This is John Muskopf, sitting at Hannah's laptop trying to decide what to include in the blog. As a person who has been coming here since 1999, I always mention what has changed since then. It seems that that pace of change has decreased. There was a massive amount of concrete poured on the highways, and improvements to infrastructure such as electricity and sewers in the mid 2000's. There is continued growth and development of new colonias farther from Tijuana and La Gloria where we stay. But some of the towns and roads we are familiar with are more dusty but otherwise relatively unchanged.
The town we worked in this week is similar to those from twenty years ago. The town is Catalina del Mar and consists of maybe 100 houses, a couple of mercados in peoples houses and a hardware store. The hardware store is actually on the boundary of the next town farther up the hill, called Lomas Altas (which I think means High Hills). The view from the check-out counter of the hardware store provides an outstanding vista of the Hotels, Power Plant, and homes in Rosarito proper, plus the beautiful pacific ocean with a large island shining in the sun.
The thing that we are glad has remained unchanged is the hospitality of the Mexican people. Literally everyone we have waved to, nodded to, or spoken to has returned the gesture enthusiastically. I was worried that the comments that have come from Washington DC in regards to Mexico would cause the people to be resentful or even hostile to us. I think that they are even more welcoming now than they've ever been (to our group at least).
It was neat to see the farm land on the hills above Rosarito. I wasn't aware how much space is still there, having spent most of our previous trips on the highways along the coast. Today we saw lots of acreage planted in vegetables including prickly pear cactus in long rows. We also saw many horses and hundreds of goats.
Despite a couple of rainy days, the weather still beats the March snows in Ohio. We had a large colorful rainbow this morning. I love coming to Mexico, but there's no place like home.
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