Mexico Mission Trip, Day Seven

From my journal

January 3, 2010

So, today was our free day. I woke up not cold for the first time - woohoo - and ate Poptarts for breakfast. Then we headed out on the 1 1/2 hour drive to Rosarito, a tourist spot on the beach. It was an absolutely gorgous beach, with clean sand and light blue water.

We sat there for about an hour in a circle

and did Kodak Moment and Hot Seat. In Kodak Moment, we went around the circle and shared our most amazing "snapshot" memory of the trip. For me, it was on day four, after I'd hammered in the last shingle and was standing on the roof, watching the orange sunset over the mountains and the mountains tinted pink, and thinking "I could stay in this moment forever. Happily."

Then for Hot Seat, everybody sits one at a time in the middle and three team members say something they really like about you. For me, they said I was encouraging, smiley and cheerful, and uplifting, and I made people laugh! Then we played one last game of our team game, Bunny Bunny, and set out in groups to see the marketplace!

First my team went and ate lunch at a place called Macho Nacho. I had a shrimp taco which was very yummy considering I don't particularly like Mexican food.

The waiter was very enthusiastic and spoke English pretty well, but he got all of our names wrong when taking our orders - like Tyler was Taylor and Katie was Kitty! He called me Kasey, which wasn't too far off, but he also thought I was a guy! I was still wearing my beanie like I always did and so he walked up and asked "What can I get for you, sir?" then looked at me again and stammered "I'm so sorry! What can I get for you, ma'am?" But I thought it was funny! I also had a bottle of Coke which is even yummier in Mexico 'cuz it's made with real sugar.

The only things I bought in the market were a coconut candy in the colors of the Mexican flag
and a cross for Mom, because today is her birthday and she collects crosses, like to go on the wall. The marketplace is crazy, all a bunch of stalls clustered together selling almost the same things!

I'm not sure how people decide where they want to buy stuff from! How do you know if one person's hammocks or sombreros or t-shirts are better than the next?

I only bought two things, but some of my friends bought a lot of stuff. Tike bought a Monster cap, and then when he was in another store, the store owner noticed his cap and asked if he wanted a Monster shirt to go with it. Tike wanted it but didn't want to pay for it so he ended up trading the guy a pocketknife for the shirt. And then he bought sunglasses to complete the look.

(Which I borrowed.)

Then on the bus ride back we had an impromptu "thanks" session and everyone got all sentimental and shared why this trip was meaningful to them. :)

For dinner I ate Goldfish and gumdrops after packing up all my stuff! Even my air mattress. I'm gonna sleep on the floor tonight - but I'll survive. Then we had a sermon on taking the missions home with us. Then we cleaned the entire ranch up - lucky me, my team got the bathrooms. :P Afterward we kind of ambled around playing games and stuff. I can't believe a week is over. I miss hot water and toilets and clean hair and warm beds, but I'll miss my friends more in a couple days!