Israel!

We`re going to New York today to meet our Birthright group in Israel tomorrow! We are really excited. Sorry about the lack of updates. We`re both doing really well and enjoying our trip. Bria finishes her grad apps today! Yay!

Gringos

Two of Dave`s good friends, Wil and Erin (who you can see in the moustache pictures below) came down to travel with us for a week and we had an awesome time. We met them in Mexico City and spent a day at the Museum of Anthropology which has an extensive collection of artifacts from different pre-Hispanic civilizations of Mexico. We also got to see some Voladores, which are a group of 5 men who climb a pole and then, after attaching their feet to ropes, slowly descend twirling around the pole hanging upside down.

The next day, we took a bus to visit the ruins of El Tajin. El Tajin was a large city in the jungle of the state of Veracruz. You literally walk through the jungle to get there and it`s amazing to see it open up into these giant pyramids. Luckily, there were very other few tourists so it really had an ancient quiet sense. We left there and went to a small beach town called Tecolutla. It`s a resort town for Mexican families but it was pretty empty when we were there. We made friends with an old man who rode his bike around and took us to a restaurant and a boat tour of the river. In the river we saw crocodiles, crabs, and lots of birds. The guy who gave us the boat tour actually had a pet crocodile that we got to pet.

Then we went to Xalapa where we had a crazy night out that ended at a Cuban bar ordering cocktails we`d never heard of and a bowl of chocolate fondue. We walked around the city the next day and it was interesting seeing the convergence of natural, rural, and urban elements. It`s very interesting to see Mexico in it`s development as you have pretty much all of the modern amenities of the US mixed with people who live in houses without showers, stoves, or drinkable water. We went to Veracruz the next day and explored the city and the old naval base. It was hot, sticky, and smelly but we had a great seafood meal where Will finally got to have his "Camarones a la Diabla"

Then we headed back to Mexico City and went to the ruins of Teotihuacan. There were tons of tourists and vendors trying to sell you stuff and we were kind of wiped so I don`t think it was quite as powerful. The Temple of the Sun is really impressive though and it was pretty cool to climb it. Will left the next day so the 3 of us took a city bus tour where you can get on and off the buses to explore neighborhoods that interest you. There are a lot of really beautiful parts of Mexico City and we felt very safe. We moved every night while we were travelling so it was nice to be able to sit and have the scenery change around you. Erin left the next day after a really good week. Erin and Will had never been out of the country before and so it was really fun to be able to introduce them to Mexico. We had a great time with them and were ready to chill out for awhile after they left which was nice because we were able to go to our next farm, Yolitia.

Chicago

So we finally made it to Chicago, which ended up being fantastic. There was a little more end of trip stress when we arrived at the hotel were supposed to meet Dave`s parents at only to find that the reservations had been cancelled. Luckily there was an internet cafe still open so we checked our mail and found that Dave`s mom mentioned in an email that she was looking forward to seeing us at "The Inn of Chicago", and not the "Red Roof Inn" where we had initially made reservations. We googled it quickly and were lucky again to find that it was only a block away from the old hotel. So we made it in and then everything really was fantastic.

Much love to Dave`s step-brother Cliff and his new wife Robyn. We spent the day wandering around Chicago with Dave`s mom and then, although no one outside the wedding party was invited to the rehearsal dinner, in true Chamberlain fashion (Dave`s step-dad´s family) we crashed the dinner by making reservations at the same restaurant. Jason came in from working on the Obama campaign the next day for less than 24 hours in order to be at the wedding. The wedding was really really fun. Cliff and Robyn are both artsy so the wedding was very well planned with some fun surprises. The people were all really fun and we had a great time dancing. It was also set in an old mansion that was interesting to explore. After the wedding, Jason flew out at 6 AM the next morning and we spent the rest of the day with Dave`s family.

It was quite a culture shock to be back in the US but we enjoyed it. It was really nice to be back in an area where the language and customs were natural. While it has been interesting being in Mexico for an extended period of time and we have picked up some of the rhythm (speaking Spanish helps immensely), it`s still very obvious that we are not from here. I definitely feel more at home in the US and this trip has helped me to appreciate certain things more there. Travelling is good for that.

Escape from Mexico City

After Barranca del Cobre, we headed back to Torreon for a flight to Chicago to attend Dave`s step-brother Cliff`s wedding in Chicago. When we were in Barranca del Cobre we met quite a few travellers and a couple of them told us that we were supposed to have an entrance visa that basically shows that we paid $20 to enter the country. Apparently you only need it if you go 100 miles from the border. I believe we mentioned that when we entered Mexico the only thing we did was stand in line with a bunch of Mexicans (we were the only gringos on the bus) and push a button that lit up a green light. After consulting our travel book we decided we DID neeed one of these little papers and went about trying to find them.

We found the Mexican Immigration Services department in Torreon and were initially handed a huge form by a women that refused to listen to us. We figured out that the form was not what we wanted and tried to communicate that we needed the entrance visa. The woman helping us went and got another women that spoke English and she told us that since we were farther than 100 miles away from the border we had to pay a fine. Our book said that the fine was $42, but apparently it was increased a few months ago to $100 per person. Given that there was no customs stop or information at the border, we were a little upset that they were now claiming that WE were negligent because WE did not force our bus driver to a customs agency to take care of the 2 gringos on a 40 person bus. They even asked us if we had ever travelled before and we responded that yes we had travelled and been stopped on entry to every other country. After arguing for awhile one of the women said that she could ask her supervisor to cut the fine in half. Fine. $50 later we got a little piece of paper with a stamp on it that said we had paid the fine.

The next day, we flew to Chicago. Actually, we flew from Torreon, to Mexico City, to Cancun, to Chicago. For some reason it was cheaper to go out of Torreon than Mexico City, even though the flight connected through Mexico City. Anyways we got through Torreon easily enough by showing them our papers. However in Mexico City, they really did not want us to leave. First, the security guards questioned us suspicously about the camelback we were draining of water before we went through security. Then as we sat waiting by our gate, they changed the gate 30 minutes before our departure. It took us a couple minutes to figure out what had happened and when we did, we had to go through another security checkpoint. This security checkpoint however, refused to let us through because we needed a different paper. The guard gave us (wrong) directions to the person who could give us the papers we needed. So with 20 minutes before our plane left, having no idea where in which direction we were supposed to go, we were running through the airport trying to find customs. We ended up finding the big entrance customs with 30 booths which, luckily, had a very small line. We weren`t sure if this was actually where we were supposed to go and they wanted us to fill out a form before we approached the booth, but Dave, somewhat rudely, ignored the attendant and went directly to the booth. The woman there told us that we needed a different customs area that was in another part of the airport. So with 15 minutes left we took off running in another direction. We finally found the booth and showed our papers to the attendant who took them and made us fill out another form before giving us the little paper that said we could leave Mexico. We sprinted back through the terminal, dodging airline passengers and pretty much ran through the security checkpoint. Breathing hard, we got to our plane about 3 minutes before it took off.

We´re alive!

Sorry we haven´t updated the blog except for some weird mustache pics. We´ve been really busy travelling around and doing fun stuff. We´re going to another farm tomorrow so hopefully we will have some down time and write about all the places we have been. For those of you who are confused about those two other strange men, those are Dave´s friends Erin and Will from Cal Poly. They came down and travelled with us for a week and we decided we all needed mustaches. It was great. Anyways we´re alive and doing really well. Much love!

Moustache Vote!

Vote for who has the best moustache!!

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Moustache 1----------------------------------Moustache 2

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Moustache 3---------------------------------Moustache 4

La Barranca del Cobre, aka Copper Canyon

Copper Canyon is pretty much the only tourist destination in Northern Mexico, outside of Mazatlan. It is comprised of over 20 canyons and is larger than the grand canyon. A 650 km-long railroad by the name of Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacifico (abbreviated CHEPE, and if anyone can think of why please let us know) runs through the canyon, connecting Chihuahua to the Pacific Ocean. (Well, it used to go to all the way to the ocean but now it only gets close.) The railroad is quite an achievement, as it includes 36 bridges and 87 tunnels. It also provides some spectacular views, and is decidedly much more fun than sitting on a cramped bus for 11 straight hours. This is precisely what we did en route from Mexcaltitán to Los Mochis, the railroad´s western terminus.

Pictures from the train:

There are various places to stop in the canyon, which is full of hiking opportunities and glimpses of the indigenous culture of the Tarahumara. We decided to stop first in Ceracahui ("Ser-uh-KA-wee"), about an hour from the Bahuichivo ("Bah-wee-CHI-voh") train stop.

...Tell me about it, the names are tough. When the conductor asked where we were going when we boarded the train, I could only say "empieza con B" ("it starts with a B") Luckily, it is the only stop that begins with a `B´...

Yogi the Bear, looking out at us from our hotel.

In Ceracahui, we couldnt help deciding on a hotel named after a nearby rock formation shaped like Yogi the Bear. It turned out to be a great place, run by an American who does a lot of work fixing up the schools in the surrounding communities and raising money to provide scholarships to local children. When he discovered we were budget travellers and we had skills in both computer-repair and English-Spanish translation, he proposed we work for room and board. We were thrilled. Dave did some computer fixing, and I translated letters from local students into English to send to potential donors. He also took us on a trip into the Urique Canyon, and we stopped at nearly every school along the way where he would ask questions about a new floor he was getting put in for them, or new posters donated.

The cathedral in Ceracahui---Students at a school we visited

Canyon Urique

After a few days, we hopped back on the train for our next destination, Creel. Creel is the most popular destination in the canyon. We stayed at a bustling hostel and heard many different languages. In addition to making a few friends, we went mountain biking through the nearby valleys, which are known for their unique rock formations. We rode through beautiful, nearly untouched country-side with scattered Tarahumara houses. What a wonderful way to spend our last few days before flying to the great big city of Chicago!

Tarahumara women selling produce to people on the train

In a valley near Creel---------Tarahumara dresses hung up to dry

Mexcaltitán

After being in tourist Mazatlan for a couple nights, we needed to get out of the tourist zone. We read about a little village a couple hours south of Mazatlan called Mexcaltitán. The village has about 2,000 people living there and is on an island in the middle of a lagoon. There are no cars. To get there we had to take a 3.5 hour bus to Peñas, then a 30 minute taxi to Santiago Ixcuintla (we spent the night here for $8), then an hour van ride, then a 20 minute boat ride. Everything not found on the island is imported by boat so we rode in a boat packed with fruits, vegetables, cookies, and soft drinks. The lagoon that it is in is beautiful and the long travel time really gave us a sense of being remote.


When we got to the island, there were a group of men "paving" the dirt road with stones. It`s interesting to think about the interaction between such a tiny remote village and the state and local governments. We walked across the entire island in about 5 minutes and got to the village`s only hotel. It was almost lunch time so after a quick walk around the circumference of the island we went to one of the 2 restaurants. People in this village subside on mostly the shrimp they catch in the lagoon so we ate shrimp for lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next morning. The lunch shrimp included garlic shrimp and shrimp soup. In fact, it`s impossible to escape the shrimp because about 25% of the sidewalks are covered with drying shrimp, which permeates the smell of shrimp throughout the whole village. After lunch we walked around the island again before realizing that there was really very little to do here. The locals believe that Mexicaltitan is the original settlement of the Aztec who immigrated to the mainland. There is a museum on the island that documents the evidence for this belief. After visiting the museum, we went back to the hotel for a nap.


View from our room ----------- Camarones Seco (Dry Shrimp)

We were awakened by booming music. We went outside and caught the end of a birthday party for a little kid. One of the nice things about being a small island with no cars is that it`s safe for kids. Everywhere we went there were kids playing in groups or on their own and they were out until way after dark. A group of young locals were sitting in the street right in front of the loud speaker. They called us over and offered us beer and camarones seco. We ended up spending the entire night with them which was great because a) It was interesting to meet locals and speak Spanish and b) We had absolutely nothing else to do. They were very interested in the US and asked very direct questions about what Americans thought about Mexico and how our political system worked. It was interesting for us to find that most of them had jobs or school off the island and commuted back and forth every day. The internet and media really create a shared experience that people all over the world can experience together. They knew many of the musicians, movies, and websites we enjoyed. The island is billed as "untouched" but the internet cafe, Coca-Cola ads, and sound systems tell you otherwise. The technology-geek part of me is really excited about the possibilities of a connected world but there is also a part of me that worries about the loss of distinct cultures and viewpoints. Hopefully we can reverse the melting-pot trend and become a society that shares information, ideas, and values on a global level, while valuing and celebrating the diversity that makes us distinct. Anyways, the next morning we got up and ate shrimp tamales for breakfast (the best shrimp meal!) and then took off for Barranca del Cobre.

Mazatlan

So we are about a week and half behind with updating this thing but that`s ok. After we left El Chuzo, we went to Durango. Durango was a nice smallish city with lots of students where we ate lunch at a vegetarian restaurant called Samadhi. There was not that much for us to do though so we were fine leaving after a day. Then we got to Mazatlan!

The drive to Mazatlan is beautiful. There are only 2 routes in Mexico over the Sierra Madre Oriental which run all the way down from California. We took one of them to get to Mazatlan. It`s a 7 hour 2 lane bus ride that takes you through beautiful forests and valleys and starting with scenery similar to Tahoe and ending with tropical rainforest.

Our first day in Mazatlan we tried to find a hostel we had seen on the internet. We took a boat to an isolated beach (Isla de la Piedras) and walked all along trying to find the hostel. For those of you who have never been to Mazatlan, it is hot and humid. We were sweating profusely as we wandered with our big backpacks along this beach. We were also supposed to call Birthright Israel so we could have our interview and after a mad search for a phone, we found that the number didn`t work. So now we were sweaty, tired, and had no hostel or interview. We walked about half a mile to another phone which also didn`t work and then a third. We finally called the operator and found out you have to dial a different number than it says on the phone for 1-800 numbers in the US so we finally got through after our interview slots were over. We talked to birthright for 2 minutes before realizing the phone was charging us 15 pesos ($1.50) per minute rather than the posted 5 pesos ($.50). So we basically had to tell birthright that we were sorry and we couldn`t do the interview. We`re scheduled for next weekend in Chicago so hopefully it will work out.

So it turns out the hostel shut down 10 months ago. We ended up staying in a cabana right on the beach for $10. Unfortunately the $10 didn`t include screens and we got eaten by mosquitoes. We ate a big dinner and ended up watching the moon and ocean until it got late. The next day we jumped in the ocean again and then took off for a hotel in the historic center. Air conditioning! Yes! We went to a flute concert and walked around the tourist zone. After only seeing 1 or 2 travellers the whole time we have been in Mexico it was kind of strange to see all the gringos, mostly old people with big hats and cameras. The beach was pretty nice after being in the desert for 3 weeks so we stayed in Mazatlan for 4 nights before heading down the coast.

(Almost) 20 things that we learned at El Chuzo:

• When you work hard all day long, it doesnt matter how hard your mattress is.
• It´s ok to wear the same clothes several days in a row.
• Salt tastes good.
• Cutting tall grass by hand is a lot of work. Watch out for black widows!
• Pigs are really not nice to each other. They just want food. Even a mother pig will aggressively shove her small babies out of the way to get it. Watch out when you feed them; shoes (not sandals) are highly recommended. Also, don`t try to fix a pig fence before you`ve given them pig food because otherwise they might try to eat the buttons on your pants.
• If the situation arises to camp on a farm, near the chickens and roosters is not ideal if you wish to sleep past sunrise.
• Baño seco: poop isn´t so gross once it has reached its second birthday
• Red ant bites hurt. In times of panic due to red ant attack, frantic removal of pants might be necessary.
• 40 kilos = 90 pound of pig meat!
• Grinding spices by hand is really tiring!
• Huitlacoche is a type of fungus that grows on ears of corn. Its pretty tasty when sauteed with chiles and onion (it turns into a black paste) and put into uncooked tortilla masa then fried into empanadas.
• You should turn off more lights! You don´t need them as much as you think!
• Nopales cactus will grow if you stick a piece of it in the ground with the spikes down. Scorpions are hard to catch in a cup to put outside. And it´s best they not be in your bedroom.
• Food doesn´t require as much refrigeration as you think.
• Potatoes are much easier to harvest when the above-ground part of the plant is still there.
• When giving people advice, it`s better to say "It works better for me when I..." than "You should...". Then they don`t have to feel bad if it doesn`t work for them.
• It`s ok to let your 2 yr old child walk around without a diaper or pants on. Don`t be surprised if they pee and/or poo unexpectedly.
• Eating real food is better than many of the food-like substances you find in stores. (Thanks Michael Pollan!)
• Farming in the desert means that the soil is rock-hard. Watering before helps when you´re turning over a garden bed. Unfortunately, water is also scarce in the desert so we didn`t get this luxury.
• You don´t need to shower as much as you think! You´ll just get sweaty and gross again tomorrow.

Baño Seco (Dry Bathroom aka Composting Toilet)

The Baño Seco was an interesting part of El Chuzo. Rather than poop into a regular toilet and use however many gallons per flush to put it into a septic tank that then needs to be drained, we recycle our poop at El Chuzo! Basically you poop into a hole and then cover it with straw. When it`s full, you let it sit for 10 months and it turns into compost! We had the pleasure of removing the poo-compost (it smelled like good dirt) and putting it into a hole to sit for another 2 years to be completely sure there are no pathogens. After that, it is good fertilizer for the fruit trees, but it`s not used for vegetables. Although this one was a good distance from the house, they can be built as additions to regular bathrooms in houses. Watch below as we demonstrate the process!

We Survived!

We are getting ready to leave on Sunday for Durango and then Mazatlan. The beach sounds pretty fantastic after being on a desert farm for 3 weeks. Regular showers! Yes! Anyways we have had a really good time at El Chuzo and have more pictures and stories but right now have to go back to get up early and clean the house and make mole! Holey Moley! Or is it Olé Mole?! ¿Who knows?

Animals at El Chuzo

Petroglyphs at Gavillero

Pictures of the House at El Chuzo

Here´s the house we´ve been living in. The pictures are from the front of the house, in the dining room, and in the kitchen. Our room is at the right side of the house but we forgot to take a picture of it. This is pretty much the whole house except for the 3 bedrooms and the inside bathroom (which we don´t really use)

Weekends are more fun

This weekend we had a special treat with our family...fungus! There is a mushroom that grows on corn that is considered quite the delicacy in Mexico. One of Jose-Luis´friends gave him a big bag of them so we had 12 people for a big almuerzo! They cooked the mushroom with chiles, onions, and the little bit of corn that had not been taken over by the mushroom and it turned into an extremely appetizing black paste. They put that mixture into tortilla maza and fried it to make empanadas. Then we had a huge meal! It was a great cultural experience.

On Sunday, we got a ride with Anna´s friend Ananda to Monterrey for a Manu Chau concert. We got to see a lot of young people and met our friend Oscar who had led the ecology club to El Chuzo last weekend. The concert was in a gorgeous outdoor park called Huayasca(?). It was a small valley surrounded by beautiful mountains. Very sacred. We found vegetarian tortas which were pretty good. Manu Chau is associated with the Zapatista movement and has a very positive message. He obviously enjoys performing and has an incredible amount of energy. Kind of like a ska-ish Bob Marley.

Everything´s going well at El Chuzo. There´s another group of kids coming this weekend so we´re getting ready for that. There is also supposed to be a Japanese WWOOFer coming but his imperfect English is not understanding the imperfect English on the website so we´re keeping our fingers crossed for him to make it. Bria got her foot stepped on by two pigs today: once while feeding maiz to the pigs and again when she and Dave were carrying a piece of bamboo (get it! Dave´s a pig! ha ha!). The bamboo was part of their water filtration system but it wasn´t sucking up enough grease so they have to change it. Dave also learned how to speak in past tense so he no longer says things like... last weekend at fire i sing bob marley and nobody knows words. We forgot our camera tonight so hopefully we will bring it next time and it will work.

Making Chorizo

Yesterday, we spent about 9 hours cutting dried chiles, peeling garlic, and grinding spices for chorizo. Bernardo and Anna make it every two weeks to sell as their source of income. Today Anna is sick so I got to help Bernardo make chorizo. We started this morning with 4 pig legs and spent a couple hours cutting almost 90 lbs of meat. I´ve never cut meat from the bone so that was a new experience. Unfortunately it´s raining today so the solar panels aren´t working and we can´t use the electric grinder at the house. So we brought everything into town to use their office which has electricity and a computer. We´ve been grinding meat and chiles for about an hour. Work on farms is definitely repetitive but Bria and I are enjoying working with our bodies and it´s fulfilling to be able to see the direct results of what you do. I think after all this work I´m going to have to eat some of the chorizo...

Life at El Chuzo

As of now, we have spent 3 and a half days at El Chuzo. It is a small-scale organic farm and ecology center run by a cute little family that lives there year-round. They are: Bernardo, a Mexican man, almost 30, his wife, Anna, a french woman (she originally came to El Chuzo as a WWOOF-er!), their almost-2-year-old son Numa, and Bernardo´s father, Jose Luis. Jose Luis loves to explain to anyone anything about the inner-workings of farm life.

The farm is maybe 7 or 8 acres but much of it is open land where la vaca (the cow) roams. There are 3 gardens which provide all the organic veggies we could ever eat--especially appreciated after several days of eating very few vegetables! Dave´s stomach is still a little confused.

The farm family also includes Vicenta, grandmama pig, her daughter (whose name I forget), 2 smaller pigs, and 9 tiny adorable baby piglets. Also 1o gallinas (chickens), 2 gallos (roosters), 2 dogs Indra and Elfo ("who thinks he is a man") and a tiny tiny kitten named Cute.

This weekend an ¨Ecology Club¨ from a private school in Monterrey came to visit the farm. There were about 15 screaming little kids and their parents who came to see the farm. Our job was to build the parking lot for them...out of cactus. The spines on these things are crazy hard and go through gloves and into shoes.

It was interesting to get to know people from the Mexican middle-upper class. They had big minivans, listened to European techno ("Skat-man and numa numa yei"), and spoke English really well. We took a ride with them to see the nearby petroglyphs that were between 2,000 and 6,000 years old. A lot of the petroglyphs were circles with lines drawn through the center representing the Equinox (yeah we looked it up), which is when the sun passes directly over the equator.

So today is Sunday which is the day we don´t have any chores which is why we have time to use the internet. The farm is great. We´re enjoying the work (we get to harvest potatoes this week! yipee!), getting to know the family, and speaking a lot of Spanish. We have our own room in the house where WWOOFers sleep and we´re enjoying picking our dinner from the garden. For some reason we can´t upload pictures now so we´ll post some later. Much love!

Pictures from Torreon

A night-time game of Truth or Dare helped take the edge off the uncertainties of our travels.

When you only pay $15 for a room, they sometimes lack certain amenities. The water from the sink went straight into a...bucket that sat underneath it. We had to empty it into the shower drain a couple times so it didn´t overflow and flood our hotel room with gray water.

La Dia de Independencia! Wave after wave of robot-like children marched down the street to the beat of trumpets and drums. For a country that seems so relaxed these kids were pretty serious. There were also soldiers driving around in big trucks with automatic weapons pointed at the crowd but we didn´t think it was a good idea to take a picture of them.

The search continues...

Hi all! I hope everyone is doing well.

Today we said goodbye to Torreón and headed for Saltillo. Actually, when the day started, we did not know in which direction we would be going. Our fate was dependent upon an innocent little trip to an internet cafe...

We had sent out emails to organic farms in the surrounding area the previous day hoping that they would reply "pronto" even though it was México´s Dia de la Independencia.

Two farms returned emails! We decided on a farm outside of Saltillo called "El Chuzo" . Hopefully it wont be flooded when we get there tomorrow...

Try to find a farm?

So after two days of travelling we arrived in Gomez Palacio, a small town west of the also-small town Torreon, to try and meet up with our WWOOF farm contact. We tried calling the night before from Chihuahua but the phone number they gave us was connected to a fax machine. We sent them an email hoping they would meet us at the Gomez Palacio bus station. Unforunately, no one was there (shock!). We frantically emailed them and tried to call again with the help of a local but it was no use. After sitting on the sidewalk crying for 2 hours in the flooding rain we grabbed a taxi and found a nice hotel.

The next morning we tried calling again and (shock!) the phone was working!! A nice man named Arturo gave us the address of their office in Torreon. We have no map of Torreon but luckily the hotel manager helped us figure out which bus to take. The sewer system in Torreon is a little um... non-existant so the there are flood pools around each corner and some of the streets are flooded. We got to the office which was really beautiful and peaceful and Arturo sadly informed us that the farm had been swept away by the nearby river. Unfortunately for our friends at Jardin de Paz, the Mexican Government decided to open a dam for the first time in 17 years and gave them two days to evacuate. Apparently everything is gone. So we now are farm-less. This is kind of a bummer for us but much more so for Jardin de Paz who had spent 2 years working on this project. You can check out their website here.

So we got a hotel and are going to hang out here because tomorrow is Independence Day. After that we have no idea where we will be. We emailed some more local WWOOF farms and are trying to stay in the area because we fly to Chicago from Torreon on Oct. 29. We ran out of a plan much faster than we thought we would but this is the fun of travelling. Don´t worry friends, our spirits are high and we love you!

Hi everybody!

First post? This is too much pressure for us. We need to go on a vacation. Back to packing...