Adventurous Day!!

So...today has been a long, adventurous day! First of all, on Monday two girls arrived here from Calgary (Jessica and Sara) to spend the month with us, helping out, practicing Spanish, and just generally experiencing a bit of what missions is all about. We've had a good time getting to know them so far, and look forward to the days ahead.





Today we went out to Chapala (about 1 hour away) to do some work at an orphanage. Jen and I got to know 2 guys from our Spanish class who live and work there...so we've been wanting to go out and help out. So, we painted the wall surrounding the property. It was very hot, and we worked a long day (going on very little sleep due to an intense games night with some of our friends the night before). But we had a lot of fun, and got a lot done!




Here we are (Kenia, Sara, me, Jen, and Jessica) with our very vicious looking "warpaint" on! You can see the wall behind us- we did manage to get the walls painted as well!

The main "adventure" of the day happened on our drive home. Jen and I have been anticipating our first run-in with the Mexican police. After everything we have heard, we have been somewhat expecting the day we would be pulled over and have to deal with the possibility of being asked for a bribe. Well, today happened to be that day! Jen was driving, and this policeman on a motorcycle pulled up beside us and asked us where we were going. At first we thought he was just trying to help us with directions (ummm, yah right!). He kept "leading" us until we were off on a side street, and well pulled over from the traffic (to try and hide what he was about to do?). I think we were all a little bit nervous, and yet ready to do what we would need to do! So then he proceeded to tell us that we were speeding!! What? They have speed limits here? (Only partially kidding- they do have speed limits marked, but who follows them?) Anyway, the point is that we WEREN'T in fact speeding...but going along with the traffic, which happened to be moving fairly slowly. So, I decided to argue back, and remind him that we were following the flow of traffic (Would I ever argue back with a police officer in Canada? Nope!). He then asked Jen for her driver's license, and to whom the car belongs (um, it's my name on the papers). He finally asked her to get out of the car (which is quite unusual!), asked her a couple more questions, and decided to let us go (also, very unusual!).

So, I'm not sure if he was intimidated by the car full of "gringas", whether he realized we would just argue back and the bribe wasn't worth it, or whether it was the prayers that I was quickly praying...maybe a combination...but we managed to get out of our first "encounter with the police" unscathed!


Today the vote for Mexico's new President was finalized. As we neared our apartment, we came upon this huge crowd of people, lining the streets, waving President Felipe Calderon's flag, or driving by, honking and waving flags. So, we joined the crowd, received a couple flags of our own, and celebrated! President Felipe leads the same party (PAN) as our last President (Fox), and they've done a lot of good for Mexico so this was exciting news!