Que Onda?

Today is our last "full" day here in Loreto. It was a late morning then we headed on to the Internado to say fair well to the kids. We were all sad to say bye to them, although they seemed okay that we we're leaving, they still gave their best wishes to us. Or at least that's what I believe to have translated.

The group con yo then moved on to shopping for friends, family and other people who don't deserve gifts, but will receive them none the less just to make them feel special. I myself was led into a glass shop by a nine fingered man and shown a large assortment of animal shaped tobacco pipes. I was only surprised that one shaped as a monkey was actually functional. I was then convinced to buy a sweater by a fellow group member. I purchased this sweater because it makes me look like a hippie and a sac of potatoes simultaneously. I was then informed that the same sweater was 30 pesos cheaper at the store next door. Good job. (laugh out loud)

We all then returned to Casa De Jeff-Paul and tried to move as little as possible until dinner time. Except Darren, Brooke and Donovan (the Don) who thought it was better to run and bike ride. Frggin' do gooders.

Dinner time came. The girls had their hair did and the boys tried to wear collars, except me, I just paid for this potato sac, I'm going to wear it! We we're accompanied by Patti, Ben, Jill, Chuy and Chata. [Side note] big thanks to them for all of their help here in Loreto. Dinner was fantastic and I once again fit more into my stomach than what logically should.

Chuy then took us to the churro guy and we proceeded to buying......guess what? Churros! Except me, I got a deep fried banana covered in butter, jelly and an entire churro. It was amazing. Rachel can agree.

We now lounge sluggishly and not look forward to tomorrow (departure day). Sleep sounds good.
PEACE!

The Greatest Blog in the History of the Universe

Greetings ladies and gentleman who are reading this blog. I am glad that you all chose to read this blog over all other things you could have been doing at this very point in time. It feels good to know that people have such a vested interest in the happenings of my life, and the lives of many other Global Voice members on this trip with me. Our time here in Mexico is nearing an end, but that does not mean that our commitment to the people of this country is weakening or that we will not continue to do everything we can to ensure that we leave as big of an impact as possible on the people we have come across in our travels. During the course of this blog I will cover everything that I know you, the readers, are interested in hearing. This includes all the juicy bits of drama and happenings at the Internado, among other places.

It seems like just a week and a half ago we were exiting the plane that had just landed in Loreto, Mexico. When I stepped off of the plane many things were flying through my head; how will I spend my time here, will the children remember me, in what ways can I leave the biggest impact on the people who I run across here? So many questions all of which had almost no answers. I know now though, that it did not matter whether or not I had answers then and there, because I have found them over the course of my journey.

Today was a bit of a weird day. I woke up early in the morning to a rush or cold air creeping under my bedroom door, this slight air tickled my face and awakened me in no time. I looked quickly over to the clock next to my bed and read 7AM, not exactly the time of day I like waking up, but seeing as how I can almost never fall back to sleep after I am awakened I knew that it had to be. However, just because I was awake did not mean that I had to get up, and I instead chose to lay soundly in bed for another half hour before the sunlight was too overwhelming and I knew that I must get my day going.

I started my morning routine out like any other morning routine, by throwing off the blankets and giving my teddy bear a kiss on the forehead before I turn and set my feet on the cold ground. I then slowly stumbled over to the bathroom where I brushed my teeth, showered, and for the first time in a week and a half, shaved. Being able to clear my face of the atrocious facial hair that had been growing made me so incredibly happy, and my face went from being scraggly and icky to smooth and gorgeous. I often wish that I did not grow facial hair so that I would never have to shave, but I know that will never be the case and instead have figured out how to not let it trouble me too much.

After my morning routine I walked into the kitchen wearing my pajama bottoms, a plain white t-shirt, and a pair of socks to avoid my feet from freezing too much. My breakfast consisted of Frosted Flakes...and that's it. I chit chatted with Darren for a few while we awaited the awakening of other Global Voice members, who usually are not up and about until 8:30AM or later. I don't mind though, as long as they get an adequate amount of sleep and are able to do what needs to be done.

Rachel and Darren made some wonderful french toast of which I could only eat one slice so I did not have a severe allergic reaction to the eggs. This was a wonderful finisher to my previously eaten Frosted Flakes and it really made me content and ready to take on the day. After I ate breakfast I went outside with Darren, Donovan, and Paul to move random wooden beams from one place to another. I was glad to be able to do a favor for Paul since he has been so kind as to let us stay in his house while we are down here in Loreto. I'd like to send out a big thank you to Jeff and Paul, you two are awesome.

Once this task was completed, we all trekked through the streets of Loreto until we arrived at the Internado, where Peter was already busy finishing off some painting jobs that had not been finished previously. He has been such a wonderful addition to the Global Voice roster and has often been found working on projects that other people have long since considered "finished," especially the painting. I didn't hang out with him much after we arrived at the Internado but I know that he spent a good many hours today, on top of all the hours of previous days painting all over the Internado. Thanks Peter, you will from now on be known as Peter the Painter.

Since I was a bit exhausted from all the labor I had done during the previous days I decided to chill out a bit and take it easy...sort of. I began my day by making a paper bag book with the help of Sophie and Rachel. Basically what I did was watch how they made their sweet paper bag book and copy their ideas, so seeing as how they are amazing paper bag book makers and I copied them my paper bag book turned out quite splendidly. I still need to add things to my paper bag book, but for now it is doing pretty well. Once my paper bag book was completed, I hung out with Sophie while she finished her even more spectacular than my paper bag book. If there was some sort of award for greatest paper bag book, she would have easily won it by at least 320 million votes.

Once she was done, I decided to get back into some hardcore physical activity and participate in one of the most heated basketball games of my life. It was a 4 on 5 street rules game in which I ran around for 15 minutes yelling random things in English while the rest of the players looked at me awkwardly, however I am pretty sure my team won which made the game so worth it. My throat has been a little hoarse since then but I've managed to get by being just as loud and obnoxious as usual, much to the dismay or people around me.

That basketball game really tired me out so I went and laid down on some concrete in a attempt to take a nap, but the kids would not let that happen and instead I found myself back in the paper bag book room helping out a few kids...allegedly. Oh, sometime between my first paper bag book and the kids paper bag books I sat down to have a wonderful lunch with my fellow Global Voice members as well as the children at the Internado. The food that they prepare at the Internado has never ceased to satisfy my highly developed and hard to please palette, which is a wonderful thing to see.

After the paper bag books were created, it was almost time for dinner so a few of us on the inside cleaned up the mess which had been created by the various materials which went into making these books, such as feathers, buttons, beads, and lots of paper. Just as a little head's up to what a paper bag book is exactly, in case any of you wonderful readers are confused, I will explain it. It's basically a few small paper bags which are threaded together with yarn so it reads like a book, and you decorate the fronts and backs of the bags and the bags themselves provide little compartments to keep things such as secret love letters or even notes from friends.

Once the clean-up was finished we sat down for a delicious dinner at the Internado, which was a treat that only a couple of us had experienced before, as this was the first time all nine of us were able to eat dinner together at the Internado. We had empanadas and beans which were washed down with some tasty chocolate milk. It was very very good and I am glad we were able to all experience that at least once while we were down here. After dinner, we had a bit of fun dancing with some kids young and old just outside of the dining room, and I was able to strut my stuff which was quite impressive if I do say so myself.

The rest of my night went pretty well, and Donovan did some wonderful Leader of the Day activities which I thoroughly enjoyed. After his activities a few of the Global Voice members went out for ice cream while I stayed at home with a few others and decided on which picture I would use for this blog. I hope all of you enjoy the picture and I look forward to reading any wonderful comments you have about my blog. Thank you all for reading this, and I hope that it was worth reading over doing whatever else you could have been doing instead. If I left any questions unanswered feel free to ask more about it in the comments section below and I will do my best to answer them in a reasonable amount of time.

As for me, it is time for me to go to sleep, and hopefully tomorrow I can sleep in a little later than 7AM. Tomorrow will be our last day at the Internado, and I know that everyone in our group is not looking forward to saying goodbye to all the children for what may be the last time, and walking away from the place we have come to love and adore of the past two weeks. It's a good thing that the memories we have forged inside of, and even outside of those orange gates will be with us for the rest of our lives, otherwise I do not know how I would handle it.

I love each and every moment of every Global Voice trip I have ever been on, and really hope more people have the chance to experience it at least once in their lives.

-Jaycob Hughes

Mission to the Mission

Our group woke this morning with the hope of heading to the water for a ride on Ben and Jill's boat. Alas, the winds were too strong and instead Paul took us on an adventure to San Javier. On our way to our destination we stopped at a petroglyph site in a beautiful little oasis complete with palm trees, a winding creek, and tiny minnows. Returning to the road ,we continued to drive up in elevation until the paved road ended and we passed the iconic pyramid looking mountain. Along the way we passed some quaint rancheros of modest means surrounded by fertile gardens and orchards even in this harsh desert landscape. After a little over an hour of driving, we arrived at the San Javier mission. A brief history, Mision San Javier was established in 1699 by the Jesuits. Today about 150 people live in this town containing one of the best preserved missions still around. After checking out the church we explored a little further until we found the gigantic olive tree pictured here which must have been planted around the time of the mission's establishment. Following this we had a nice lunch where we were able to hear about some of Paul's extensive travels and adventures across this planet.
Upon returning to Loreto, I took a run on the beach and met up with our group at the Internado where some of our members were passing out fresh baked cookies. The Internado kids have really warmed up to our team. And speaking of our team, I am so impressed with the level of leadership, creativity, and jest that each member brings. Tonight Jaycob facilitated a great reflection activity entitled tap someone who where each person was secretly acknowledged for their contributions. I'm excited to see the manifestation of this trip andcan't wait to see where Global Voice will go in the future.

Jungle Gyms and New Continents

Our group had a very productive day and we enjoyed ourselves doing many activities. This blog (at least this part of it) is going to be a bit bias because of the exceedingly amazing adventures Sophie and I had while repainting the mural in the middle of the basketball court. It began when we were repainting the beautiful islands off of the east coast of Florida and South Carolina. You see, there had been added into our beautiful earth a wonderful set of new continents/islands. But although they were glamorous, green, and glorious we had to paint over them because in reality they didn't exist. After we repaired the earth with our paint brushes we also thought it would be a good idea to reshape South America, add in parts of Central America as well as Africa, Europe and Antarctica. 

I am happy to inform all readers that there are no longer land masses (aka continents or deserted islands) floating off the coast of Florida. Sophie and I made sure that the earth is now in great condition. (However no one is perfect and the earth is still a bit misshaped...and yes to Sohipe and Cam, I am going to look up the shape of the earth when I log off this blog.) There are still shallow land masses off the northern coasts of Canada. That being said, I shall move on to other parts of our day. 

The final product of our center mural adventure. It is quite fantastic. 

While Sophie and I were having our globe repainting adventure our fellow Global Voicers continued painting the ever dreaded color de melón. Josh, Jake and Peter (also others else helped) did an excellent job with finishing the last bits of wall that remained to be painted. **Please pardon my English if it reads a bit funny. I have been translating between Spanish and English for 10 days now and it is messing with my brain** ANYWAY, Darren and Donovan fixed cabinets in the locker room of the girls’ dormitory and Brooke and Cambria finished painting the benches. Other activities that occupied our time were repainting the name of the school. It is now beautiful orange (unless you are Sophie, then it is red-orange). The letters look excellent now thanks to all the hard work of all the members of GV2011. :) <--That is a smiley. :) <--There is another one. 

Peter is so awesome at painting. 
We are so grateful for his talents!

Another fun thing that happened today was making bracelets with the kids at the Internado. We started the activity yesterday with about 15 kids and today many of them wanted to return and make more. Those who finished their homework came to visit Sophie and I while we made hemp bracelets. We showed a few kids how to do that but it was confusing so they just made more beautiful bracelets with buttons and beads. 

We had a scrumptious lunch of chicken, rice, beans and salad while at the Internado. We played more group games with the kids today: head, shoulders, knees and toes; pie pie pie (thats foot in Spanish); All of the guys turned into jungle gyms for the kids, toting them around on their backs and Donovan even became a horse for a few small moments. Props to Donovan for carrying four children on his back while crawling with knees on concrete. He is the man! According to Jake, Cambria continued organizing her MCA, and we all agree. :) Before we headed home the kids performed a dance for us. I have a video, but it is much too large to post here. It was really sweet and they all bid us farewell with hugs and kisses on the cheek. 

Donovan, Brooke, Peter, Jake, Darren, Rachel, Cambria, Sophie and Josh 

The remainder of our day was also filled with fun and and deliciousness. Jeff and Paul (we are staying at their house) are here and they made some bomb-diggity guacamole to accompany our dinner! We are all very excited for tomorrow’s adventures but I don’t want to steal the thunder from tomorrow’s blogger so what we are going to do will have to be a surprise to you all until the next blog is posted. 

Hasta pronto amigos! 

Rachel Breithaupt

Passing the Baton

This entry comes to you earlier than usual since Shaun and I have come to the end of our 5 day bridge experience with the Global Voice Loreto group. We fly out at 4 pm today and I am more than comfortable leaving the group (though in a perfect world I'd love to stay and culminate and celebrate the final days with everyone). In fact, as a co-founder of Global Voice I'm ecstatic to see the project pass on and take on a life of it's own in the hands of capable GV alum. This is the first solo program and the additions--Leader of the Day, a Global Voice Handy Dandy Pocket booklet, rotating schedules for buying and preparing meals--are keepers. Last night's reflection and activities were amazing to observe and confirmed two (if not more) things: the Global Voice model works and is sustainable and young people are an amazing untapped resource. What exactly does that mean?

Well, I could see how the intentional effort to build a sense of community among the group is still a fundamental ingredient of their ability to plan, make decisions together, and above all communicate with love and respect--with each other and everyone they connect to throughout the day. Setting the bar high, believing that they can all bring their best to everything they do daily, day after day, and allowing each to contribute uniquely to the mix has revealed an array of successes. Donovan unfolded his talent for ad-lib storytelling to a strumming guitar (his strumming) sharing a gift no one knew he had, including himself, apparently. Cambria brought to life yesterday evening what she had shared earlier in the day during our day at the beach. She said she loves Global Voice because it's not about someone organizing a service project and getting others to simply pitch in, telling them what to do. It's about creative problem solving, group planning and decision-making, compromise, teamwork and being open to change. The youth take responsibility for all aspects of the experience. Since the group is starting it's second week of work projects and first week of contact with the children and the workshops they plan to do with them--in the span of 8 hours--they had much to discuss and decide. After 30-40 minutes of facilitated discussion and recording of essential information they all concluded their evening--at 10:30 pm. Any illusions that youth will only do what they absolutely have to and cut short their work and planning time to have free and fun time should immediately be dismissed. This session followed two LOTD activities, the traditional props (recognition of one another and even others not in the room, including dogs, the sun and the ocean), a "looking forward" reflection, AND preceded the "hot seat," a new GV tradition that puts the Leader Of The Day (LOTD) in the hot seat and allows everyone to ask as many and as varied questions as they like--which in the four evenings we spent with them ran about 30 minutes. This time together, a nearly nightly occurrence, is all self-imposed and self-governed--from the 14-21 year old participant. "Everyone is equal" and everyone has equal value, sharing in dishes to daily leadership. No exceptions. Gee, this sounds a bit like "a world that works for all."

So why did Shaun and I even bother to go when they have it all under control? I can think of at least a few reasons: I'm hooked on the feeling that we can truly live, learn, lead, work and play together and still come out of this LOVEing each other (intentional misspell based on this Year's GV theme); I was selfish enough to want to see how they were taking Global Voice to a new level and using the key components of the model in creative, improved and exciting ways--and get first-hand confirmation that it works; I love Loreto, Mexico (no duh, though I'd recommend NOT coming down in the middle of a detox diet); and most surprising and heartwarming to me, the kids wanted us to come (I assume not just for my cooking since they had that under control and I had the best meal of my detox week courtesy of the culinary gifts of Rachel and Sophie). The unexpected skype call the night before our departure to see them filled me with a joy and gratefulness that has stayed with me during these past 5 days--I love these young people, they are all my kids, and it seems the feeling is mutual. Who could ask for more? And that's why we came! And, a little secret??!!! It's a lot more fun when they are in charge. Kudos GVers 2011 for a job well and lovingly done. I can't wait to see you do your magic in Lockwood this spring!

Love you all, Deb L-G

The beach in January. Be jealous.

Sand castle/Aztec warrior resort made by Rachel and Brooke! 

Thank God for Sundays. After a week full of tough physical labor, we finally got a day off, and it was fantastic. For those of you who haven't known the pleasure of being able to jump in the ocean when your loved ones back home are dealing with freezing temperatures and snow, allow me to try and explain it to you. It is pure ecstasy.

I love the ocean; I love the sun, and I love the beach, so today was bliss. Add that combination to the fact that I couldn't dream of doing such a thing back in Reno at this time of year and it's that much sweeter. The fact that you can get a natural tan in the middle of winter is amazing. I could go on and on about how cool the experience is, but I think you guys have a pretty good idea, especially since most of you readers are those aforementioned loved ones =P.

I would like to take a little time to describe the beach we visited to you. It was this really cool bay, which made it extremely swimmer-friendly, and the water was surprisingly clear. We had a set of snorkeling gear, and I had the chance to use it. You could see a long ways, so far in fact it conjured memories of Lake Tahoe. Adding to those memories was the fact that little sea life was visible while snorkeling, which was a little disappointing, but I guess you can't have everything. Although I did see a jelly fish which was a little frightening, but it was just a little one and didn't seem to have any interest in me. I was able to escape without any stings, which I'm sure is a relief to all of you.

Once our beach adventure ended, we piled back in to the car and headed home. After a long day of swimming and sun bathing, we then had the luxury of some good ol' fashioned downtime where we could do whatever we pleased. So, being the basketball nut that I am, it was time to go shoot some hoops. I gathered as many people as I could, which sadly was only one other. Props to Darren for going with me =D; you're the man. Unfortunately the basketball court is closed on Sundays, so after all that I didn't even get to play =/. Hopefully we will get a chance tomorrow. Instead of spending my free time on the basketball court, it was spent lounging around the house doing a whole lot of nothing, which was also nice.

At about 6:45, a large part of our group set off on an adventure to find the Nevada bowl game. I didn't travel with this group, so I can't say exactly what happened other than their adventure was fruitless. Apparently ESPN Mexico doesn't care too much for American college football, but that was okay with me because the group brought back pizza for dinner.

After dinner, we began our nightly reflection which went from sometime a little before 8 until well after 10. We got to play a couple fun games and then spent a long time on Peter's hot seat. Since he is the least known to the rest of the group it was fun to get a chance to learn more about him. Soon after I began this blog and you know the rest of the story from there. Have a good night and make the most out of your Monday; just remember: if we didn't have Mondays, everyone would hate Tuesdays instead.

-Joshua Hughes

Today we took a bike ride on the road to San Javier and then veered to three mountain bike trails. Manny, the owner of the bicycle shop, brought about ten young people with him in his truck. All of us grabbed some tools and started walking on the trails. We divided up into groups of four. Our trail (the lower of three-- closer to the ocean) was about two-and-a-half kilometers long. We cleared rocks, brush, anything that had fallen on the trail. On the way we saw a bobcat or small fox that had been recently killed, a jack rabbit, and many shrubs and cacti that were just beginning to bloom. Even though it is still January, the desert has a different rhythm-- now is the time of spring blossoms. One shrub, a matacoro, had a beautiful red blossom on it. All of the small leaves signaled spring. One of the shrubs had a citrus scent. Our two youth guides, Gama and Enrique, worked hard with the broken rake and tired bamboo rake. It was the day everyone got a lot of exercise. All of us were real hungry when we returned. Debby made a baked vegetable salad and Jake made a killer potato casserole and I threw some chicken and ribs on the barby. It was one of the best days we have had (we've only been here since Thursday). P.S. It was an especially nice day for me because I was able to paint. I did a montage of the backyard, with bicycles coasting through the patio beneath the beauganvilla. A lovely day. On the way home, Chuey stopped in his car and gave us hot churros. Wonderful cinnamon flavors. We're tired now and going to sleep well. STG

Red Paint, Salsa Dancing, and Restringing a Guitar - What Fun!

Salutations and felicitations from Loreto, Mexico! Just thought the post should start off interesting. Let's see if it'll end that way. OK, today was an interesting day. First off, a slightly later than usual start; just by five-ten minutes, nothing big. We once again made our way over to the Intranado to resume work on the painting.

Being done with the melon color, we turned our attention to the vermilion red. There wasn't as much to paint with the red and the work went by quickly. We splintered off in groups of roughly three and proceeded to paint the red onto the brick walls and one wall that needed a complete coat. As I stated earlier, the work went by quickly. There was a naranja (orange) paint bucket, but Cheuy and his pals painted the orange. The time was roughly 11:38:12 PM and the Leader of the Day (Brooke) had called lunch. We ate lunch and then resumed what remained of work. Shaun and Debbie took to sanding, varnishing, and repainting the benches.

We also borrowed a guitar from Cheuy and Peter and I noticed a string missing. We therefore went to the music shop and bought Ernie Ball acoustic nylon strings for 150 pesos (about $15) and proceeded home. Peter restrung the guitar up to the B string and then went to string the top E string at last. The gear on the tuning peg fell off, as did the screw holding it there. Brooke, Peter, and I searched the grass and Brooke had found the gear. We searched for a while for the screw as well. Tiny and jet-black. Perfect. I helped in the search and retuned the guitar while they continued on. Peter improvised with the low E string's tuning head gear screw, as that gear held in place, no problem.

This is a long post, so I'll finish up. We had gone out to dinner with Patty tonight as well and everyone learned salsa dancing. I took some pictures for the first half and then jumped in and learned the basics quickly enough. During the free-for-all dance, Sophie and the instructor (Alejandre?) were really gettin' down on the moves. Josh danced with everyone as well. It soon fizzled to where Josh was just solo dancing. We then went to the ice cream parlor, which was closed. We decided to get into a club, but the only club opened served beer, so we didn't go to that. We ended the evening with a game where someone closes their eyes, someone starts something, the rest follow, and the person with their eyes closed has to guess who's leading (they can open their eyes after everyone makes the same sound).

Buenos Nachos!
-Donovan

Painting...Football...and Snail Muzzles!

Over the past few days our group has been painting. We have painted the exterior parts of the dorms and are starting to make plans for our next activity. After finishing our painting for the day, we played a little catch with a football. We played not only with our group, but with Cheuy's grandson Alfredo (right). Although the other kids don't come until the tenth, we have gotten a sneak peek of how much fun it is going to be when they do.

Shaun and Debbie got here this afternoon. I am excited to show them what our group has become over the next couple days that they are here. Jake was leader of the day today. We played many games, one that involves inventing a use for an object given to you. Donovan and I made a snail muzzle. It keeps the snail from sucking on your arm and getting rid of rashes from the previous times that the snail got to your skin. It was a very creative game and I think that Jake did a great job with being leader of the day. We ended our exciting day by taking the group to get some ice cream. Once again, we have kept our goal of getting ice cream everyday we are here. I am looking forward to our projects and am excited for whats to come.

Brooke Harrower

Round 2

Hey y'all!!! (:
Okay, so yesterdays blog got lost in the process of posting, so here's a brief synopsis of what we did. (please keep in mind that the previous version of this blog was an infinite number of times cooler...)
We got off to kind of a late start, but no one was against sleeping in so we just called it good. We got started painted the exteriors of the buildings at the Internado.  Darren and Sofia bought 3 giant (5 gallon) buckets of paint for us to use; melon, rojo, y naranja.  We started with melon, which was the color of most of the beams of the main outside area and the other buildings as well.  We got a lot of painting done, but by the end of the day, (4 PM) we were ready for ciesta hour.
Patty surprised us with some of the most DELICIOUS soup you've ever had... vegetables and chicken and stuff. AKA sooooo good! (: Props to Patty! *snap, snap, snap* However, Josh and Peter had already planned to barbeque some burgers.  As youth leaders being faced with such a predicament, we decided to eat the soup as an appetizer while the real dinner was being prepared. Can you say GUUD DEESISHEN?!?! I can!! (:
After dinner was cleaned and put away, (both in our bellies and in the fridge) our L.O.T.D., Sofia took charge with reflection.  We reviewed our progress and discussed possible projects within the community outside of the Internado.  After finishing up official business, the focus of the conversation turned to the one and only ICE CREAM!!! Since we have vowed to eat it every day, we all took a trip together down to the ice cream shop.  Oh wow ice cream is so good here! Good thing we are eating it EVERYDAY! (:
We took the long way home and got to see the actual white house.  Literally, it said "CASA BLANCA" right over the front door! We also witnessed the beautiful waves crashing of the ocean against the rocks and the cool salty breeze while we merrily trekked along. What a good way to end the night!
Speaking of ending the night.... I'm out. Word G'man. (:
Cambria

Bicicletas y Bicycles. :)

Hello to all our readers. :)
Our second day here in Loreto has come and gone in what seems like no time at all, and already our group is making vast progress in the exploration of this beautiful town. As we settle in we are beginning to find different resources such as grocery stores, restaurants, and of course, ice cream parlors. (Seeing as one of our goals is to eat ice cream everyday).
We recently acquired bikes, thanks to all the those who loaned them to us; Rick, Jeff, Paul, and Jesus, these will be extremely useful in the aiding of transportation around Loreto. Also a fun activity for the group. A special thanks to Patty for assisting us in the transportation department today and Jesus (Chuy) as well.
When walking out of the house, we have found that whatever path is chosen, something miraculous will be found, whether it be the breathtaking view of the sea, or the enticing and irresistible smell of the warm, freshly baked tortillas in the Tortilleria on the opposing end.
Tomorrow we will be taking the path that leads us to the Internado, where we will be working with the local chicas y chicos. We are going to begin repairing the paint on the exterior of the dormitories, this is the kind of work that we will be doing for the first week seeing as the kids are currently on their winter break. We also will be preparing for workshops and creating activities for the kids later on. There is much anticipation in the air to meet all the children.
As for tonight, games and perhaps a run on the beach will be the finale for our group. Then we begin a whole new adventure tomorrow. We will be sure to keep you posted. Until then, goodnight.
-Sophie Glogovac

El primero dia en Mexico

Hello readers. Thanks for your interest in our blog. Today marks an important event for our Global Voice team as we have just arrived at our destination in Loreto, Mexico. We started early this morning (4:30am when this picture was taken) in the Reno airport and made our way south to Los Angeles via small propeller powered airplanes to our current destination about 3/4 of the way down the Baja peninsula. Loreto is a beautiful spot with hypnotic desert mountains rising out of the Sea of Cortez. It feels good to be back in Central America where the pace of life is a little slower and strangers seem to have greater concern for one another. Our accommodations here in Loreto are terrific (Thanks Yandre and Teague) and the weather is much warmer than the snowy winter wonderland of Northern Nevada. Tonight we dined on a fantastic meal composed of tacos of all varieties including fish, beef, and pork. We are getting ourselves settled in and working out the logistics of how we are going to work together as a team on our service-learning projects. Although tired, we are in good spirits and are looking forward to the adventures that lie ahead. Stay tuned for posts from the rest of our team. -Darren