Nogales to Phoenix, and then to LA

  Times like this, I wish I had taken more pictures during our week long adventure in Mexico, because pictures definitely are worth 1,000 words sometimes.  Monday morning, we loaded up the van, truck and trailer.  We made our way to the church Sue and Sil attend down the road to pick up 3 other volunteers.  The car ride wasn't too bad.  It did remind me that I would much rather sit on my own bike than to be crammed in the middle of two smelly men in the back of a bumpy van.  It didn't take us but 20 or 30 minutes to get across the border and maybe another 15 minutes to get to Manitas Que Hablan. As soon as we arrived we started unloading the van and truck.  The volunteer crew and the founders of the the first deaf school for all ages in Mexico met in the main room of the school.  The school consisted of 3 classrooms, an office, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a large room in the front of the house.   In 4 days we planned on tearing up and putting in a new roof, updating some of the pluming and installing a hot water heater, and painting all the rooms, ceilings, and doors.  
  Manitas Que Hablan was the vision of a women named Tere Valenzuela.  Tere's vision was to see her daughter, Daniela,  a chance at living a life with choices.  Before Tere started to move her vision into a reality, there was no chance for the deaf Mexican population to make a living outside of begging.  Sadly, this statistic also holds true for the blind and mentally challenged communities.  Manitas now educates 46+ deaf students year round, ranging in all ages.  

  Soon after being introduced to the Manitas community/family we were introduced to the media and the mayors wife.  Once the excitement started to settle down, we got to work in the house.  After the main room was painted the men broke out the ladders and got to work on tearing up the leaking roof.  The students and women got started on tapping up the walls and painting the 2 classrooms in the main house blue and later putting a second coat on the main room.  After a long day of work,  Tere and her family joined us for dinner downtown, compliments of the mayors wife.  Dinner was a bit awkward, being that only Susan, Silvario, and Monica were the only people from our group that spoke decent spanish.  We still managed to have a great time and great food!

  Tuesday, we woke up and had breakfast around eight.  The guys strolled back up the ladders and the women got started painting the office and doors.  We took a break every couple of hours.  The women that worked as tutors or teachers at the school (were also brothers, sisters, and mothers of the students) made us breakfast and lunch each day.  The work days consisted of starting at 8 or 9 and finish cleaning up by the time the sun was down.  I showered Tuesday night with a solar shower bag...the sun had stopped hitting the bag a few hours prior, so it wasn't quite as warm as I had hoped it to be, but I did manage to get yet another good nights rest!

  Wednesday...we did more roofing, pluming and painting.  I didn't have much to do with the pluming, or the roofing (unfortunately)...I just know it got done, which is quite a beautiful thing!  We finished up painting the bathrooms, and doing some touch ups on the other rooms we had already worked on.  Monica and I moved on to the classroom next to the main building.  The texturing job on the walls was a bit thick and rough, so it was a bit more tedious to get it done.  With the help of some students and Matt joining us here and there we got it done in a good amount of time.  That night Alejandro, Tere's son, took us to a karaoke bar with some of his friends.  We enjoyed some singing, dancing, drinking.  We were even able to chat between Monica, and Alejandro's friends, the translation worked quite well.  It was a nice way to wind down from the past couple of days.  

  Thursday, Julie and I worked with the students on creating white boards for the classrooms, office, kitchen, and entrance.  It was fun to work closer with the students on a project, a little less strait-forward than painting.  We started to finish wrapping all our projects up around the house.  

  I would like to give a special thanks to Alma, a women that had accompanied us from the time we arrived has been one of the most powerful people I have ever met.  She works with the United States to help provide better living situations for many people in Nogales.  Alma works along side non-profits, like Manitas Que Hablan, to allow people like Tere to get the means they need to create a sustainable business.
 Friday before we left we had to finish up some last minute adjustments on the pluming situation and pack up the rest of our gear to get going.  All in all it was a great experience to be able to create a new relationship with beautiful people forming a new avenue for a community in need.      

  We made our way back to the states after saying our goodbyes.  The following day we accompanied Robert to a bike race close to Tempe, AZ.  We helped set up and run kids through a bike safety course for We-Cycle.  Sunday, Sue and Sil drove us from Phoenix to Los Angeles so we could catch back up with our schedule.
Los Angeles has been such an interesting experience.  My original thoughts when we first got here was a bit of a shock that this place actually exists.  It kind of caught me off guard I think.  After a day or two it finally started to sink in.  We road around Beverly Hills, and Bel Air, hiked the cliffs overlooking Los Angeles, and road down the coast.  
  Last night I filled my cup of noodles with some hot water from a gas station and had some peanut butter for dessert.  My most recent feelings, the ones I have been longing for, I think, have finally come.  I miss the "normal routine".  I miss the little things.  A cup of coffee, knowing where I am going to sleep each night, opening the refrigerator, turning a switch to have heat in seconds, a warm shower, a choice.  To end our first week in California, we slept on the cliffs of Santa Monica, in our sleeping bags, listening to the ocean and the cars pass.  Around 3 AM, night life started to die down, but the waves were still coming in.  It was a beautiful thing.  
 It has been 3 weeks now since we have gone more than 30 miles on our bikes and I am so ready to get back on the road!