Today’s highlight: I move in with my Mexican host for the summer and we go out after dark into the city (I admit I was pretty nervous about this).
This day started off with us (Andrew and I) arriving 30 minutes late to our second basketball clinic at Las Aguilas. There were already a good number of kids in the court playing basketball when we arrived, unlike yesterday when it took a long time for anyone to show up. We taught a few kids how to shoot and how to pass, but eventually we all just joined in on a big basketball game with everyone there. The game was over around noon and Andrew and I left with Casey for his house.
At Casey’s house Andrew and I ate lunch and I took a quick shower (there was still no hot water at Steve and Kay’s house this morning). After our lunch we loaded up both of the Hancock’s cars and left for Huehuetoca. Once we arrived at Huehuetoca we unloaded the cars and then waited for 4pm to roll around so we could start the bible study with the young kids of the church. 4pm came and went and there were still no kids to be seen. At around 5pm Casey decided to call it quits on the bible study and Andrew and I were taken to our respective houses that we’ll be living in for the next two weeks.
Andrew is staying with Ricardo and Claudia, which is the family that I stayed with last weekend for one night. In a way I somewhat envy Andrew as I know Ricardo and Claudia are both great people and wonderful hosts. At the same time though, I was excited to live with someone new this time and see what another family would be like. After we dropped Andrew off and I said goodbye, Casey and I headed over to Lina’s house. Lina is a divorced single mom and has one child that lives with her. For her job she runs what they call a “cocina economica”, which is basically just a small in-home restaurant business. She’ll cook dinner for people every Monday through Friday at a discount from what her clients would usually pay elsewhere.
After Casey and she talked for quite a while (this is about 40 minutes or so), Lina put on a movie for me and said she had to get my room ready for me. Once this was done she said she was hungry and wanted to go out to get a bite to eat. I didn’t think about this as we left, but it was getting dark outside and I had been warned not to travel after dark. I figured Lina knew what she was doing though so I went along with her without giving it a second thought.
To get to the restaurant we had to take what they call a “microbus”, which is a small van that has enough room for about 12 passengers. This was my first time on one of these so I was a little apprehensive as to what it would be like. The driver of the first microbus drove very quickly and so I was a little scared. We eventually got to our first stop where we had to get on another microbus that would take us to the center of Huehuetoca. At this point I was getting a little more nervous as I found out we were going to the center of the city at night.
I think it was then on our second microbus that I started to pray to God for protection for us. Remember that this was all new to me so I had no idea what to expect as far as safety goes. My nervousness kept on but eventually we arrived at our destination. The restaurant we went to was called “Tom Hamburguesas”. Lina wanted me to eat their hamburgers because I had mentioned I like hamburgers for dinner earlier. Once we got inside I felt everyone’s eyes on me as we were led to an available seat. Of course the seat in the middle of the restaurant, where everyone could see us, is where we sat. At this point I got a little more nervous because sitting right in front of us were two Mexicans in their late teens drinking beer and looking at me and laughing.
At this point I just wanted to eat my food quickly and get out of this place where they were playing loud Mexican music, smoking cigarettes, and drinking a lot of beer. (When I say a lot of beer, I mean some of the people there had liter-sized glasses full of beer for just one person!) The hamburger that I ordered eventually came out and I woofed it down. It was quite good, but I didn’t want to stick around to enjoy it. Lina and I talked while we were eating and soon we were leaving the place.
On the trip back we wanted to take a taxi so walked down the dark road to find one. During this time I was very apprehensive as all around me where people that stared at me and the sidewalk was not well lit. Once we finally did find a taxi, there was a problem with how much money the driver wanted. Lina said it was too much and decided to walk to another taxi stop. So we started walking down dark sidewalks and it seemed like we had walked a few miles (it was probably only about a half mile) before we finally arrived at a taxi stop.
During this time Lina took my arm and walked close to me as we made our way down the dark roads. This was comforting, and I thank God that we arrived safely to the taxi stop. At the stop we hailed a taxi driver and he and his son (it’s Father’s Day tomorrow!) drove us back to our Urbi. The driver was very good and we ended up making it safely back to my new home. I’m quite tired now and I think I hope to never walk around at night like this again. I guess it’s possible to do it without getting robbed or hurt, but I would prefer to not risk it. It’s been fun getting to know Lina thus far and learn how to communicate with her. I look forward to talking with her more.
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