Mexico Travelogue - Day 3

The morning hours of Day 3 slipped by quietly, encouraging us to enjoy the superb sunshine during an extended walk on the premises.

We stopped by La Cocina (the kitchen) around lunchtime.  Although I’d already eaten, I was offered a sample of the boys' food: tender shreds of pork swimming with hominy in a well-seasoned tomato-based sauce.  Of course I couldn’t resist!  Toppings included thinly shredded fresh cabbage, sliced radishes, chopped onion, and a super-spicy almost paste-like yellow sauce.  Soooooo delicious.  I watched as hungry boys eagerly chowed down on this hot-hot-and-spicy mixture, scooping it with corn tostadas – a heart-warming sight.  Here’s Eva (on the right), the head cook, with one of her two helpers as well as one of the older orphan boys.

I was excited to meet Guillermo, who was also eating lunch with the boys.  This is the guy I featured in my Facebook post back on February 9 (look it up if you’re interested in learning about his GoFundMe page) who is currently in school to earn a psychology degree and be better equipped to meet boys' needs.  He was a delightful, energetic, bright-eyed fella, and with the help of Fritz jr’s translation we were able to enjoy conversation. 

At this same time, a special delivery arrived at the orphanage: three donated, brand new guitars! It was super-fun to be there at just the right moment to witness the unveiling.  A few of the boys will be starting lessons soon – so exciting!

 

Fritz jr. suggested an afternoon outing to “walk around some cool remote spot.”  So we took off in his Jeep (Grand Cherokee 4x4) and drove south along the Pacific shoreline, passing countless little vendors offering beautiful pottery....if only I could somehow transport a couple of those artistic masterpieces to my deck in Michigan! After bumping over rutted dirt roads (all Mexican back roads in this area are not graded or maintained in any way, so are full of potholes) we ended up in an incredibly peaceful spot I called “beyond the boonies.”  This was not a park or designated area of any kind, just wild, unclaimed land stretching for miles with only a very few ranchers sprinkled here and there.

We rambled at will, discovering abundant herb-like plants as well as others with delicate flowers growing wild in the rocky-sandy terrain.  At one point Fritz sr. held “Western lore story time” - a Louis L’Amour oration about life and cattle drives in the Old West.  Fritz jr. listened from beneath a spreading tree (I have no idea what kind, but its leaves resembled holly).

 

In a moment of spontaneity, Fritz jr. took off to conquer a sandy hill covered with brush, and we watched from below as he climbed to the top. If you look really-really closely, you can see him about half-way up in the bottom picture.

After the exhilarating hike (he said views from the top were incredible), the guys took a few minutes to bask in the late afternoon sunshine with beverages from the cooler. Then they scavenged 20+ attractive rocks to bring home for a new fire pit in Fritz jr's side yard - these would have been costly if purchased from a landscape business back in our neck of the woods.

On our way home, we watched another awe-inspiring sunset over the Pacific.

The day ended with a crackling campfire in the new pit beneath a sliver of a moon hanging in an otherwise inky black sky - a dramatic and fitting end to a spectacular day in Mexico!