DAY 14: New Orleans

Our itinerary originally held that we would make the from from NO to ATL today, but we changed it. We had been planning to visit some schools in the ATL on monday, but none of our arrangements with schools came to fruit, and Jayne (the pastor) told us about some great cultural events happening on sunday. We had a group meeting, and decided to spend the day in New Orleans instead of Atlanta.

We woke, had an easy morning, and went to a songwriting workshop with some local musicians in the afternoon. At the end of the workshop, they invited students to come jam with them. Sam and Indigo got on the stage and rocked out. Sam kept a mean beat and looked a natural drummer.

We came back to the church for dinner with Jayne and her husband Alfredo. Alfredo is mexican and Jayne worked for many years assisting the undocumented become legal or gain rights. they spoke with us about some of the issues they encountered, legal, social and economic for undocumented immigrants.

Tomorrow we are making the drive to Atlanta, where we do have a school visit in the morning on Tuesday. That afternoon we drive to knoxville, back on schedule.

DAY 13: New Orleans

We stayed at a presbyterian church in New Orleans and did work projects there saturday morning. Members of the congregation told us about the immigrant population, and how it boomed during the rebuilding after Katrina. In Harlingen, we had attended an evening conference on immigration that talked about the love/hate relationship our country has with foreign workers, that when it needs labor, it welcomes immigrants, and when the economy slumps, it despises them. New Orleans was an example in action. It needed a quick, able workforce to rebuild almost an entire city, and it drew in many latino workers.

In the later part of the day, we had a big shrimp fry with a former student, Aidan Bellew, who hosted us. We pigged till our guts burst with shrimp, artichoke, corn and taters. After that, we walked around the french quarter, had beignets and coffee/hot chocolate at cafe du monde, and came back for bed.

DAY 11: Austin

We stayed at Paula's Uncle Fred's house while we were in Austin. We arrived in the evening of day 10, had a big party for Tessa, complete with a deeply sinful chocolate cake ordered by her parents and picked up by Uncle Fred(or Uncle Frank, as JM calls him)

On Day 11, we went to downtown Austin and walked around. We visited the Mexic-Arte museum, a mexican and mexican american art museum that was pretty interesting. They had photographs from the mexican revolution, and we learned a little more about mexican history, Pancho Villa and Zapata.

While we were out, our trailer was getting repaired. John and noah, while doing chores in the morning, notice that one of our trailer's wheels has blown away all its bearings and was riding on nothing but the axle. Considering how potentially dangerous it could have been, coming into Austin during rush hour, we were glad nothing naughty happened on the drive. After a ton of phone calls, we got it towed and repaired, and by the time we were done with our trip downtown, the trailer was repaired. All ready to go for our drive to New Orleans on day 12.

DAY 10: Yo Homies

Today we are leaving Padre Island and driving to Austin, home of Leslie the transvestite hobo who regularly runs for mayor. Padre Island was cool . . . and sandy. I don't like sand. Today is Tessa's B-Day. She has received brownie pancakes and will receive many birthday spankings. We are going to eat and sleep at a 'fondue place' and we are going to sleep at paula's uncle's house.

Have you ever pulverized a dead jellyfish with a log? it's fun. There were a lot of dead jellyfish to pulverize. . .

The van's windows fog up in hte morning and the benches are very comfy to sleep on. John tried to keep me up real late last night, that potato pastry! That school bus right next to us is shiny and new, but is can see the bus driver lady enying our fly ride.

Over and out, Pat Benetar.

-Grace

PADRE ISLAND: Day 8,9,10

When we decided to avoid mexico, we found an emergency plan to go to Padre Island. No, not the spring break party zone, but the national seashore. We arrived in the evening, settled down right on the beach and set camp.

We all played in the water and had a great night. The next day, day nine of our trip, we had an easy morning of trash collection on the beach and then joined a formal beach walk with one of the rangers at Padre Island. She told us about how all of the current in the Gulf of Mexico feed more or less straight to Padre Island, which is why one can find so much trash on it. The island's hundred miles of beach gets detritus from all the US states, mexico, the yucatan, and the Caribbean. She told us about the crazy sargasso seaweed that comes neck deep at times from the sargasso sea. We saw ghost crabs and whip coral. We touched a dolphin skull and learned that thirty years ago the island was a total desert. it was a cattle ranch, and the cows had eaten everything on the island.

To me, the best part of being on padre came at night, when i found star phosphorescence in the water. It is caused by single celled organisms, armored flagellates, that activate like fireflies when the water is churned. we all played in the water and splashed about, sparking green stars into the night. it was pretty amazing.

We woke on Tessa's birthday and made pancakes out of brownie mix, piled a million pounds of sand into our van and took off. We had a cleaning frenzy at the visitor station, sweeping and dusting and washing ourselves and our belongings. Now we are on the road to Austin, where we will be doing some service work and learning more about Mexico.

Jason S

REFUGIO: Saying Goodbye

We were sad to leave refugio and our new friends. Pio sent us off with a small loquat tree. Loquats are a tradition for AMS field trips. Always when our trips arrive, the loquats are ripe. Four or five years ago, he sent a loquat home with our school, and it is growing well. now we will have two. What if one day, they bloom and make loquats in our dining room.

In addition to the loquat, Pio gave us a lemongrass plant from his home village in Peru, and five bags of young corn shoots, natural corn whose ancestors came from Cuba.

Everyone was getting good at spanish, even the students who were having a hard time in classes. By the time we left, most of the kids were asking questions to the refugees in spanish and trying to think of reasons to talk to them. So awesome.

REFUGIO: Other Stuff

Now we are at Padre Island, sitting in a coffee shop next to the HEB. WE're uploading the last bit of info from our stay in Refugio. Pio, Lisa, Noe and Saoul were awesome. The following are extra bits from some of the other things we did during our time in south Texas. Exploring the army surplus store in Harlingen, playing with the lost puppy, using broken toilets, etc.
The pond at refugio.

The puppy! Noe found it on the road and brought it back. We had some moments of deliberation over whether to keep it. He stayed there, cute though he was.
His and hers toilets that barely worked. Now they do, thanks to Noah and Sam.
Umm. Funny joke?
Noah trying on something in the army surplus store in downtown harlingen.

Grace's New Boyfriend

It was True Love at first sight.

REFUGIO FUN

Football? Soccer? Whichever to call it, so much bonding took place on the paddie(cow) studded fields of Refugio as we played our nightly games of "pick up" futbol. As the cows looked on, we fashioned our own World Cup here in south Texas with international representatives from Guatemala(Noe), El Salvador(Saoul) and Celo(the rest of us).


Aside from disgruntled cows, rugged landscape, and makeshift goals, what the players feared most was trodding upon the much feared "freshie" in the heat of competition with an auditory 'plop' and the 'ploosh' that followed removal of the foot from the pie. It was these moments that the onloking cows seemed to be wearing a grin.

Jason M.

DAY 8: Paula

Our last day at Refugio. Well, really, our last morning at Refugio seeing as we're planning to leave for Padre Island as soon as we can get packed and ready to go.

Jason and I woke up at 6:30 and one last time went out to attempt to milk the cow. To our credit, Today was the most successful endeavor. Saoul gave her some feed and tied her to a post by the horns. She let Jason and I palpitate her udder and tug on her teats...and had she any milk in her, it probably would have been a much more productive event. Unfortunately, though we've tried a few times to separate the mother and calf during the night (so the little calf wouldn't drink all of the milk by morning), the cow keeps escaping. So now I suppose Saoul is on his own if he wants to pursue the milking, but at least now the cow is a little more amenable/comfortable with the idea.

Lisa donated several green veggies and ears of corn to us this morning and we're all looking forward to corn and a veggie filled stir-fry tonight. mmm...vegetables... well, in just a few hours we'll be done with our time here and off to the beach.

DAY 7: Sam

Flutter, putter goes an engine that doesn't start. Today, Noah and I worked on chainsaws. In total we got 1 whole chainsaw fixed. All of the other ones were pieces of s**t. They have probably been neglected for many, many years.
At this point they are finishing up the last touches of paint. I helped for about 5 minutes out of two days. I have been fixing motors (well, trying to anyway) and being a plumber. Noah and I fixed three toilets here on campus. One of them Jason M. broke so we had to get a new one and install it. Maybe I will be a plumber, but the only way I can find out is to live on.

Sam

DAY 7: Tessa

Today was so fun! For the past two days we've been scraping, peeling, drywalling, primering, and painting a kitchen here at Refugio del Rio Grande. Before, it was peeling and falling apart. And with a touch of AMS magic, its now a beautiful, yellow, clean, functional kitchen! We splurged a little with trip money to make some great people really happy! The two refugees here are really nice and helpful. They seem to enjoy work just as much as we do.

Tomorrow is . . . Padre Island! Hurray! I think were all ready for a little water. It's very dry here and not really anywhere to swim other than a mucky 4ft. deep pond that inhabits flamingos. But nobody wants to swim in that. ^_^ I am going to be fourteen the day we leave the island and head for Austin. I feel like everybody is building great relationships with each other on this trip.

Monumento de los Machistos

A while back, at Refugio, there was a small cultural revolution. The refugees came from a background heavily weighted with machismo. the women who came to this camp wanted to work equally with the men, but the men resisted these ideas intensely, saying that a woman's work was limited to cooking, cleaning, and tending the infirm, young or elderly.

Pio told us that the women of the "machisto revolution" decided to make a monument to the ideas of the men, ideas that they said were "a load of crap." This is it. El Monumento de los Machistos.

DAY 6: Cactus Eating

We are surrounded by cacti! They will conquer us if we do not eat them. So we ate them.

Pio said they were tasty, and he suggested different ways for us to cook them.

First, you harvest fresh green leaves (or whatever they are - paddles?). The brighter the green, the better they are supposed to taste. We searched, but Pio said it was too early in the season for the fresh leaves to come out. Noah, John, Indigo and Tessa harvested several leaves for us.

Then, you burn the spines off in a stove or over a fire. Just a small amount of fire clears the whole paddle of its sharp pointies. Noah and John were excited about taking the work. They did the dirty work, after burning off the spines, of peeling the skins off and slicing the cacti into strips.


The next step was to fry them, and fry we did. It turns out, a skinned cactus is gooey, slimy and hard to hold on to. Analogies ranged from snot to worms to aloe vera guts.

They are tasty, but a little bitter. The first round, we did nothing but fry them. We have several other ideas. Stir fry. Add salt and seasoning. Particularly exciting is chicken fried cactus - breaded strips deep fried! Yummmy!

DAY 5-8: Milking Rosita

Fifteen days before we arrived, Rosita, a half-holstein cow, gave birth. We were talking with Pio and Lisa, and when they found out that we did milking at school, they were excited to institute milking again at Refugio. When there were more refugees, cow milking was a part of the regular chores. Rosita and her baby are sequestered every evening to allow mommy-baby time, and when they were put in the pen in the evening on our first night, we tried to milk her.

Our first attempt was not very successful because she has been in the field all day with the other cows. A number of other calves share feeding on the available mothers, so when we were trying to milk, Rosita had little to give. She kicked at Saoul, and our half a cup of milk got poofibers in it.

We decided to isolate her from her baby and see what would happen. For the rest of the nights, we played with penning and tying up the mama and her vaquito. Rosita pushed out of the fence one night, and jumped it another. Trying to imagine how a heifer heavier our trailer was able to jump a four foot wooden fence is a bit of a mind bender.

We had to tie her head to a post to keep her from running around. Noe suggested we tie her back legs together to keep her from kicking. Sam and Noah were excited to help, and rose early a couple of mornings to help. In all, we got little milk, but Rosita became more amenable to the ordinaros, so lets hope Saoul keeps trying.

DAYS 5,6,7: Painting

This was a big project, and everybody worked hard. First, we scraped the peeling blue paint off the walls. There were foot-square flaps hanging in places. Then, we patched holy walls and ruptured cieling. The drywall mud needed almost 24 hours to be paintable. When it was dry, we applied a coat of primer. After the primer, we painted a nice, warm, yellow on the walls. Then ceiling and trim. This was two and a half days worth of work, interspersed with other projects. we worked alongside Noe and Saoul.

Let the pictures tell the rest.

DAY 5: Border Patrol

we had breakfast this morning at Alicia's Restaurante, where you can get anything you want en espanol. After eating lots of eggs and taters with Pio, Lisa, Martha, Noe, Saul and the AMS gang, we came back to Refugio to plan our service work here.

We came up with some great ideas. At the breakfast, we talked about milking Rosita, helping tend the corn, which is natural indian and cuban corn. Hopefully, we will be able to bring some small shoots back to school to raise in our own garden. We also talked about painting the camp kitchen and repairing toilets.

After our planning, we made a shopping list and set out to town.


Our first, though, was a visit to the Harlingen Border Patrol Station.Jeff and Karen talked to us about their work and showed us some videos about issues on the border. We learned about the deadly cheese - Kids, DON"T DO CHEESE!
Thanks, Jeff and Karen.

We came home, played soccer, pigged out, started painting, worked on toilets, and went to bed.

DAY 5 : Indigo

Now it is morning. We just finished gulping down fried bagels and cream cheese. Paula is playing with the perrito. "arrg," she says as she tugs at the rope grasped in his mouth. Tessa just walked in and asked if i was clerk today.

"No," I said, "just writing."

I have fallen in love with the horses here. I miss home. but all is good.

Indigo

DAY FOUR: Awesome AMS

We had planned for our first day in refugio to be a chill day, but after exploring in the morning and getting ot know the land and animals, many of us were ready to get to work. There had been hurricane damage on the grounds, so we cut and moved some logs around the loquat trees, which sadly are not ripe yet. They had been hit pretty hard by a freeze a few weeks back.

After that, we got together and helped move a horse trailer that had been all but dead and collecting ants and thorns. We worked with Noe and Saul, who are the two refugees here now. We have been getting to know them, though the language barrier made it slow the first few days.

The students on this trip are doing so well. Everyone has been helpful and responsible, more than one person at a time volunteering to do something that isn't necessarily his or her chore. I was impressed that on a day when we were sccheduled to be relaxed and not working, so many people actually wanted to do work projects.

The spirit has continued, too. We have taken on a number of work projects, and our students have been highly motivated and hard working. When we weren't working, they have been interacting well and positive in mood. We will have a lot more to say about this, but if you know or care about these guys, you should be proud. I am.

Jason S

DAY FOUR: Exploring Refugio

This was supposed to be our day of rest after a million miles and twice as many hours on the road. We all spent it exploring the desert-like landscape of cacti, mesquite, cows, horses and, of course, Jorge the Emu.


We found some amazing flora, like the cactus-tree that was taller than any of us. At its base, the cactus skin was thick and brown. It looked like it had grown bark, and the body was as thick as your leg. There are several tiny, round cacti that we will be replanting later around the offices, and there are long, finger thin cacti the surround some of the trees. Walter discovered that the pointy tips are sharp.


The grounds of Refugio are beautiful but simple. There are a few dormitories, a kitchen and dining hall, some tool sheds, scattered buildings for animals, and the ubiquitous Chulo Jorge.

We met the horses, Karma and Colaca. Then we met the cows. Tessa made special friends with the bull. One mother just had a calf fifteen days ago. We will be helping the refugees learn to milk her later during our stay here.

DAY FOUR: Jorge the Emu

Who doesn't love a massive, dinosaur-faced creature with three-toed feet larger than the average hand?

Chulo Jorge was one of our first sights as we arrived at Refugio del Rio Grande, and he has been a regular amigo. He loves people, is always curious to see what is happening, and enjoys being the subject of attention. Though his appearance is intimidating, he is a very tame and sweet creature.


The students have all been fascinated by him, as have the staff. He wanders the yards like all the other animals, and often will walk straight up to you and stare you in the face. His eyes close from the bottom, and their giant orange irises are most strange. He is as tame as can be, though he hates puppies.

Most important, however, is that Noah discovered a new form of renewable energy transport.

DAY FOUR: REFUGIO

After three hard days of driving, we took it easy on the fourth day. Everyone loved refugio. The Emu, Chulo Jorge, was the biggest hit, followed in a close second.

We will put more up here later, but we have work to do now. look forward to explanations and photos of the cows and our milking efforts. fixing the bathrooms, painting the kitchen, chopping wood, horses, cacti, pink flamingo feathers, a conference on immigration, a border patrol visit, chickens, breakfast with the whole crew from refugio at a mexican restaurant, cow patty soccer, and the baby goat that was born on friday night.

buenas,

jason s

DAY THREE: DRIVING

Today we were planning on leaving for refugio at 12PM. some students wanted to stay at jason's dad's house tonight, to leave for refugio thursday morning, and who can blame them? Some students wanted to leave to go on to refugio. We all had a meeting. The group was divided as a trip whether to stay or leave. after a long discussion, one hour, we decided to get in the van fixed and then decide what to do.

to get the headlights in the van fixed. the reason we have to get them fixed is the night before, the lights were blinking on and off. and we spent the fixing them and so jason's stepbrother, (named jason), and noah, fixed the van. While they were fixing the van, Jason, sam and walter and john played soccer. Paula momma fong, grace nub, tessa, indigo and john all walked to town.

WALTER

Today, Tessa and i went on an eye-opening walk, realizing jsut how beautiful Texas really is. Horses, ducks, fields, sun, smiles, heat hovering above the ground like a shield protecting the mother earth. the seldom, but many, rotting houses make it more like home to me. i love it here.
Really. No joke.

INDIGO

We ended the day in the van, arriving in Refugio just after 9PM. we finished the prisoner of azkaban just we we arrived in harlingen. the kids piled into their dorms and dropped to sleep.

DAY TWO: DRIVING

Our second day on the road, we broke camp and sleep at six in the morning, everyone rose, sleepy and muddle-faced. we piled into the van and were on the road ten minutes before our intended departure of seven. It was rainy and cold. The pyramid was one of our first sights on the road. We crossed the mississipi and entered arkansas before 7AM.

Breakfast on bagels in the van. Lunch at a rest stop. We listened to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on tape. drive. drive. drive. We arrived at Jack and Bobbie's around 8:30.

Everyone was wiped out. Amazing how sitting in a van all day can be so exhausting. Pizzas popped in the oven almost as soon as we arrived, and soon enough we were well fed and sleepy. the students piled onto couches, snagged sodas, watched the telly and fell asleep.


t