At the bottom, we were met with desert terrain and desert heat. Lots of liquids were required to keep hydrated and lots of sunblock applied and reapplied for 62 miles. Even with this, Lisa has a band of sunburn around her wrist where she missed the sunblock. Not too bad though.
Calexico Mission School welcomed the C2C tour again this year as they have for many years. The kids from the travel club made us dinner of enchiladas, salad, rice and beans, chocolate chip cookies and either Hawaiian punch or hibiscus juice--the latter of which was delicious, almost a grape flavor. They will make us breakfast tomorrow, and the tour will make a donation to the travel club with some added tips from the riders. The travel club plans to use the money to go to Greece and to pay for graduation.
The school is remarkable in that it has been around for over 70 years. About 1/3 of the students cross the border every day to attain an education in the United States. They occasionally go back to finish school in Mexico for grades 10-12 so that they can get into college in Mexico. They are taught English while here and if they speak to their teachers in Spanish, they get a detention. The principal said they learn English very quickly!
So we are all spread out on the mission school's gym floor, but awwww, it is air conditioned and super clean, so very comfortable and I think we will have no trouble falling asleep tonight. Welcome to Calexico, CA. Tomorrow, we are off to the Center of the World and into our second state of Arizona; more on than tomorrow...
No comments:
Post a Comment