at night we crossed the border

The day after the Dylan concert I left for the borderlands with the Interact Club, for which I'm faculty adviser. We went with members of the Keller Rotary, the Grapevine Rotary and Interact, and one guy from the Metroport Rotary, in whose vehicle I happened to ride, along with three juniors from my school. The girls were great; funny, nice, just super kids. Our driver enjoyed them very much.

So we drove about seven hours to Del Rio and checked into the hotel. We were supposed to go across to Cuidad Acuna for dinner at a certain time but the G'vine people were running very late arriving so we had to wait for them. We finally got to the Taco Grill around 8 p.m. They had the same funky guy (with a toupee, I think) playing the keyboard and singing. The kids really got into the dancing this year. Senor Keyboard played Achy Breaky Heart and some ladies from the Rotary taught the moves to the kids. Then he played the Macarena. Oh my.

We had mariachis too.

Saturday morning we crossed back into Mexico to spend the day painting classrooms at the Escuela Benito Juarez. The school was generally in worse condition than the one we painted last year, but at least some rooms had plaster over the bricks so they were easier to paint with rollers. Painting the rooms white certainly made them look clean and bright, but if I do this again next year, I'll take some bottles of acrylics to paint some flowers or stencils or something to brighten them up a bit. The Interact kids worked hard and had a really good time. Many of them made an effort to attempt to communicate with the children who came to watch, help, and score free tshirts .



After a full day of work, we went back to the hotel to clean up and rest up before crossing the border yet again to enjoy a dinner hosted by the Acuna Rotary. We went to the same place as last year but I thought this year's food was better - they grilled meat out back, and had the best cheese quesadillas ever. The kids talked big about how they were going to stay up all night, go to the hotel sauna, etc, but on the drive back the girls in our car conceded that they were entirely too tired for that and would be tumbling straight into bed. Smart gals.

I often seem to dread excursions such as this, but then they almost always turn out to be great experiences, and this trip was no exception. I hope I can remember that next year and be enthusiastic in my agreement to go along again.