Desert Rains, Homesickness, and Our Secret Trip to Mexico

IT RAINED! t was so glorious.  Ok, so it rained before.  But not like this.  Before, the ‘rain’ would be a couple of drops hitting your arm, and it takes you a few seconds to realize it wasn’t pigeon poop (there are a lot of pigeons here. Yay cities.).  It down poured. Qiong and I had to run through a flooding parking lot to get back to the car after watching Transformers (for a second time).  I love the way rain smells when it falls on concrete.  It’s so distinct, almost sweet.  We could smell it before we even got outside of the theatre.

So I got hit with homesickness today.  I think it was a combination of factors that convened to launch me into a fit of longing for the northeast.  First, I looked at my leg tonight and thought I had Lyme disease again.  I have some sort of bug bite that hurts instead of itches.  It would be pretty weird if it actually WAS Lyme disease, considering that I had it already and I’m in the desert (though there are deer in the mountains apparently…).  Dutchess County, NY has a whole lot of Lyme disease.  Second, it’s cloudy and windy today, threatening to down pour again.  It’s making me think about the not-desert, and how it’s apparently been raining in New York for about 8 months straight (hyperbole, people.).  Third, I’m starting to feel obsolete at my internship.  I’m losing steam.  I spend too much time doing nothing on the internet.  I tried not bringing my laptop, but then I had nothing to do AND no internet.  There are a few things I could do, I suppose, a few of which would be significantly easier if I had transportation beyond my two legs.  Turina and I are going to go door to door tomorrow to advertise the Workers Rights Clinic.  Still, that doesn’t solve my current lack of motivation. 

It’s weird, too, because I have about seven projects I’m working on simultaneously.  Like, I could call my contact from the MUJER group and set up a meeting to talk about recruiting strategies.  I could call the guy from ACORN to talk about the Raid Response strategy.  But, I lost motivation on the latter one after I brought it to Ray’s attention yesterday that he will not be around for the date he wanted to have the Raid Response meeting.  He told me he would think about that.  Basically, that probably means he’s going to take me off of that project because it will have to happen after I leave.  Or maybe he still wants me to draw up an outline strategy.  Two other projects require transportation, one we’re working on tomorrow, and another one I have to wait until 3:30 to do. 

Also, I think I’m right on time with the “over it” feeling.  I’ve found that with most things, it’s around the middle section that’s the worst.  Mostly I found this in crew.  Like, for example, if you’re rowing for 20 minutes, it’s the 8-12 minute period that is the worst.  Or if you’re doing a 2k, it’s the 800-1200 meters.  And yes, I always compare my life to crew.  It provides me with analogies out the bunghole.

Alright, so, Qiong and I went to Juarez last Wednesday (after I came back from the border tour, ironically).  Following will be a detailed account.  Qiong has all of the pictures we took, so you’ll have to wait on those (or maybe it’s my strategy to keep you interested. Shia Lebeouf did that in Transformers…kinda…).

As you may or may not know, Qiong is working for the FEMAP Foundation, which supports a hospital in Juarez (Hospital de la Familia).  They have a volunteer doctor who does free orthopedic stuff for kids.  He went over on Wednesday for the first time since December or so.  We went over to help him out and bring him some supplies.  Qiong’s supervisor was supposed to join us, but she didn’t have her passport in time.  She gave us directions to the hospital.  It was very straightforward: Cross the bridge, hang a left, hospital’s on the right a couple of blocks down.

"The bible is the truth READ IT" written on the side of a Juarez mountain

Twas a beautiful day to be lugging around medical supplies, except that we’re in the desert and it’s really hot. I brought Aurolyn’s car and parked it near the bridge so we wouldn’t have to walk to the bus if it started to get dark.  At about 5:30 we started walking over the bridge carrying awkwardly sized bags of leg braces and walkers.  We dropped in our $.35 to cross the bridge and headed over.  You don’t need to show your passport to enter into Mexico. You just pass through a spinner like you’re going onto the subway or a concert.  The walker I was carrying got caught on the spinner.  I felt awkward.

On the far side of the bridge we were greeted by some stoic soldiers and their big fat guns.  I nodded to one of them and he nodded back.  We had a moment. And then WHOOSH! We are in Mexico.  The pictures, I think, will be able to describe the buildings much better than my words, but I’ll do my best. 

The bridge we crossed (there are three) dumps you out onto Avenida Juarez, which is lined with shops, bars, and street vendors.  There was quite a bit of hustle and bustle immediately across the bridge, and the cars lined up to cross over just added to the effect.  We had a mission, however, so we couldn’t explore that street just yet.  We walked to the left and almost immediately noted how quiet it was just a block or two away from the main strip.  The street we were walking on followed along the border, but curved a little away from it to make room for some soccer fields filled with youngin’s getting their game on.  I made a pitstop into a little pharmacy to purchase some prescription drugs for super cheap! Hurray! (it’s not illegal, don’t worry.)  For some reason I completely forgot were both in a foreign country and that they don’t use dollars in Mexico.  I also realized I had no idea what the exchange rate was. This wasn’t really a problem because they’re used to us Americans coming over to purchase their goods without dollaz, but it was still funny when I was surprised to receive pesos as change. If I got ripped off, it was still a damn good deal.

This was actually taken from the US side of the border.  Shhh!

We over shot the hospital by about 10 blocks.  There was construction going on in front of it, so we didn’t even think to look at the building when we passed.  I stopped at a store to ask for directions using my Spanish expertise!  The guy said something along the lines of “Ay mija! You came so far! It’s back about 10 or so blocks!”  We sighed and readjusted our awkward baggage and sweat-soaked shirts.  We bought some bottled water (don’t drink the water! Hahaaaaaa) and started the hike back.

We were passed several times by humvees filled with soldiers.  The Sunday before we went, the Mexican government had just added 1,500 troops to Juarez.  Every time we passed a Juarez policeman I wondered whether or not he was a puppet of the cartels.

By the time we got to the hospital, the doctor had left.  Go figure.  We dropped off the supplies with our contact there and headed out.  We wandered a couple of streets, looking at the small, cement houses with cracked walls.  There were a lot of abandoned-looking houses filled with garbage and crumbling sides, exposing the metal supports inside of the walls.  We found a street with five burrito places next to each other, and picked the one with all the people around it.  We bought some delicious burritos that cost about $.75 (9 pesos).

And then we walked back across (another $.30).  We showed our passports to the customs people, and they gave us no trouble.  Mine was soaked with sweat because it had been in my back pocket.  Gross.

In conclusion, we are safe!