Late Start

We had breakfast at the house and are just getting to Rico's... late start.

I’m posting twice today since I didn’t get to the Internet yesterday.  Hopefully you aren’t too worried, Mom ;-)

We spent yesterday visiting three orphanages around Mazatlan.  The first stop was “Orfanatorio Mazatlan,” which is in a very large building downtown.  They currently have several girls and one boy who live and go to school there.  We had packed a lunch of PB & J, which we ate in a beautiful park in the old part of town.  We then went to “Hogar San Pablo,” which is a home for just boys.  They may come between the ages of 9 and 14, and they may stay until they’re 18.  The people who run the home work hard to help the boys’ parents stay involved in their lives and encourage the parents to visit once a week or so.  Their home is several buildings on one campus with a beautiful view of the ocean, and the boys go to school right there.  It took us quite a while to find the last place, the “Salvation Army Children’s Home.”  It is in colonia Benadillo, which is a neighborhood outside of the city.  This home is on its own campus away from other houses and it is run by a married couple.  They currently have 30 children at the home.  The children are very, very loved, and David and his wife have made several improvements to the property in the five months they’ve been there.  We enjoyed talking to them very much and hope we get the opportunity to work with them in the future.

We came home to a VERY delicious dinner prepared by Franchesca.  She used to be the maid and cook for the people who used to own the home we’re staying in.  Monday we had asked her what was in “vampiros” and if she could give us the recipe.  She offered to shop for the ingredients and then make them for us.  So good!!!  Vampiros are corn tortilla (fried flat); topped with melted shredded cheese and cubed, grilled marinated steak; and then guacamole sauce and salsa, if you like.  None of us could stop eating them.  She also made us a traditional Mexican rice milk drink called “orchata” and homemade cheesecake.  And – she prepped the ingredients for us to make “chilequiles” for breakfast, which she explained to me how to prepare this morning.  It turned out pretty tasty, but she’d put a little too much salt in the sauce.  We also had homemade refried beans.

Today we have a little free time.  We’ll see what the day brings.  I think we're going to go to the old part of town to the market there, and we will probably also go to this place at the beach - a friend of Denny's who has a para-sailing, etc. business.  This may be the last post from Mazatlan since we fly home tomorrow.  I’m looking forward to thinking through all we’ve learned and sharing more thoughts with you later.  Please keep asking questions as you have them - we've seen and learned so much that it's hard to know which details to share on the blog.

Hasta luego!!