The Downside

Lest all y'all go down the road fat dumb and happy, thinking the Mexico trip was a walk in the park, I need to include the other side of the coin.

One of the things I failed to include in my list of things to be thankful for was PEACE AND QUIET!

Living in a barracks full of teenage boys was a real challenge. The noise level went from a low roar to complete chaos. The trips on the bus to wherever we were going were so loud, I finally begged a set of earplugs from one of the other adults. I believe they saved my sanity. (or did they????)

I got mighty sick of beans and rice. It filled me and kept me going, but the food was just basic fuel for the body.

Mrs. A. had a real problem with the lack of structure. Most of the time it was pretty chaotic, and no one seemed to be in charge. Either no one was, or everyone seemed to be trying to be at the same time. Secretly, I think Mrs A. thought SHE should be in charge. She'd whup 'em into line.

the last day and journey home were a real nightmare. Four of the group came down with the Tijuana-two-step. They all started running off at both ends at about 4:00 in the morning, of the day we were to go home. Mrs A. finally made it back to work today.

One of the guys was seriously ill. We were waiting in 105 degree temperatures for a couple of hours. I was in the women's barracks taking care of Mrs A, and about six people were over by the mens barracks taking care of the kid (I think he was 14 or so). they were cooling him down with wet cloths and making sure he forced fluids.

I heard it when he went into hyperventiliation, and nobody seemed to know what to do, so after five minutes or so, I left Mrs. A, and went over and told them "He is in hyperventilation. You need to get a paper bag, and have him breathe into it." I saw the lights go on in a couple of heads. It was like "Oh, I knew that" but they had never seen the real thing before, and didn't recognize it. It took a quite a while to get things under control. His temperature was 102 when they started to treat the hyperventilation, and it was back down to normal by the time we got to the border (about an hours bus ride). It was pretty scary. Glad I was there to remind them what to do. Mrs. A did not pass a bathroom without examining the facilities up close and personal. She told me she was sitting on the pot, puking on the floor at the bathroom on the border.

That was where I threatened the Border Guard. She was very weak and needed support to walk, so I helped her up to the check station. The Border Guard kinda sneered and told me "One at a time". I told him "This is my wife, and she is very ill. I am helping her up to the counter. If you give me any more $%^&* I will come over this counter and see if I can change your attitude." Probably not the brightest move I have made recently. The other Border guard distracted me, and took me over to the side and very politely got me through. The young guy that was so sick had to be essentially carried through the checkpoint. I think I must have softened up the guards, because they were REAL polite to everyone else.

Same thing at the airport. The check-in clerk was ignoring us and waited on several people who got there after us. When I interrupted her she told me she was the only one on duty, so I could either shut up or get out of the line, I told her that Mrs A. was the only one in line she had skipped over, and also the only one who was likey to barf all over her nice neat counter. All the sudden there were a couple more people specifically to help us through.

The flight home was no joy. Mrs. A. and the three other people that were sick had to take turns rushing to the bathroom.

On of the kids right behind them started making barfing noises, and I turned around and told him "If you don't stop that, I am going to come back there and slap the shit out of you!" I think I stunned a couple of people, but it got the job done.

The first day we were there, I let my blood sugar get so low I almost passed out. I was hot, had been moving dirt, and was thirsty, so I went over and sat down for a second and took a drink of water. When I got up everything went black and I sat down VERY abruptly. I was seeing stars, which happened when my blood sugar gets too low. There was another diabetic there, along with her mom. I knew that they carried hard candy, so I begged a piece from them, and it brought me back. I made sure I always carried hard candy with me after that.

But I was sure asking myself "What have I gotten myself into?