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The final Mexico blog

The closer to the end of the trip the busier things became. When I last signed off we were headed to the BBQ. It was a very nice late night gathering attended by a number of dignitaries from El Grullo, the deer appeared to be about the size of a medium sized dog, very small by our standards. It was cooked in a pot with spices and didn’t taste too bad.

Monday: I did all the classroom lectures for my extraction class, in the morning. The afternoon was the Graduation ceremony. We held it a day early due to the Mayors from the towns represented not being available on Tuesday. We had a total of 30+ students throughout the class and gave 23 certificates of completion out, mostly based on attendance. After the graduation the Mayor of El Grullo took all the students, from all the towns, instructors, and all the students families that were in attendance, out to a very nice dinner, well over 40 people.

After the dinner four of us went to Autlan to a small orphanage and saw the kids there. Kyle had brought some small toys for all the kids, they were thrilled. The orphanage was very small with 17 children from ages 4 or 5 to 17, both boys and girls. Two years ago there were 11 children and they thought they were over crowded. They do have a new building that they are waiting to move into. Just like the USA they are waiting for the occupancy permit. It’s hard to believe it is an issue compared to where they are now. Any way I managed to get out, without totally breaking into tears. The kids did seem very well cared for, happy, and very well behaved.

Tuesday morning came before class the former mayor took us out to a great breakfast in a neighboring village. Then it was time to go kill cars, otherwise known and auto extraction. The plan was to start at 09:00 sharp, as I told the students, 09:00, Not 09:05, not 09:15, not 09:30, not 10:00, but 09:00 ready to go. Some how most all the students made it on time. That is were the plan ended. At 10:00 we still did not have an interpreter, tools, know were the cars we were going to cut up were, or know when we would know. At 10:30 I decided to teach a forcible entry class off the cuff. We walked the neighborhood looking at locks, bars on windows, doors and gates making entry plans. I made the students pledge that they would only use the tricks I showed them for good and not evil! Finally about noon we got word were the cars were. We showed up at the junkyard and were met by a really scary looking older man, who showed us which cars we could work on. One was a van that a family had been killed in, on a head-on crash. I could see were they had worked on the doors without success. After being at the junkyard a while I finely gave up on getting the tools I was waiting for. Oh-well, make a new plan again. I was able to show some simple techniques with hand tools and we were able to get the vans doors open, rather off and out of the way in just a few minutes. We also cut up another older car. I think they did learn a lot. The day worked out ok but it was really hot out in the sun with no shade.

After class we checked out of the hotel that had been our home for the past week plus and boarded a van for a three hour ride through the mountains to the coast where we will fly out on Thursday afternoon.

Today we relaxed and wound down from our go full speed all day and night routine as well as did some debriefing and future planning. We also did a nice several mile hike down the beach and did some exploring as well as having a couple of good meals. Tomorrow we will have the morning and the head to the airport.

I want to thank everyone that has been following along with my adventure; left commits, and sent emails. I am planning on coming back to this area in the not too distant future to do more training and scout that river! In just two weeks I embark in an adventure with Rebecca to Vietnam, It will be a different type of trip; I’m really looking forward to seeing her and Cedar again.

Good Bye Mexico
Andy