Hot water and memories

When I was younger my family spent Thanksgiving one year in Mexico. We traveled down in an RV with my family of four and my parents good friends. There was 7 of us total in the RV. It was a trip to remember. We travelled down through Utah and Arizona. I remember stopping at Beaver Campground. None of us wanted to shower because it was kinda creepy and gross. We then travelled down through Arizona and stopped and saw my Grandmother. We all showered at her house. We travelled through the most beautiful areas. It was a great time with family and friends. When we got to the Mexican border we got stopped by border patrol. We looked a little suspicious. We had an RV with 7 people and random tools and supplies trying to cross the border. We all had to get out of the RV, my dad was trying to explain what we were doing there. They finally got in an interpreter. We explained we were heading down to build a house for a disabled man. They let us through after searching the RV. We travelled through the streets of Mexico and found were we found our finally parking spot. We had to back up the RV down an alley way next to the women's shelter where everyone else in our group were staying. My brother stayed in the shelter in the men's area.

Every morning we got up and drove with the rest of the group to the middle of nowhere to build a house. The man we were building the house for didn't have legs and was in a wheelchair. He still drove, he used broomsticks for pushing the pedals. We met him the last day we were there. It was an awesome trip! We mixed everything my hand and guys would come in trucks and drop off loads of bricks. We built a house in just days. Everyday after we would come back to the shelter we would take turns showering. Who ever got the first shower had warmish water, the rest of us had freezy cold water. It made you incredibly thankful for having hot water. We would stick one body part in soap up and rinse off. If I remember correctly I gave up on washing my hair. My mom braided it for me so I didn't have to worry about it. We all cooked something for Thanksgiving dinner and had a great time.

On our way out of Mexico we ran into more problems. The traffic to get out was horrible. We were trying to maneuver a huge RV through small streets and lanes to cross the border. We got stopped again on the way out. We knew we would. We all had to get out of the RV and border patrol asks us a billion questions and searches the RV. They take our raw chicken that we had brought down to make dinner that night. You can't take raw meat, fruits or certain veggies across the border. They let us go through after a complete search. On the way home we stopped at the same Beaver Campground. We all took showers and they were the best showers of our lives. I think we all sat in the hot water forever! I will always remember that trip. It made us all thankful for what we have and what we can do for others.

A load of bricks

Mixing everything by hand. We would make a circle and

slowly walk around while mixing with shovels.

Making some progress!

Just a beautiful day!

One of the trucks that would bring us bricks. When the

truck would arrive the back end would be dragging on the ground.

I think about that adventure often. This week I thought about it more. Wednesday night our hot water heater broke. We had no hot water only freezing water. We tried to fix it but had no luck. No one in the house had showered, I had dishes to do and needed hot water. I figured oh well we will have hot water in the morning and everything will be ok. I called the landlord the next morning when I woke up and still no hot water. He called the plumbers and they said they would be here by dinner time. I have yet to figure out when dinner time is here. I am thinking that is what people call lunch up here. Anywho! Turkey and I stayed home all day waiting for the plumber. My phone went off and said I had a voicemail. It was the plumber. I called him back but he had went on a job right after he called me. The secretary told me he would call me back and be by later on. I finally called them back around 5:30 maybe 6:00ish. They lady informed me that they went on a job in the country so they would try and get to me the next day. Well this morning I get woke up by a call from the plumber and he was here within an hour. I was so excited to finally have my hot water back! They showed up and told me bummer for me it wasn't my hot water heater, it was electrical. I called my landlord and he called the electrician and of course the electrician couldn't come out for at least a week. My landlord ended driving out here to fix it. After hanging out all day and cleaning the house from top to bottom and finding things to do all day he showed up. It took him about an hour to fix the breaker box. He is a miracle worker! He fixed it and we now have hot water! After he left I jumped into the shower! It was the most fantastic thing in the world! After my shower I started to run Turkey's bath. She was so excited to take a bath. She climbed in the tub and told me half the water was cold. I felt the water and it wasn't very warm. We hadn't waited long enough for the water heater to fill up. Turkey was just excited to play in the water. We talked about how it was like the lake or the pool. She had a ball playing in the luke warm water and refused to get out. It ended up being a fun afternoon.

It was a super warm day! We played outside for a while in the sunshine for a while. I wore my sandals and Turkey went out without a coat. It was just beautiful day. James came home and was thrilled to take a warm shower.

My house is spotless, laundry is done, everyone is showered and smelling good, and we have hot water! What a great day!