Pics from a weekend road trip into Mexico
On a Thursday morning I woke up, prepared for another day of dissertating. In fact, I was ready to spend the whole weekend dissertating and preparing job application materials.
Instead, the phone rang at 8:30 am. It was Claire. "How would you feel about driving a van down to the Rancho in Mexico?" she asked.
The Rancho is a place where an organization named Esperanza de Joaquin has set up a community center and provides help for the rural people in the area, many of whom are desperately poor, with their basic needs as well as development opportunities. The van was donated, and Mary, the executive director, wanted to get it down there to serve as an ambulance to get people to a hospital or clinic should they need to go. Unfortunately, her husband Frank was unable to go due to physical limitations. So, they thought of me.
The following photos give a little idea of the trip. We left at 6:30 am on Friday, September 7, 2007 and arrived there at around 9:00 pm on Saturday, September 8th. The van was large, drank gasoline like an alcoholic sucking down a pint of Jack Daniels, and moved around so much in the wind that you wondered if you would be able to keep it on the road. The Mexican roads were surprisingly good, much better than I expected. In fact the worse ones we were on were no worse than the worse ones I've driven in Louisiana. Unfortunately, I did not have time to take a lot of photos. I would have loved to snap some pics of Guanajuato, which is a lovely little city, but I was hard pressed for time.
If you can't see the slideshow below, click here for a page with the pictures on it.
Instead, the phone rang at 8:30 am. It was Claire. "How would you feel about driving a van down to the Rancho in Mexico?" she asked.
The Rancho is a place where an organization named Esperanza de Joaquin has set up a community center and provides help for the rural people in the area, many of whom are desperately poor, with their basic needs as well as development opportunities. The van was donated, and Mary, the executive director, wanted to get it down there to serve as an ambulance to get people to a hospital or clinic should they need to go. Unfortunately, her husband Frank was unable to go due to physical limitations. So, they thought of me.
The following photos give a little idea of the trip. We left at 6:30 am on Friday, September 7, 2007 and arrived there at around 9:00 pm on Saturday, September 8th. The van was large, drank gasoline like an alcoholic sucking down a pint of Jack Daniels, and moved around so much in the wind that you wondered if you would be able to keep it on the road. The Mexican roads were surprisingly good, much better than I expected. In fact the worse ones we were on were no worse than the worse ones I've driven in Louisiana. Unfortunately, I did not have time to take a lot of photos. I would have loved to snap some pics of Guanajuato, which is a lovely little city, but I was hard pressed for time.
If you can't see the slideshow below, click here for a page with the pictures on it.
posted by Michael L. Hess at 1:10 PM
2 Comments:
Awesome! I have just started to get the paperwork together to obtain a passport. I want to be able to up and leave the country on a moment's notice too! You have such fun adventures, Mike. Thanks for sharing. :D
Hey, Mikey! I really like the slideshow widget you've been using. Hopping in a van to go to Mexico on short notice officially makes you a roll-with-it kinda guy. :)
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