Day 8 marked the halfway point of our 16-day trip. Days are passing so quickly!
It began with...trumpet fanfare, please...an amazing breakfast of smoked tuna and marlin from the Ensenada fish market!
After this gourmet start to the day, Fritz sr. and I tackled a few chores around the duplex. He installed a new outdoor light
fixture on the side of the house and some electrical outlets in the laundry hut behind it, while I managed the washing and drying of several
loads of clothes.
Meanwhile, Fritz jr. crossed the border to pick up a new
(donated) freezer in San Diego. When he
returned late morning, we regrouped - the plan was to return to San Diego together for a State-side afternoon. However, he received a plea for help! One of
his co-workers, a Mexican who has been on staff here for 18 years, was stranded
in Rosarito and needed rescue. So we drove over the now-familiar
dirt road pocked with ruts (we’ve decided it’s best not to brace yourself
against the jolts, but just let your body be jello-like) to the highway, where
we headed south instead of north to tend to the emergency.
We found the broken-down car stranded next to high-speed
traffic. Fritz jr. jumped the battery, only for it to fail again. After further assessment, he decided there
were layers of malfunction that would require more involved electrical work. It’s interesting how all car maintenance is
specialized here – there are no full-service businesses like we have in the
States, but each little shop “does its own thing.” Once a truck was on its way to tow the car to
an appropriate shop, we resumed our earlier plans to go north.
Although I can’t explain exactly why, I was emotional
(nervous?) about this first south-to-north crossing of the border. Our Michigan
“Enhanced Drivers License” would allow passage without a passport – it seemed a little crazy to me that this little piece of plastic had so much authority!
The lines were longer than usual. We qualified for the
“ready lane,” not the fastest but also not the slowest, and still ended up
waiting about an hour and a half. During
our creeping advance to the border, Mexican vendors sold traditional food and
trinkets to the captive crowd. Finally we arrived at the actual booth, and the transaction
took about 20 seconds.
On the other side, A-M-E-R-I-C-A! Although I’d never been to California before
this trip, I felt unexpectedly relieved to be on home soil. The psychology was surprising – who knew familiar
billboards and road signs would seem so welcome!
We visited the main office for Project Mexico and St.
Innocent Orphanage in Chula Vista, just south of San Diego, and thoroughly
enjoyed meeting the delightful staff there.
These committed people wear many hats, and work diligently behind-the-scenes
to support both impoverished (home building through Project Mexico) and orphans
(St. Innocent Orphanage).
Soula DeLaRiva has been my primary contact the past two
Christmases when our church has been involved with charitable donations, so it
was wonderful to meet her face-to-face.
Soula is full-blooded Greek who was raised in Canada, and she married
Ben (Project Mexico executive director), a California man with a Mexican father
and American mother. An interesting
couple!! Soula’s parents own a Greek restaurant; she and Ben treated us to a
fabulous Greek dinner complete with smooth-as-silk wine, a shrimp appetizer in
heavenly sauce, and a variety of well-seasoned ethnic entrees. Every bite was sooooo delicious.
Ben and Soula drove us from the restaurant (north of San Diego) to Chula Vista, and we headed back across the border - this time
with absolutely no wait and no ID check. We arrived at “the ranch” at 10:30, after the
gate was locked, so Chuy (the night watchman I introduced several days ago)
kindly let us in with a big smile. Home
again!
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