Today we had a ton of activities planned, including a food distribution, bingo night and a movie! We started the day with our food distribution. Before our trip started we ordered tons of different types of food to be delivered to the orphanage in Creel where the kids put individual bags together for us to give out to people.

We distribute this food to Tarahumara families living in the mountains who otherwise don’t have easy access to it. We put together the necessities including beans, rice, sugar, lard, oil, oats, dried milk, masa, canned food, soap, and candy/toys for the kids.

The dirt road to our distribution location is very bumpy and uneven. Getting to where we need to be can be rough, and it’s a miracle that we haven’t had any issues in all of the past years. This year we were not as lucky unfortunately. As we were on our last stretch of the drive, and we could see the groups of people waiting for us in the distance, we hear a loud sound and feel resistance from our trailer. We all quickly hop out of the van to see what’s going on, thinking that maybe the muffler fell again, but my dad quickly yells out that the part of the trailer had bent in half.

We all started brainstorming on what we should do, as we had so much stuff to haul down the mountain. We finally settled on driving down with just the van to see if anyone had a truck that we could use to haul our bags down. Luckily, there was someone with a pickup truck that followed us up the mountain. It was even better that we had a volunteer group of kids from the orphanage who wanted to help us give out food, as we really needed extra hands getting everything situated.

After two trips with the truck we were able to get everything down the mountain to where it needed to be.

After our little delay, we were finally able to start giving out food to the people who needed it. The women and children lined up for a bag, and one by one we started to hand them out.

While half of us gave out food, the other half gave our candy, toys, jackets and basketballs to the kids there.

Besides us losing our faithful trailer, it was a successful food drive. Lots of people were able to get some essentials, and lots of kids were able to get some goodies. We also got to see many animals such as pigs, goats, horses and cows. Once we cleaned everything up and said our goodbyes, we went and evaluated the trailer situation. We determined that there was no hope for it, and sadly we had to let it go. It ended up being gifted to a local who could fix it later and be able to use it. It will be missed as it always accompanied us on our yearly Mexico adventures.

Once we arrived back in Creel, we stopped at the orphanage for a delicious lunch provided by Lupe and her team. It was just what we needed after a busy morning. We all agreed that the tamales were some of the best we have every had, and there was so much variety. We got cheese and green chile, pork and red chile, and dessert tamales.

We then headed back to the hotel to freshen up before our big night of activities that we had planned for the kids. Our first thing on the agenda was our legendary yearly bingo game. We started this tradition years ago during one of the first trips. It has consistently been voted the kids’ favorite part of us visiting, even more than our Christmas night. Thanks to many generous donations, we were able to have lots of fun prizes for the kids to choose from.

A lot of the kids are really young, and are still learning their numbers. So, we have one of us stationed at each table to make sure none of the younger kids are missing numbers being called out, and to make sure everyone understands how to play.

We played multiple rounds with the kids, and tried to make sure everyone had a chance to win a prize. These kids take their bingo very seriously, and there is always so much excitement in the room when we have our tournaments.

Once the last prize had been won, we sent the kids to their dorms so that we could transform the room into a movie theater. We set up a projector and moved all the benches to form rows. We popped popcorn and got cake ready for all the kids to enjoy while they watched the movie.

Since there is no movie theater near Creel, we like to bring the newest popular movie for them to watch. This year we brought Encanto as we felt it would be a big hit with the kids.

Naturally, the movie was a big hit, The kids especially liked the dancing donkeys and funny jokes throughout the movie. We can always tell when they are really enjoying it as there is no talking and their eyes are glued to the screen. We hope this will a new favorite edition to their DVD collection.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. After the movie was over it was time to give final hugs, as we will start driving home tomorrow. Everyone wanted to give their Tío Jeff a big hug before going off to bed. It’s always sad saying goodbye, but we will be back next year with more Christmas fun. It was a long day with many ups and downs, and we have declared this trip one of the worst when it comes to car/trailer issues. Besides that though it was very successful when bringing excitement and happiness to all the kids, and making sure they had fun. We already can’t wait for next year! Tomorrow starts our two day journey back home, so stay tuned for more updates on our adventure. Goodnight!