Category: Mexico

Camp near Saltillo

I have put off writing a post about our camp in Saltillo partially because I did not know if it would appeal to a wide audience and partially because it was one of those weeks that I have very mixed emotions about.

Camp
The reason we were in Monterrey a couple of weeks ago was to head up our Deaf camp in the northern part of Mexico. It is called Campamento Henson named after Missionary Ron Henson who worked many years with the Deaf in Monterrey and Guadalajara as well as many other places in Mexico. I have been the director for the last 3 years. That just means that I get to be the one to make the final decision and feel the pressure when things go wrong. For the most part, this camp just runs itself. Many of the people who go to camp have been going for more than 10 years.

Location
This year we were in a bind in that the camp we had reserved did not have us written down for the right dates. That caused us to have to look for a new camp location. By the time I finally got one nailed down, it was well into the new year. We were very grateful for the location we were able to get

This location was nice in that it was nearer to many of the churches than we have been in the past. We had people from 11 different cities at camp. The camp site was also at 7000′ elevation. That meant that it was much cooler than we experience here at sea level in the south. They have snow 6 months out of the year in the area. Unfortunately, this is not one of those months. One night it got down to the low 50s. That is not too terribly cold, but the rooms we stayed in are not sealed for the cold weather. It was like sleeping in a tent. I think most people enjoyed the change since most everyone is experiencing much warmer summer temperatures at this time.

Results
There were 109 campers and 7 accepted the Lord as Savior. It was a very successful week along those lines. We had churches that brought quite a few more campers this year than in the past because the distance was changed in their favor. There were almost 20 campers more this year than our previous high year of recent camps.

Tight Quarters
The camp ground that we used was well equipped for 70 people, but we had 109! There was plenty of space in the auditorium and dining areas, but there just were not enough beds. The camp is still in the process of building. They have plans for another dorm which will add 25 more beds. As it was we had several people sleeping on the floor in the dorms. Some of us slept on tables in the dining room. I am disappointed that one of our churches was not able to come, but I am also not sure where we would have housed another 20+ people.

Activities and Staff
We had some fun activities. We were able to go on a hay ride and play on a zip line. For me it was my first experience with a zip line. It was fun.

The staff at the camp was great. Though there were some struggles with the facilities being too small and not having enough water to keep us well cleaned, I cannot praise the staff enough. We have been at other locations  where the staff was very helpful and we were told that if we needed anything to let them know. At this camp though, the staff stood around and said “What can I do for you right now?” A small difference, but it was very noticeable. The camp owner/director even offered to do a craft project with the campers. That was a blessing since one of our big activities each year is the daily craft. But because of some people not being able to make the trip, we did not have enough crafts planned. The camp director had no idea that we were needing help with a craft, yet he was there to step in and take up the slack just by offering.

Some Struggles
There was not enough water. They truck in about 1500 gallons of water a day. That is cheaper than drilling their own well. But, for the number of people we had there, the amount of water was not enough.

One of our main preachers has been under the weather and was not able to come. I knew a couple weeks in advance that there was a possibility of his absence. But it was not confirmed until the day before camp started.

Another preacher informed me 3 days before that he would not be able to make it. His problem was that his transportation fell through. We were able to route some other people through his area (several hours out of their way) to pick him up and bring he and his wife. That was a huge help.

One of my teachers was not able to make it. She was going to be teaching the ladies each morning. Camp started on Monday evening. I did not know for sure until mid-morning Tuesday that she was not going to be with us.

To get the week started, I was about 2 hours late arriving at the camp ground because the group I was riding with had a van break down. That 2 hours was something that I struggled all week to recover. It seemed to never happen. We have mostly done well in the past with keeping things on schedule and getting the activities started on time. Starting everything late on the first night set the atmosphere for the week. Most of the services started 5 to 20 minutes late. When you are trying to pack in as many events as you can in a short period of time, it is important that you keep things on schedule. Many of the speakers are used to preaching in their churches where there is no time limit, but unfortunately we have to set limits while at camp. It was not unusual for me to have to stand at the back of the auditorium and signal to a preacher that he had to cut it short because he overshot his time by 30+ minutes. Personally, if I cannot say what I want to say in 30 minutes, then I am trying to say too much. When you preach for more than an hour and still have to be cut off by the man in charge, then you are definitely trying to say too much.

There were some stressful times trying to adjust the schedule for all the changes.

Finances
We were also several hundred dollars short on being able to pay for the camp. This is something we have never had a problem with since I have been running the camp. But through a long series of events here and there, we ended up short. Fortunately, God showed His hand of control and power and we were able to leave the camp owing nothing.

Conclusion
It was a very mixed bag of emotions throughout the week. Some very wonderful things took place as well as some tough and stressful events. Fortunately there were no life threatening issues that we had to deal with. I have gone through that before, and it is not an experience a camp director ever wants to repeat.

Next year I will not be in the country to work out all the details of camp. I am still planning to be very involved, but am glad to push some of the detailed responsibility off on one of the national pastors. I will be at camp to deal with problems and inevitable crises, but when things go right I will be able to point to the national and thank him for the great work he did leading into camp.

From a final result point of view, the camp was extremely successful. From my point of view I went into this camp the least organized I have ever been. The fact that it was pulled off so well is a testament to the great national pastors and missionaries who have been doing it so long they just rolled with the punches. I am personally embarassed by the behind the scenes mess that I seemed to constantly struggle with, but am thankful that no one but me really saw the fragility of my house of cards. I have kept you in the dark on so many other issues that I did not even cover in this post..

I thank God we were able to see 7 people saved and church people encouraged to go home and have a stronger personal relationship with the Lord.

Parque Plaza Sesamo

Plaza Sesamo is the Mexican version of Sesame Street. I am not sure if Plaza Sesamo is used in other countries, but it is filmed in Mexico City and is quite popular here. In Monterrey is a theme park that is based on Plaza Sesamo.

We arrived at the park Saturday morning shortly after it opened at 10:00, but since we did not have a printed copy of the online promotion, we either had to find an Internet shop to print the coupon or pay an extra $30 for the family to enter the park. The promotion we saw online did not say we needed a coupon and therefore we thought it was just a standing promotion. I spent almost an hour running up and down the streets near the theme park looking for an Internet cafe to be able to print the coupon. Since I went through all the work, I printed a couple of extra ones and handed them out to others in line.

The theme park itself is pretty small and it is geared towards young children as you would expect. We were a little disappointed that every time we saw one of the Sesame Street characters walking around they were walking with a handler who was trying to rush them off to a show or something. The characters never had time to stop for a photo. It was not until after we were leaving the park that we saw a few characters who had time for a photo shoot. Then our kids were not interested in getting a picture with them. Our daughter was scared by the larger than life version of the Muppets and our son is too old to be interested in a photo with them. I felt a little awkward getting my picture taken with them by myself, but at least we have a photo to show the kids later.

There were only a couple of rides that were of real interest to us as older people, but our daughter was thrilled with just about all of them. One of the neat things that they have done is make the rides accessible to all ages. We were able to ride the majority of them with our daughter. We did not have to stick her on a ride by herself with the exception of a couple.

The water park section of Plaza Sesamo was great for all ages. We spent the majority of our 7 hours in the park playing in the water. They did a great job in building play areas for small children as well as having a good amount of thrilling water slides. Though we are in the middle of the summer, it did not seem that the crowd was as large as they could handle. Some of the areas were packed, but many of the lines were very short. Much shorter than they were prepared to handle.

Our one major disappointment with the park centered around the difficulty of finding information on the website. It would have been nice to know that I needed to print out the online coupon to get the good price which would have saved an hour walking the streets looking for an Internet cafe. We also specifically looked on the site for the clothing requirements in the water park but did not find them at the time. Unlike the general public, we prefer not to run around mostly nude. We always wear a shirt and shorts at the beach to protect our white little bodies from the sun as well as maintain a bit of modesty. My wife and daughter were not allowed in the water with a shirt on. My son and I ditched our shirts at the bottom of the stairs and slipped them on after each ride. We ended up having to buy a suit for our daughter and I gave my lycra shirt to my wife. The lycra is permissible, but not cotton. Every time she wanted to get in the water she had to prove to the life guard that the shirt was not cotton. All of that could have been avoided if they would put their clothing requirements on the website in an easy to read manner. The requirements are there, but they list the rules for each attraction separately instead of just giving a general set of rules. By the time you read through several pages of rules for a bunch of rides and you finally get to the water park rules, your eyes glaze over and it is easy to miss. But there is no mention in the rules that lycra is a permittible form of clothing.

All in all it was a very fun day. We have not been able to see as much of Monterrey as I had hoped, but we certainly feel like we have had a great vacation. Even though we are here for a reason, it has been nice to be here a couple of days early to relax and enjoy a few days as a family.

Running around Santa Lucia and Fundidora

Yesterday we visited the two parks Santa Lucia River Walk and the Fundidora in Monterrey, Mexico. Today I took a couple of incredible hours and ran around these two parks a few times.

I needed a 10 mile run for my long run of the week. I had planned to run near our hotel. This route was recommended by a few people over at Run the Planet. The route they recommended seems to be quite popular since 3 different people mentioned it. That route is also conveniently located just 2 kilometers from my hotel. But, after driving around yesterday, I found out that those 2 kilometers might as well be 200. There is no way to cross over the major highways that I would need to to get to the start of the route. I could have driven there of course, but that kind of defeated the purpose for finding a route near the hotel.

After visiting the two parks yesterday, I really wanted to run there. But that meant a 20 minute drive and I did not have time to get there, run and be back before we were scheduled to do an outing this morning.

I decided to run this evening after having spent the whole day with the family in a theme park. Who’s bright idea was that? I figured if I could have gotten a nap then the late running would not be that bad. No nap happened.

I wanted to do the run anyway and with the family tuckered out and ready for bed when we got home this evening, it was a perfect time to run. So I got ready and headed out the door and back to the area where we had spent the last 2 days. The theme park we went to today is also connected with the two parks we were at yesterday.

Not knowing the mile breaks, I decided to not do my normal Galloway run/walk plan. I just ran straight through. That also meant that I really don’t know exactly how far I ran tonight. It was somewhere between 10 and 11 miles, so I logged it as 10.5.

I started off by running through the Santa Lucia River Walk. I ran down one side and discovered a service road that is used for vehicles and therefore is less crowded by pedestrians. Even though it was a vehicle accessible road, there were no cars there. It was a totally safe place to run without worrying about cars at all. I ran to the far end of the park, away from the other parks, and then back.

*Warning: This is not a recommendation!* While running I decided to do something that may end me up in a hospital, but I am not really too concerned about it. I decided that since there are no vendors in the park, and I knew I would be thirsty, to take a risk and drink from the public water fountains. This is Mexico after all, and we are always told to not drink the water. We drink so much bottled water it is even a disgusting thought to me that I actually drank water out of a pipe all my life in the US. Yuck!

I went against all conventional wisdom and drank the Mexican tap water. I have a few things going for me though. First is the fact that I have lived here for 4 years and have only been sick because of parasites/amoebas one time. Secondly, according to something we were told several years ago, the number of different strands of e-coli in the water increases the further south you go. Theoretically, if I am somewhat immune to the bacteria in Yucatan, there are far fewer bacteria in the water in Monterrey since it is so much further north. Whether all of this is true, I don’t know, but I also don’t anticipate getting sick over this.

But: DON’T DRINK THE WATER!

I ran around the Champ Car race track at Fundidora 3 times adding a little to each lap by running off the track and into some of the walking paths around. These extra paths are where I was reminded that Monterrey is not a flat city. I got a little bit of hill work in tonight. Since I don’t ever get to run hills, I did a few little ones, but took them easy.

I also ran through the river walk a couple of times.

I highly recommend that if you get a chance to run in Monterrey that you make these parks part of your trip. I would have to admit that they would get boring to run all the time, but if you were running shorter 30 minute runs, you could easily vary your route and run through different parts of the parks several times before you had to run the same route. There are plenty of places to run hills, but you can also stay in very flat areas easily.

This ranks up there with the most memorable runs I have ever done. Of course number one would be the run in Long Beach that I have mentioned many times, but tonight’s run would take a close second. It was very nice to run without having to worry about getting run over by cars.

Monterrey, Mexico

We arrived in Monterrey this morning so that we could get ready for camp starting on Monday. I have been in Monterrey a few times, but have never had a chance to just look around the city. When I have been here before I was with a whole bunch of home bodies who would rather sit and watch paint dry than get out and explore the town. That is why we arrived 3 days earlier than necessary. We are trying to see it all.

Flight was un-eventful. Quite boring. Just the way they should be.

When we got to the airport I called the car rental company and they said they would send a shuttle to get us. Thirty minutes later I called again. He said that the shuttle had been there but could not find us. Through our quick conversation I found out that there was more than one terminal in the airport. He assumed we came in on a US International flight and sent the shuttle to that terminal. We filled out a bunch of information beforehand to rent the car. They had our flight number and should have known we were flying domestic.

When we got the car they offered us insurance. After deliberation and seeing that the price of the car rental almost tripled with the added insurance, we declined. But the price did not go down much at all. Come to find out that the price we were given did not include the mandatory insurance, only the car rental. The non-mandatory insurance was just a few dollars more and it kept me from having to have enough credit on my card to put the full price of the car on it.

Getting around Monterrey is a huge pain. The signs that they have tell you where you should turn…at the moment you see the sign. Not that you have warning to slow down from freeway speeds, but that you should be turning immediately below the sign. You also usually only get 1 sign for each exit. Sometimes it says that the road or attraction you are looking for is up ahead in the left lane. But you never get told beyond that where you are supposed to turn. We drove 5 miles one time before we decided that the attraction that we were supposed to get to by getting into the left lane meant that we were supposed to make a u-turn on the highway and go backwards. Not much of a help.

The big thing we did today, besides eat ice cream for supper (yes, that was the whole meal), was go to the Santa Lucia and Fundidora parks. Santa Lucia is a river walk that has playgrounds all along it. There is a canal that that has boat tours going up and down it. It is a canal to nowhere though.

It was really nice and a great place to take the family.

It connects with the Fundidora (foundry) park. This is the old steel mill in Monterrey which now has a formula-1 race track built around it. It too is a very family friendly place with lots of people riding bikes, running and roller-blading.

Tomorrow, Parque Plaza Sesamo.

My paramedic drives a cooler vehicle than yours

Today we were driving around down town and passed a paramedic. Since both my brothers are paramedics, I tend to notice these guys more than most people. The cool moped he was driving probably would not haul too many bodies, but at least you can’t call him the worst possible name for a paramedic: Ambulance Driver.

Interestingly the paramedics are part of the police force here. In the US they are either an independent agency or work with the fire department.

Every time they stop me at traffic lights asking for donations, I try to give them a peso or two. That is one public service that I want to be well funded when I need their services.

Click the photo for a larger version of the picture.