The kids are here!! Yipee. Of course they're both asleep, since we didn't get here until after midnite and then had to wind down...Sort flight from Oakland to Phoenix but their luggage got lost! So we had to wait another 3 1/2 hours for their bags, so it made for a really long day. Actually what happened was they had was carry n bags, that as they boarded were taken from them to be stored below. When they changed planes they didn't realize they had to pick up their carry ons, and so the bags stayed in L.A. aarrgghh So thank god for angel Pam, who drove me up there! She laughed and said well we can drive around...it as 3pm when they landed and the bags wouldn't be in until 6:40...so we drove around Phoenix and sat in Starbucks...Pam and I had already done our shopping before their plane came in, and the girls were tired, so driving around and coffee was good ha ha. Pam loves to drive and she kept pointing out things and we laughed and talked and the time actually passed pretty quickly. Then at the Phoenix airport, they have this thing this area, called "cell lot". So you can park for free in this lot and it has this really huge board that lists the flights coming in- I think within the hour, and the status is either "enroute" or "ready for pickup", and then you can drive by your terminal and pick up your people.

So we didn't get home until 11pm, and luckily crossing the border was nothing, and the checkpoints are mostly for going the other way, except the one right outside Puerto Penasco, and that was about 2 questions, so it was all good. Everardo whipped up beans and eggs, we all talked and then fell into bed. I got up and went to a meeting; the girls had wanted to go ith me, but that was before getting home so late and I'm sure falling asleep was hard for them, even though Drewy had worked all nite, then gone to the airport, and been up until midnite last nite. But she's waking up right now, so I'll write again soon.

So I went out to San Rafael today with Anda & Rich. I'm so happy I went. What I saw was a lot of people coming in to eat lunch. Men women and children. I met the director, Karen, and she showed me around, inside and out; they have a vegetable garden, well kinda small, but if anyone shows a real interest they will help them to make one in their own yard at home.They have some stray dogs that they have kinda adopted. Their intention is to be there to help people who want and need help. I asked her if they had to in some way state a belief in God, or make some kind of commitment, and she said absolutely Not! I liked that. Then we went back inside for a talk and it seems I can help trying to teach English. Right now it will be Mon & Wed, since I need to come out with Anda & Rich, but after I get a car I can do something different since she said twice a day is best, like 11am and 2pm cause the kids go to school, some in the morning and some in the afternoon. Well it was chaotic today, and I ended up with 2 kids who were trying to learn; the rest ran in, grabbed all the stuff on the shelves and tables, and ran out. But that's ok, this was just seeing what it was about. Karen is totally into me doing it however I want. And I'm not even sure how that is....but I am excited to be a part of it.

The fact is these are people who need help. And I liked Karen's philosophy; she said yeah here's these people who come down here on these "wknd misions"and bring all this stuff and "look at these poor people", but she says, if you really want to help people, you eed to build a relationship with them. I like that. And I watched her and the group that was out there, and they are working hard, figuring out ways to teach these people to fish- (you know, you can give a man a fish and he can eat today; teach a man to fish and he will eat every day)- they are trying to help them with job sills; in fact it sounded like they were in touch with a company that has people in TJ sewing something (clothes or purses or something)anyway it sounded like they could contract some of the work here and were talking about logistics and stuff. So  I am very inetrested in being a part of this. The people are struggling in this place. But they seem happy. One young girl, 12 yrs old has already tugged at my heartstrings; having a very hard life. I will not relate it at this point; I want to get to know her a little bit, and also to see if I can help her in any way...but as Everardo says, I can't help everyone, and this was day one. I will need to develop a thicker skin..blah blah blah yeah I know! But I don't want to get used to it. When I used to go to Bangkok at first I could barely take it, I had so much and everywhere I saw the worst poerty, it was so hard. And then there were the really bad people who brought children and/or crippled people and dropped them off on street corners to beg, then pick them all back up at the end of the day. My friend Sarote, who lived there and I worked with, told me never to give them money- that if I wanted to give there were these donation buckets all over the place, and he believed that the money did go to help those who needed it.

But I do understand that I can only do what I can do. So I will get involved here andsee how it goes. BUt for this week, I'm not going back cause early Wednesday Pam and I are driving up to Phoenix to pick up my darling daughters so I'll go back next Monday.

Everardo spent all day (again) working on the license plate thing, and it may be finished, with the exception that he needs to return Friday and pay after they verify the info he gave them stating he paid for last year in Guerrero (which seems obvious to me since we have Guerrero plates..duh- but this is Mexico) So hopefully we'll be done with this ha ha. Well he's making shrimp right now, so...gotta go...

It's amazing how things work out. Now my friend Pam, who loves to drive and said she was restless, and that a road trip sounded great, is going to drive up to Phoenix with me to pick the girls. I just have to pay for gas and she'll drive. She heard me say that I was driving the truck up and wanted to get back before dark. Ha ha driving after dark here is different than down in Guerrero, Down there you have to worry about gangs/cartels, and the police (yep, there are some corrupt gov't officials here, especially in the nite in areas choking in drug smuggling, etc), here you have to worry about cows walking in the road at nite, and people with dim lights. I think it's a pretty straight shot but I am happy for the company. She said she's good for Saturday too- oh yeah that's when she jumped in cause I said we might put them on the shuttle on Saturday cause their flight isn't until 9pm. She had said the other day she wanted to go to the states. Today she said she was restless and ready for a roadtrip. She's pretty much of a loner, she said, and doesn't have anything else to do. OK- good for me then.

Well it will be good for me to learn the route anyway, and a 4 hour drive- well it will be nice not to do it alone....Pam and I are becoming friends, and me and Anda, too. We're talking about the 3 of us doing some stuff together. On Saturday there was an "art in the park" thing at the Shrimp Park. The park has a different name I think- but there's a fountain with a big statue of a shrimp, so....
Anda and Rich have a booth with jewelry, apparently they used to travel several states selling jewelry and working the shows...there were also some women from the community center in San Rafael out there selling crafts they made, some crosses, but also these mats, like for your front door, and they are made from plastic bags, the kind they put your groceries in. They look pretty darn good, too. Way to re-cycle. The director of the community center was also there, and Anda had talked to her about me wanting to come out there, so I was introduced to her and a couple of other women who I assume (?) also volunteer out there.

So tomorrow I have a meeting with Karen (the director) to see where/how I can fit in out there, she actually thought teaching English to little ones was a great idea. I told her my limited experience from Playa Ventura, but she thought it was great. She said these are really little kids, and just learning vocabulary and having fun was exactly what she was looking for; and that some of the kids went to school in the morning and some in the afternoon. So we'll see. I do want to contribute to the community, I want to help in some way, but it needs to be good for them and for me. In Playa Ventura it was ok, but ha ha the kids didn't really want it...here may be different since there are English speakers around, so like I said we'll see. The truth is...I'm cautiously optimistic- I hope this is what I'm looking for, but realize maybe not. I told her that I had heard that the area was alot of people who came from other states in Mexico and below Mexico to work when construction was booming here. Then when the bottom fell out, they were stuck. Nowhere to go back to, no job, no money no future. She said I heard right, that it's a tough life on a daily basis. I will check it out, and see what I can do. Maybe more than one thing, there must be lots of opportunity...

It will be a busy week. Hopefully tomorrow the paperwork will show up from the border where we crossed that we need for changing the license plates from Guerrero to Sonora. Confused? I am. Why is it not info from Guerrero? Well it's back to...in Mexico everything is possible and in Mexico everything is hard (or at least excruciatingly slow). Anyway you find out what's required and you comply. Once we get those papers, we can get the new plates, which is required of everyone every January- I mean regestration is always due in Jan, and in our case it includes the new plates. Then I need a new license. One for Sonora, even though my Guerrero license is good for a year. For this one I have to go to the doctor and get an eye test, but again, no driving test ha ha. The license is for 4 years, but it's way mor expensive- $200 pesos for that eye test- oh and it's the Red Cross, and $740 pesos for the license. In Guerrero it was only $250 pesos, and they took your picture and printed out your license. I won't do that until Tuesday cause I'm going out to the community center tomorrow, and then Tuesday nite I might be going to the meeting I think I already mentioned for the Uncommon women on common ground or something like that. Not sure about that one. Then Wed go to Phoenix, and have y beautiful daughters thru Saturday, and then it will be Sunday again- like right now- and I'll probly be sitting here writing in this blog- wow time flies when you're having fun.

Today was nice. Ok cold at first but warmed up a bit in the afternoon. Pam came over at noon and we worked on some AA stuff, then I went and bought a bunch of fruit to bring a dessert to Anda & Rich's where we went for dinner with them and another friend Julian. Steaks, baked potatoes, grilled veges, garlic bread, wow an American dinner ha ha. It was good but I ate way too much! Their house is right on the beach, a beautiful gigantic house out in this ritzy area called Las Conchas. They live in the condo over the garage but basically have the run of the place unless somene is renting the main house for the weekend. I think it s owned by a friend of theirs, and they are caretakers. Nice gig right? The views are amazing (f course), but the beach is different than Playa Ventura- there's no waves! So it's quiet, but really beautiful. We watched these cranes (herons?), one fishing and then the mate showed up.  She told me they see whales once in a while, but for dolphns, she's seen hundreds at one time all out there!! This I gotta see. She also snorkels out there, it's shallow way out, and even in water not over her head she sees tropical colorful fish! This will be very cool. In Playa Ventura Everardo saw tropicl fish when he went out fishing with the guys, but I never did, so I'm looking forward to it. We watched the sunset, and chatted and ate, and it was nice. There was this crazy little dog there, looked like a chihuahua, but is actually and Italian Greyhound, but it was tiny- weird eh? Well it was a rescue dog and for some reason didn't like me. Barked and barked at me. Oh was happy to have a little treat from me, a little guacamole, or a tiny piece of steak, but then back to yapping! Well Sam is invited next time- so we'll see who barks at who!

Well my pillow calls. Oh- and I like it here!