i made it!

i'm back from mexico!
and it was a wild 4 days.

as you all probably gathered from my last post, i was beyond anxious about this trip. i was terrified. as i was driving towards LAX at 3am thursday morning, i found myself actually begging God...
'God, please let me get a flat tire. that way i'll miss my flight. pleasepleasepleaseplease.'
and when that failed to happen it turned to...
'God, please let my car break down. pleasepleasepleaseplease.'
which shortly turned into...
'God, please let me get into an accident. pleasepleasepleaseplease.'
which after i got onto the plane eventually turned into...
'God, please let the plane crash. pleasepleasepleaseplease.'
(you know you don't want to do something when a horrible death in a raging diesel-fueled inferno is preferable.)
apparently you were all praying really hard for me, because none of those things happened.
shoot. *

i won't get into the details here (for a full-blown story, just ask. i'll talk your ear off) but i managed to get myself to the charming town of Actopan in the state of Hidalgo, checked into my hotel, and met the group of people who were spending their week building houses in the nearby village of Santiago de Anaya. it was a group of three Episcopalian churches from various parts of North Carolina. and they were the most gracious, welcoming bunch i could ever have hoped for. they heard who i was and why i was there and without question welcomed me into their group and put me instantly at ease. it is now hard to believe that i only spent a few days with them, because it felt like i had known them all for a long time. they definitely turned a stressful trip into something enjoyable and memorable and i am infinitely grateful for them.

once again, i won't give all the gritty details here, but i definitely learned a lot from this short trip. besides the practical things i was sent to learn, i also learned a lot about myself.

but just so i can prove i was actually there, here are a few photos.

the fiesta in Santiago de Anaya.

the Catholic church in Santiago de Anaya.

a view of the Cathedral from the Aztec ruins at the Templo Mayor in Mexico City.

the last of the Diego Rivera murals at the National Palace in Mexico City.

* all mentions of wishing for physical harm and/or death are purely for dramatic litereary effect. the author really has no desire to be injured and/or dead and has a nasty habit of over-using hyperbole and sarcasm.