and find our way on our own. I PANICKED!!! As soon as we crossed that border...I couldn't understand one traffic sign or street sign...Spanish everywhere...understandably of course, after all we now were in Mexico. I was very surprised at the major difference from one side of that fence to the other. Such poverty, filthy, trash everywhere, shacks instead of houses. It was pretty drastic so quickly. Shaun started asking me if I remembered which way we were told to go...I freaked out! Saying...we were told to stay behind the white van!! You're on your own now! He just laughed...I realized he was saying that to strike even more panic in me...luckily he knew which was we were supposed to go....after he acted like we were lost a few times more...just to see me have a breakdown.

We pulled into an Office Depot...yes..and Office Depot that was next to a Walmart...and Old Navy. Huh...who knew:) We waited for the van to meet up with us after they made it through the border...right then I realized that I had not gotten any cash. I was thinking that you could just find an ATM and pull come cash out...not quite that easy. The line to the ATM was HUGE...so we decided to just get it later. Which I will say I never was able to get to an ATM for then entire trip as there are pretty much NO ATMs in Mexico! No wonder the line was so long!

As we were waiting in the parking lot I was very jumpy and not sure what to expect thinking back to what everyone said about American getting kidnapped and beheaded...I saw Shaun look toward my window so I turned and a man holding a fistful of cell phone chargers was standing right at my window...I jumped and yelped a little bit. I think I scared the poor guy more than he scared me...he quickly walked away. Damn jumpy gringa!!

Another interesting thing was that as soon as we crossed that border...Shaun turned Mexican! Saying everything with a cool little Mexican accent and busting out his Spanish skills in which I'd never heard before to that extent. Very handy to say the least!

So we headed to drop our stuff off at the place we were staying...Shaun's time share. We pulled in to this beautiful resort, dropped our crap off and followed the rest of the crew to Yosh's (Josh) beach house. We pulled down this long very steep dirt road and headed to the house. It was pretty much right on the edge of the beach...very cool location!

The house was very humble and had no showering facilities...and no electricity. Guilt IMMEDIATELY set in considering our place was SO nice and accommodating compared to where all 11 of the other people were staying. We decided right away that we had extra room and needed to share. We got to have Rusty and Laura come to our place... SO happy that they did. They were so fun and it was so great to get to know them better. Laura is the cook for Telos and the cook for the Kaiizen trip...so she deserved some time at a nice time share...she'd payed her dues for sure!

Off to the orphanage!

We headed to the orphanage...when we pulled in the kids came running smiling yelling! They were so excited to see their amigos from America. They were amazing little kiddos! Just handing out hugs and loves left and right. A few of them came up to me and shook my hand and introduced themselves. They had a basketball court and play area that was pretty run down. Yosh took us on a tour...it was such a humble place. He showed us where the sewage would run from the toilets in the open air down to the septic tank. They have since had that covered up, but you still can not flush any toilet paper or it will back up the septic tank. It was a pretty eye opening experiencing to see how these little angels lived.

We had dinner at the orphanage that night which was a pretty yummy potato concoction, beans, and tortillas. We sat with the kids and I made a feeble attempt to talk to them and ask their names in the limited Spanish I knew. We then played the candy bar game...which I guess is pretty universal because these kids knew how to play it right away.

I started noticing some of the kids in particular. Silvia...an angel of a girl! She had a little limp which made it more difficult for her to walk. She had the best smile! I was so drawn to her as well as little Miriam and Johanna. The surprising thing was how I would ask how old they were and was shocked to find they were easily a couple of years older than how they looked. This little Johanna was 7! And she easily looked 4 or 5.

Shaun had decided before to put together a race for the kids. He brought extra bib numbers, and finishers medals. The orphanage directors were concerned about the kids running on on the road...which was dirt and had maybe 1 or 2 cars coming down in every hour:) So it took us a long long walk with all the kids to find the best route...we had to cross little streams that once were roads. Well actually thinking about it...they are still roads. I did see a few cars go through it. Finally we came to a field that we decided to just have them run laps. We got everyone's number pinned on them and they LOVED that. They looked so official!

We had the kids go in three different divisions. Older boys, Older girls, and then the little kids. It was AWESOME! Those boys took it so seriously...one boy in particular had his eye on first place and ran his heart out until he won the race! He wore that medal around along with his loot for first place forever. It was awesome to see the kids cheer each other on as they came across the finish line. They would chant each others names as they got closer to the finish line and get the whole crowd yelling...SIL-VI-A...SIL-VI-A...over and over again. Silvia was the little darling that had a hard time walking let alone running. She came across the finish line holding hands with one of her friends helping her along. She was ALL smiles!

Little Axel who was the littlest of all made it across the finish line holding hands as well...he LOVED it....especially his medal.









We also took them to the movie one of the nights. It was a big deal for the kids so they all got dressed up in their cutest clothes with their hair combed and all cleaned up.


We had a couple of the older boys ride with us...they were typical 15 year old boys...chatty and goofy as can be. We decided to take them to Clash of the Titans... we got them a CRAP LOAD of pop corn, drinks, candy, nachos, and whatever was in the concession stand pretty much. And may I say...the popcorn...was AWESOME! They had carmel popcorn at the movies! We gringos are getting jipped! So I was thinking the movie would be in English with Spanish subtitles...ya not so much. It was pure Spanish...not English subtitles. I sat next to Johanna and Miriam. They were puttin' down that popcorn like it was nothing. They were so sweet to keep offering me some. I didn't take any...but every few minutes they would tap on my arm and offer me more. Finally to make them feel better I dug in. YUMMY! There was a part in the movie that the dad, mom, and sister die in the water...I looked over and Johanna had huge crocodile tears in her eyes...we call em the blinkers in my house. She had a major case of the blinkers. She was trying to hide the fact that she was crying. It was sad...she just looked so heartbroken over it. Gave her a little squeeze and she was ok:) So as I'm watching this movie...since it was in Spanish I tried to figure out what it was all about. I had created a story line in my head and thought I was pretty right on...until a few weeks later I took my kids to see it and it was like seeing a whole new movie! It wasn't even CLOSE to the movie that I had thought I had seen. The story was totally different than what I thought was going on. Two movies in one is what I'd like to think:)

Along the trip...my keys got locked in the car...which let me tell you, these Mexicans do NOT know how to break into a car. They jacked the CRAP out of my car trying to get it open for us. They were SO nice and tried so hard...but finally we just called a lock smith and had him open it for us. He opened it and we went on our way to the orphanage...YAY! When we went to get back into the car at the orphanage, my key wouldn't unlock the car manually and my keyless remote stopped working a long time ago. We tried and tried and TRIED to get into the car with my key...no luck. So...the great guys at the orphanage called another local lock smith. This guy came rolling up on a motorcycle with a slicked back ponytail and seriously looked like a major bad ass. Actually... a major SCARY bad ass! I WISH I had a picture of this guy...it was awesome! He opened the car in a jiffy and said that the earlier guy was an idiot and pretty much disconnected the cable inside the door. So we couldn't lock the car for the rest of the trip...in MEXICO! Luckily it all worked out and no problems from there on out. We just had to remember...DON'T LOCK THE DOOR!

We had a few great days at the time share as well....went on a run along the beach...which I don't know why but I thought I was going to die. There was the CUTEST little sea lion on the beach. It was a baby with the cutest little baby face. I tried to get it back into the ocean but it just looked confused. I was concerned cuz it was going the wrong way, I said...SHAUN! Pick it up and put it back in the ocean! He just looked at me like...You're crazy woman! He encouraged me to leave it alone and keep running. FINE! Along the way...I had some of that Mexican food hit me like a ton of brick and I had to GO! I nearly had Charlotte's Sex and the city moment...So i yell to Shaun ahead of me...I've gotta go!!! We found a bathroom on the beach and as I tried to go in, two little Abuelas sitting by the door said, Bano? I said...SI! They said...cinco pesos. HUH!!!!??? I had to pay these crazy ladies to take a poop? I was so mad...told Shaun the news...he negotiated with the ladies in Spanish letting them know that we didn't have any money with us and I HAD to go. She let me go...and let me say, it was the NICEST beach bathroom I have ever seen. No wonder they charged to use their facilities. They were dang nice and worth every peso...if I had paid:)

Thank you little old Abuelas! You saved me from a seriously horrible experience!

While on that subject...the food...OH MY GOSH! The food was pure heaven. Not to mention the coke. They take their coke so seriously there and I just LOVE it! Every time you ask for a coke...they ask you if you want it in the can, bottle, or plastic bottle. Three options? Now that is just cool!!!! Of course, you MUST choose the bottle and it is simply delicious. No high fructose corn syrup...but delicious sugar cane baby. YummY!

The whole thing was an incredible experience...The kids were more amazing then I could have ever thought. They lived so simply but seemed pretty happy for what they had. It makes me sad for what these kids don't have in their lives though...a mom and a dad. A parent to teach them and love them and just take care of them. I wished so bad that I could do more...Josh told us that to adopt a child from down there is near to impossible because of the corruption. So sad! But being there made me feel so sad to be away from my kiddos. I wished that they could be there with me to meet these kids and be friends and serve. I am so lucky to have my kids...and for the first time I realized how lucky my kids are to have me. I'm not a perfect parent, but I sure love them and try to teach them and will be by them forever no matter what.

I'm looking forward to taking a trip back to see my new amigos some time in the near future!