Gulping a Tree

Adventures of the Early Spring

This April landed me in a couple of novel scenarios, such as drinking water directly out of a tree. Where? At a maple farm in Southern Ontario, right during the two-or-so week window of time when the sap runs.  A network of blue tubes runs between trees, collecting the sap and bringing it downhill to be processed. Oddly, the raw sap contains a sandy substance that must be filtered out before the sap is evaporated into syrup. Ever eaten maple sand? I don’t recommend it. It has a gritty taste that is either so bitter it’s sweet or so sweet it’s bitter—I couldn’t quite tell which, but it haunts me to this day!

If tasting tree-sand wasn’t unique enough, we also had the chance to drink the raw sap. Our host dipped a cup into an old-fashioned tin bucket hanging from a nearby tree and handed it to Yours Truly with a sweet smile. While I'm glad to say I downed it, I can't describe how weird it felt to drink straight from a tree--just a normal, wood-and-bark tree--while LOOKING at the tree. The sap looked and felt like water, but carried a ubiquitous "sweet" tinge to the taste.

San Diego: A Million More Adventures



 

Parrots, sea lions, tide pools, palm trees, taxis that don't come, an originally-booked plane that doesn't leave with you on it...the last few days of this trip were certainly exciting ones!

 

 

 

 

Here's some footage of a whale watching trip we took, to get started...

Debriefing

We Can't Stop Talking About the Trip!

Day 7: Saturday, February 16th
After saying goodbye to the YWAM'ers



7:10PM  Katrina and I are sitting here in San Diego, in an open courtyard under the stars. We're in a sort of shopping complex, the stores joined in a series of golden-lit courtyards like this one. There's a  a grocery store here, where she and I bought our supper, and a Five Guys restaurant, where the others are ordering. We're waiting for them at a table just outside, shadowed by a wide red umbrella. Surf music is playing. ...Here come the others, bringing a couple of cartons of 5 Guys peanuts with them. Now that they're here, we start an impromptu debriefing session on everything we just experienced this passed week...

Back Across the Border

The Story Isn't Over Yet!

 



Group photo before leaving the mission

Migrant labourers working in the fields we passed

Fish tacos bought while in Ensenada this morning

2:17 PM: We're now in the van eating huge bags of deep-fried, cinnamony churros. It's all part of crossing the border: we're sitting in an enormous line-up of cars, surrounded on every side as though in an amicable traffic jam, while local vendors weave in and out of the rows selling their wares. Some man food stands, while others walk around carrying every sort of merchandise imaginable ranging from plastic ukuleles to giant portrayals of the last supper. You never know what's going to float past the window next! Even from where I'm watching from the backseat, I can hear the smile in the voices of Barry, our team leader,  and his co-pilot as they hand out sandwiches, candy, donuts and New Testaments to the peddlers.







Market area near the border

We waited 2 hours and 40 minutes in line to cross!










Adventures of the Final Day

February 15th

9:52 PM: We just got a campfire going out here (in a pit behind the dorms), so I'm now writing by firelight. Today was our last full day in Mexico! And a full day it was...

It all started with Sala, led today by the week's visitors. Afterwards I had the opportunity of working with the groundskeeper, Norberto, tending the Prayer Garden. He showed me which colour of bougainvillea makes good tea, and which leaves and pods you can boil with it.

The garden-fresh tea had a buttery smell
and distinctive "wild" taste.

My last few minutes of working in Mexico over, I crawled out from under the bougainvillea bush I'd been cleaning, took my armfull of tea-making supplies and hustled up to the staff lounge for team-building.

We had lunch up there, and then promptly filed into the white YWAM van to begin our afternoon expeditions.

First stop: the market.

Next Stop: a pinata store.

                                    Third Stop: another camp

The camp was set up as rows of concrete houses built around a central sand courtyard. Clothes lines stretched out around many of the entrances, as today was "washing day." Most of the washing was occurring in tubs in an open building near the front of the camp, while we meanwhile were distributing the rest of our stickers, bubbles and string to the fun-loving kids.

 (Please click "Read More" to view the rest of the day's events...)

Day 6, Part 2: The Second Migrant Camp

February 14th



Special thanks to our friends from Minnesota
 for sending us the pictures of the evening!



As fun as daycare had been, the day wasn't over yet! After a macadamia-sorting session and a lunch of potato tacos and beans, we all piled into vans bound for the next migrant outreach. (For information on the Migrant Camp situation, please read this post of our last outreach.)
Destination? A large camp called Los Brisos.



The Lineup for Supper





Because of somebody's donation*  we were able to serve a meal again tonight. While it cooked, some of us went in groups (led by Spanish-speakers) to walk up and down the long rows of joined houses, giving out toiletry items and inviting people to dinner.
We returned to the main area, slid behind a long table, and had the privilege of serving 500 meals, including seconds. As is the system, our fellow volunteers walked along the table as we filled the plates they held, which they then took to serve the people in line.

 

I was on "nacho-doling duty." Before long my hands were covered with salt,

but I loved every minute of it!



Skipping Rope Before Supper



The camp is divided by a concrete basketball court on which we set up for the meal and movie. On this side of the court are the joined rows of corrugated tin houses for temporary working (migrant) families. On that side of the court are the separated brick houses, electrical wires running among them. These, we are told, are for local (Spanish-speaking) workers.

This court is where the New Testament animation played after supper, projected on a screen on the side of a van. The evangelist offered the hope of salvation to those who remained, after which we handed out Bibles to the new believers.

I can still see the one guy up there--the first to stand up to confess Christ tonight. Later, I even got to give another fellow a Bible! It's easy to really feel like you're working for God in a place like this, even though we're to serve like Him wherever you are. To think that tomorrow is our last day here!

*(At this time, it only takes $200 dollars to feed an entire camp! Please click here for information from the Foundation for His Ministry website.)

Day 6, Part 1: Daycare

February 14

Never underestimate the potential of a plastic chicken leg.

This morning Mrs. LaFrance and I had the opportunity to help out at daycare, for kids that would often otherwise be home alone all day. First came bath time--it was the girls' turn today--during which I hung out with the boys. As I untied one of the little girl's shoes before bath, this quote came to mind. 

The girls returned for us to brush and style their hair, after which came breakfast. Outdoor playtime, a sing-along, reading time and indoor play all followed... 

Daycare photo taken by one of our Minnesota friends

...But the most hilarious time of all came when we played outside one last time after snack! Not only would little hands sneak up to tap me to initiate a round of tag (they would run away from my turbo-charged ticklegun braids), but we also got into more colourful conversations on teléphonos.

The devices? A plastic chicken leg and a toy mirror.