Appreciation

I just got home from the airport. I am exhausted from a long day of travel, and because we just spent two weeks in a van, trying to cram as much information into our brains as possible. It is hard to believe this trip is over. In this post, I hope to convey the gratitude I feel towards everyone involved in this trip. The actual amount of this gratitude is very sizable indeed, I'm not sure I will succeed in communicating it, but let's give it a try.

The girls I traveled with are so wonderful. Each person brought a different perspective to the group, and the kindness each of them showed me (and each other) was so vital to the tone of the trip. I am so appreciative to each of these amazing women for the ways they push boundaries to reach goals, and the ways they extend helping hands. This experience would not have been the same without any of you, I am so thankful for you. Thank you for these weeks, your time, your words and your laughter. I can't wait to spend time with you ladies back at school in the fall, and I am so sad that some of you have finished your time at Hendrix- you will be missed so dearly.

Dr. Goldberg, we have all said thank you but I feel the need to repeat it- thank you, thank you, for so much. The time involved in planning the trip and in teaching us, the connections made, the kindness you have shown and the experiences you have shared have all been so amazing and over the top. This trip was so much more than I expected, and I know that your efforts are what made it extraordinary. This trip, at this time, was so informative and it challenged me on a regular basis. I learned so much.

I think that on some trips, the experiences you have revolve around the people you are traveling with. That was definitely a huge factor in this trip, but it was different because our experiences were so heavily impacted by people we met along the way.  Every guide provided us with a different perspective, and a different form of passion. To all of you that shared your knowledge, thank you so, so much. Your passion, in your careers and out of them, has been so influential not only to the trip itself, but to me as a person. As an undergrad, I have been so inspired by you and the lives you lead. You have provided examples not only of people doing amazing work in the world, but of people who are enjoying doing that work. You have shown me some of the paths available and that there are many more, and that with determination, finding and following your path is so possible. I don't know how to explain how much that means to me, you have given me so much. Thank you.

I took photographs throughout this adventure. They are on little rolls of film that I had to ask friendly TSA agents to hand check at airport security. I will keep them safe until August, and then I'll have the chance to go through the trip again in the process of developing and printing. I'll get to think about this experience in a different way. There were times on this trip when I resented the camera I schlepped around, because I was more interested in living the story than telling it. However, I think that in the fall I will be glad for its presence and the moments captured.

Thank you, friends, for reading and traveling with us. It's been so fun.

At the End

We are finally at our hotel in Phoenix, the last stop on our trip. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we will say sad goodbyes and all return back to our hometowns. We already had to say goodbye to Caiti, who also just graduated, and so that was extremely sad for all of us. These two weeks have been full of so many experiences and places, and when I mentioned that I had been keeping track of what we had done each and every day, everyone agreed that I should turn it into a blog post. So here it goes. This is going to be a long one, just a warning.

Day 1, Monday, May 19
-Arrival to Phoenix
-dinner at Mexican restaurant (the first of many, many Mexican meals)
-walk around downtown Tempe for ice cream and laughs

Day 2, Tuesday, May 20
-Pueblo Grande archaeological site, tour with Donut
-meet with ASU graduate anthropology students
-lunch (beautiful outside patio, delicious food, dessert tour)
-Heard Museum (about Native Americans in the Southwest)
-Dinner (Mexican) with Dr. Goldberg's friends Liz and Steve
-swimming after dinner

Day 3, Wednesday, May 21
-Desert Botanical Gardens with Steve
-Ranch Market for lunch with Liz (more Mexican food)
-drive to Tucson!
-visit to Archaeology Southwest and meeting with Bill (friend of Dr. G's)
-Los Charros restaurant for dinner with Bill (more Mexican)

Day 4, Thursday, May 22
-stop at Beyond Bread bakery for coffee drinks and to pick up treats
-Gail's house to chat and swim (Steve's sister who works along the border and in many Latin American countries)
-Guero Canelo for lunch (Sonoran style hot dogs- so amazing)
-South Tucson to see some murals
-Desert Seed shop
-walk around 4th Avenue for shopping
-La Cocina restaurant for dinner (for healthy food like salads, requested by all of us)
-cards and relaxing after dinner

Day 5, Friday, May 23
-drive to Camp Naco near Bisbee, Arizona
-stopped along the way to see the huge Lavender Pit Mine
-toured Camp Naco with Bill (from Archaeology SW) and Becky Orozco, both working to save it
-lunch at golf club with Bill and Becky
-seeing the border fence for the first time with Bill and Becky while Samantha and Dr. G headed to the hospital :(
-downtown Bisbee for shopping (this consisted of more coffee, making friends, telling people we were all sisters, finding wifi)
-hospital to go pick up Samantha
-late dinner at Sasquatch (?)
-drive back to Tucson

Day 6, Saturday, May 24
-San Xavier del Bac Mission
-lunch in Tubac (Shelby's Bistro)
-Tumacacori site
-drove to Nogales- parked in Nogales, AZ and walked across the border to Nogales, Sonora, Mexico
-walked around and shopped
-walk back through fence (almost no line- a surprise)
-Mexican food for dinner with Mariachis to wish Samantha farewell

Day 7, Sunday, May 25
-Desert Museum (almost like a zoo/ botanical garden/aquarium)
-lunch at museum
-laundromat (we seriously needed to do laundry)
-raspados! (a Sonoran snow- cone)
-drive to Yuma, Arizona, dinner there
-finish the drive to Calexico, California

Day 8, Monday, May 26
-taxis to border
-crossed by foot again to Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico
-Everardo (friend of Dr. G's who runs museum) picked us up
-museum on contemporary art and anthropology of the area
-lunch
-presentations from Mexican graduate students on social/cultural issues
-dinner (Chinese food, a big thing in Mexicali) with grad students and other professors
-tour around Mexicali with Everardo
-crossed back, taxis back to hotel

Day 9, Tuesday, May 27
-drive to San Diego
-meet Robert Alvarez (head of the Society for Applied Anthropology and Dr. G's mentor)
-visit Lemon Grove (where Dr. Alvarez grew up)
-lunch (amazing hole-in-the-wall Mexican food place where the tortillas are prepared in the back- so good)
-Chicano Park
-cross bridge to Coronado Island for coffee and visit to the beach
-drove around San Diego more
-dinner at Rosie's

Day 10, Wednesday, May 28
-drove allllllll day
-stop in Yuma for lunch
-dinner in Tucson (Mexican place famous for chimichangas)

Day 11, Thursday, May 29
-drive towards Douglas- stopped in Benson for lunch
-drove around Douglas to see the town (where Dr. G did research)
-dinner at historic Gadsden Hotel where we stayed

Day 12, Friday, May 30
-drive to Rodeo to visit another Desert Museum (to see snakes and plants)
-lunch in Portal
-hike and heard from historian and former sheriff
-back to Douglas for dinner at Mexican restaurant

Day 13, Saturday, May 31
-relaxing morning at the hotel- lots of reading and blogging!
-lunch at small cafe across the street
-Memorial service for Wendy Glenn (prominent figure in the Douglas and rancher community near Douglas)
-relax and shop in Douglas
-dinner at hotel with Bill and Mary (ranchers from the Douglas area and part of the Malpai Borderlands Group of ranchers)

Day 14, Sunday, June 1
-drive to Tucson after breakfast- lunch and raspados again!
-drive to Phoenix, relax and swim
-dinner at New Mexican restaurant
-final reflection!

We just finished reflecting about the trip as a whole. Even though we are down to 6 girls, we still had a good conversation about how we felt about the trip and how it impacted us. There are two main things that I gained from the trip:

1. The impression that the general public, not only in the United States, but also in other places, has about the border is so negative and skewed. Being in this place, we have experienced so much amazing culture, passionate people, and beautiful landscapes that are only a few things that make up the border here. It is upsetting to me that the vast majority of the people that I told I was going on this trip simply encouraged me to be safe rather than wishing for me to have a good time and to learn a lot. We, a group of 9 women, not once felt unsafe or insecure. I can't wait to go back and try to explain just a piece of what I've experienced here, and hope that I can change some people's perspectives of the United States/ Mexico border.

2. The passion that was shared by every single person that we came into contact with was so inspiring. I have always been taught to follow my passion and to do what I love rather than what will make me money, and this idea was shown in all the people we talked to. They were so inspiring to me as an anthropologist, to see how many facets to anthropology there are and how so many paths are available to people in the world. Many of the people we met with weren't anthropologists by name, but they used it in some way, and we were able to recognize this. These contacts are only making me think more deeply about what I want to do and has exposed me to so many ideas that I look forward to researching more in order to find out what I really care about.

This trip was so amazing and I can't express how grateful I am for the experiences that we've shared, the people we've met, and the people I was fortunate enough to spend these two weeks with. A HUGE thanks to Dr. Goldberg who organized the trip, and this wouldn't have been nearly the same experience without her! I can't wait to see what all these ladies bring to the world and they have all taught me more than they could ever know!