Surprise surprise, these are all super outdated. But in the interest of forever recording the memories of these good times, I'm still going to write about them!
Here's the first of various:
Mid-April Sara passed on the message that her club was hosting some Canadians for the day and they wanted the exchange students, and especially me there to accompany them for a breakfast. An image of a few Canadian tourists came to mind. I figured why not, a chance to miss school and get a free breakfast. However upon arriving at the restaurant (owned by Sara's counsellor from Tepic Nayar), I quickly realized it wasn't just a few Canadian tourists. It was about 15 members from the Canadian Lethbridge club (two hours from my home in Canada!), who had driven down ambulances to donate to the municipalities around Nayarit. That's right, all the way from Alberta down to Nayarit in AMBULANCES. I even knew one of the members from my orientation camps, as he's very involved on the youth exchange committee as well. Johannes, Mariana and Sara had come along as well, and so we ate breakfast with the Rotarians (Mexicans and Canadians), answering questions about exchange, etc.. I have to make a comment about how white they all were, it makes me amused to think that that's what I'll be like next year with the lack of Mexican sun. After breakfast concluded, the exchange students then learned that this was a whole day affair (but at that point weren't really sure what our role was to be).
We hopped into someone's truck and arrived in the centre, where a lovely new ambulance was parked and surrounded by a crowd. On the spot I learned several things, firstly that there was going to be an official key donation ceremony (I'm sure there's a more official term), and two, I would be translating the speeches of both the Canadians and Mexicans in said ceremony! I knew absolutely nothing about the project beforehand, and so I had to somewhat creatively translate when a segment was particularly long and I didn't follow the exact message. The Mexican Rotarian would go on, then hand the microphone to me, and I would repeat in English. Likewise with the Rotary Lethbridge president. While translating I got the story- The two clubs have had a partnership for the past three years, and each year the members of the Canaidan club have driven down various medical aid vehicles to donate to municipalities in need, helped by the club Tepic Nayar. That's pretty dang impressive (go Canadian Rotary!). This year, this particular ambulance was going to a municipality called Rosamorada. The president was there to receive the keys in this special ceremony with various local newspapers and television channels recording the special moment. It was a pretty lengthy ceremony with a lot of people saying the same things about gratitude, honour, tradition, etc., which I dutifully translated. Not gonna lie, I felt pretty badass and official wearing my special Rotary blazer and speaking bilingually into a microphone in front of all these cameras and an attentive crowd. However, I was bloody hot (the Rotary blazers are quite thick) and so I had twin feelings of discomfort from the sweat trickling down my back and enthusiasm about the awesome experience.
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| After the breakfast (John is a member of Lethbridge Rotary) |
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| Whoooo look at that official translator in her quirky blazer and ripped jeans |
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| A mixed group picture of Mexicans, Canadians and exchangers somewhere in the back |
After the ceremony concluded we got back into the truck to head to Rosamorada for yet another key donation ceremony. This time, we elected to go in the back for the 45-minute drive there. Now I distinctly remember seeing various Mexicans doing this at the start of the year, entire families essentially having a party in the back on the way to the beach with lawn chairs and coolers of beer set up, no joke. At that point I was thinking 'What idiots! It's the bloody highway, do they know ANYTHING about road safety!?'. Now flash forward eight months and here I am, doing the exact same thing. (Living in Mexico definitely changes your ideas on general safety, to say they are more relaxed here would be an understatement.) After stopping at Oxxo to buy drinks, we set off on what turned out to be an extremely windy, hot, and hilarious car ride. Here is some photo evidence, just so you can appreciate our youthful shenanigans.
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| Not surprisingly, my hair was a mess after this day. |
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| Rotarians and the ambulance arriving at the gates of Rosamorada |
We arrived at the government building and gratefully accepted the offer to go inside the air conditioned mayor's office and drink some iced water. However, all too soon someone came to get me, saying that I was on translator duty once more. The ceremony was more or less exactly the same as in Tepic. The Canadians talked about how the ambulance had been donated by the Lethbridge community, and it was a brand new, top-notch ambulance for the community. Then the Rotarians and mayor of Rosamorada talked about how grateful they were. And Wendy translated. I learned that while I was sweating in the burning sun, someone had brought the other exchange students ice cream. I was a tad peeved. But ah well, how professionals must suffer (kidding).
When the ceremony concluded, we all piled into a school bus converted into a handicap bus (also donated the previous year by Lethbridge). And off we went to Isla de Mexcaltitan to eat! This is a historically famous spot (the Mexican Venice, allegedly) where the Mayans apparently originally settled before moving inland. I have to say I wasn't very impressed, to me it was just a somewhat dilapidated town in the middle of a marsh. You have to take a boat from the mainland to the island, it takes about five minutes. From there we walked through town to the restaurant which overlooks the other side of the marsh. However, the seafood was quite yummy!
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| The Canadians looking somewhat dubiously at the lancha |
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| Quite the collection of Rotarians |
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| The town centre |
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| the dock of Mexcaltitan |
From there I think the poor exhausted Canadians just wanted to go back to Tepic as by this time it was about 5 pm. They had to drive to Mazatlan that night (about a three hour drive), where some of them would fly out the very next day. They had also been on the road and doing similar presentation days for the past three weeks and were understandably a bit tuckered out. However, the Mexican Rotarian members insisted that they absolutely had to see the beach which was 'just a few minutes down the road'. Naturally, we were driving for over an hour to the beach, with various pit stops for beer along the way. We arrived at the beach just in time to see the sunset, and instantly any grumpy feelings towards the Rotarians for bringing us on such a sweaty long day melted away. We were the only ones on the beach, and so we instantly ran down to the shore and took full advantage of the gorgeous views.
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| Cue awkward jumping photos |
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| Although I think the award goes to this one |
We got back on the bus when there was no sign of the sun remaining, and returned to Tepic (although with a few pit stops on the way for shrimp tamales, more beer and ultimately ice cream. Just as it should be, the cool kids (ie exchange students) dominated the back of the bus, and we had some pretty fantastic conversations on the return trip. Although it was indeed an extremely hot and long day, I actually had a blast. This sort of day is one of the reasons Rotary has the best exchange program. Not only are you living in another culture and learning etc., you also have the opportunity to do some pretty cool humanitarian and cultural activities! And it's always a fun time travelling outside of your city, especially with other exchange students. Go Rotary!
Thanks for reading!
Wendy
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