It was our final day in Mexico, as we drove the rest of the way home today. We woke up nice and early at our hotel and ate a quick breakfast before getting back on the road. After a few hours of driving, we came across our favorite quesadilla stand in Villa Ahumada and had to stop for one last snack. We also did a little last minute shopping at the souvenir stands.

After our early lunch it was off to the border. Once we got there, we were able to cross quick and easy. It was much faster than how it was for us coming in to Mexico. Jill and Quinn had to catch their flight home back to Colorado at the airport in El Paso, so we made sure to get them there first. It’s always so hard saying goodbye to part of our group.

After our stop at the airport, it was off to Las Cruses to drop Elli off at NMSU so she could get her car before driving back home for winter break.

Now it was only four of us left to drive back to the Albuquerque area. First we dropped off Angelo, then followed by Carmenza.

Soon enough it was just my dad and I left to get back home. We got back safely with not much to report. While today was not the most eventful, we had a good time traveling home together. Overall we have to say it was a successful trip. Even though we had our car/trailer issues, everything else went smoothly. We want to thank everyone who supported our trip this year as we could not do it without you all. That’s all for this year, and we will be back next year for more! Bye!

Today was our first day of traveling back home, and we got to sleep in a little before checking out of our hotel. While my dad went to quickly stop by the orphanage to pick up a few things, the rest of us explored the town and it’s many shops. While we were shopping, we befriended a stray dog that seemed to really like us. He followed us to each store and waited outside while we shopped. We lovingly named him Charlie.

Once our group reunited, we decided to quickly stop at a museum dedicated to the art and history of the Tarahumara people. Unfortunately, every single one of us forgot to take pictures so we don’t have much to share about that, but it was very interesting and educational. After our learning journey we were greeted by Charlie waiting for us at the front door.

Before leaving the town of Creel, we made sure to finally take one group pic in-front of the town’s sign. Don’t worry, Charlie made sure that he was in the picture too.

We then started our drive to Cuauhtémoc where we would stay the night. Our car rides are long, but are always filled with fun conversations and debates. It is never a dull time traveling with the group. Soon enough though we drove out of the mountains and through many little towns before making it to Cuauhtémoc. Angelo heard about a place that sells very good micheladas, so we stopped to check it out. The bar had many options to customize their drinks, and Jeff and Angelo each made theirs perfect.

Soon enough we were back on the road, and decided to stop for some dinner once we got into the city. A steak house/taqueria became the group choice, and it ended up being very delicious.

After dinner it was back to the hotel room from some card games, showers and bed.

It was a day full of driving, but it’s nothing compared to our long stretch tomorrow. I’ll make sure to update on any other fun adventures we have, but till then that’s all for today! I’ll leave you all with another picture of Charlie who my dad would not let us keep. Goodnight!

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!

After getting a good night’s sleep, we were recharged and ready to continue hanging out with the kids. After breakfast, we brought out tons of PlayDoh, as it is one of the kids’ favorite activities.

One of the coolest parts about the places we visit here are all of the animals that can be found. At the La Junta orphanage, as well as in Creel and all over Chihuahua, there are so many different ones to be seen. We had to include pictures of our favorites today as the blog would not be complete without them.

After having lots of fun with PlayDoh and all of the animals, we sadly had to say our goodbyes to the kids at La Junta and start heading over to Creel. We gave hugs and high-fives before piling back into the van to start the drive as it is about three hours to get there from La Junta. It’s a steep drive with very curvy roads up the mountain to get to Creel, but we finally made it.

Once we got to the Creel orphanage we greeted everyone before detaching our trailer and parking it in the courtyard. We had to go quickly check in to our nearby hotel and freshen up before dinner. Once we returned to the orphanage we had an awesome dinner waiting for us (plus tres leches cake for dessert.) So we sat down with all the kids and ate.

After dinner, we could tell the kids were very excited to finally open their presents. We helped clean and move the tables to make room for all the presents to be brought in.

Once again, one by one we handed each kid their gift.

After we made sure everyone got their gift, we gave the signal that it was time to start unwrapping! The kids wasted no time to start opening gifts, and there was so much excitement in the room as everyone finally got to see what they got!

Just as quickly as they opened presents, the kids grabbed all their new toys and ran back to their dorms to have more space to play. All of us went ahead and started cleaning up all the wrapping paper and toy boxes while they played. It was definitely a successful night, and we could tell that the kids were very happy.

After such a fun night, our group headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. We have another very busy day tomorrow so stay tuned!

Today marks our first official day as a group traveling down to Mexico. Yesterday, my dad (Jeff), Carmenza, Angelo and I (Suzi) drove to El Paso where we picked up Quinn at the airport. We reunited with Elli and Jill today and finally completed our group.

After a quick Starbucks run we headed down to the border where we waited for about 2 hours before being able to cross.

Our traditional first stop is always the food stands in Villa Ahumada, Chihuahua where we get the best asidero cheese quesadillas with roasted jalapeño sauce to put inside.

One of Jeff’s favorite things to do here is buy some of the local snacks. His top choice is the chapulines (grasshoppers).

After we ate, it was time to get back on the road and start heading to La Junta where we will have Christmas with the kids there. About an hour and a half on the road we hit quite a large pothole, but didn’t think much of it. After about twenty minutes we hear a loud sound come from under the van followed by screeching. We quickly pull over to find out our muffler partially fell down and was scraping the road. Luckily, Jeff and Angelo knew just what to do to quickly repair our muffler and get us back on the road.

As we were driving we came across a Mennonite grocery store and decided to take a quick pit stop. While we were there to just use the restrooms, we stumbled across the biggest bag of cheese puffs we had ever seen.

Of course we had to buy it…

Once we loaded them into the van we were back on the road to La Junta. Due to our hold up at the border, muffler issues, and cheese puffs we got to the orphanage a little late. It was around 11:00pm and we thought everyone would be asleep and we would have to do Christmas in the morning. But we were wrong. We were greeted at the door by all the kids excited to open their gifts. We asked if they wanted to wait till tomorrow but they did not want to wait at all. While half of us unloaded all the gifts, the rest of us distracted them outside with loads of light up toys.

Soon enough we had all the gifts out and accounted for, and all the kids ran back inside.

One by one we called each kid up to claim their gift and made sure to tell them not to open until everyone had their present.

Finally it was time! All the kids got to open their presents, and it was crazy! We all rushed around trying to help kids open boxes and put batteries into toys. There was so much energy and excitement even though it was late. We could tell how happy everyone was with their new presents.

It was an extremely exciting night, and we were so tired by the end of everything. Once we helped clean up all the wrapping paper we finally got to settle down into the dorms provided by the orphanage.

It was a very long and exhausting day! We need to get some sleep because tomorrow we have to be up early to start heading to our next location in Creel, Chihuahua. Goodnight!

Today was the final day of our trip. To be honest it was not very eventful. We left our hotel around 8:30 am to began our drive up to the border. We were on a strict schedule to make it to El Paso in time for some of our traveler’s flights at 5:00 pm. The drive from Cuauhtémoc to the border isn’t too long, and when you’re in good company it goes even faster. We even stopped at our favorite quesadilla stand one last time for some lunch and last minute shopping.

Around 2 pm we made it to the border, and it was much faster to get across this time around. At the border we said goodbye to Frank, Sandy, Wendy and Jackson as they headed their separate ways. The rest of us traveled through El Paso and to the airport. By 3:30 we were able to get Jill, Aidan, David and Adam to their gates with plenty of time. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone as they headed into the airport.

After the airport we headed to Las Cruces to drop Elli off at her dorm so that she could get her car and drive it home. My dad forced me to go with her, so we got to drive home together. Meanwhile Jeff, Angelo, Brenda and Crystal made their way up back to Los Lunas and Albuquerque in Clifford.

It’s now around 10:00 and we are all back home safely. We overall had one of the best trips we think we have ever had, with only a few inconveniences along the way. We had an awesome group this year, and everyone did an awesome job! We want to give a special shout out to Olive Branch Christian School, Corrales International School, the guests and staff at La Reforma, all the breweries who sold our limited edition fundraiser beer, all of our friends and family that donated, and all of the people who donated their time to go out and make this happen. We really could not do any of this without you, and we are forever grateful! We hope you enjoyed these updates, and all the pictures from our trip, and stay tuned for a recap video from Wendy that is in the process of being edited. We will see you next year when we do this all again!

-The Aljaba Travelers

Today our group got to sleep in a little, and we were able to have some sightseeing time before we began our drive back to the border. But first, Lupe had something very important that she wanted to show us. A large plot of land in Creel that isn’t too far away from the current orphanage had been purchased so that a new orphanage could be built. The current orphanage is a series of very old and rundown buildings, and they are in desperate need of an upgrade. A brand new three story building is set to start construction next year, and hopefully should be completed soon.

We couldn’t be more excited for Lupe and her kids, and we can’t wait to see what the new building looks like!

After getting to see the exciting new project, we got back into Clifford and headed to the Copper Canyon for some zip lining, food and shopping. The canyon isn’t too far from Creel, so the drive wasn’t bad. Once we parked, a bus shuttled us up the mountain to the main activity area where we got to do some sight seeing.

There were also some booths selling souvenirs including the famous baskets that everyone who donates asks for, as well as some funny knock off toys that we all got a laugh out of.

There was also a cool glass floor overlooking the canyon that people could walk over if they dared too.

One of the most popular attractions at the Copper Canyon is the zip lining. The main zip line here is actually one of the longest in the world, and it takes a lot of nerve to ride. Five out of the fourteen travelers this year decided to accept the challenge. Many of us have done the zip line over the years, and decided that once was enough. As someone who is not a fan of heights, I did the zip line once years ago, and do not want to do it ever again.

Elli, Jill, Jeff and Aidan have all done the zip line before, some even multiple times. Brenda was the only person who had not done it out of these five.

The rest of our group took the tram to the other side of the canyon. Even thought it was slightly less scary than the zip lines, it still is very unsettling for someone who does not like heights.

Once we all arrived at the other side of the canyon, we got to do some more souvenir shopping, and some beautiful sightseeing. We also got to see a stray goat which was very exciting for us.

After our small adventure, we all took the tram back as a group, and headed over to the nearby train station for some lunch. This particular train station sells the best gorditas in the world (according to Jeff) and are a must have every time we come visit. A gordita is a thick tortillas that is cut open and stuffed with all types of delicious fillings. There are multiple different meats, cheeses and vegetables that can be put inside, and my personal favorite is the nepalés (cactus) filling. We all ordered our food and got to sit back and relax a little as we ate our lunch.

Of course we weren’t alone while eating. We attracted a lot of company that were just too cute to ignore.

After lunch, it was time to head back to our van, and start our drive back home. We only put in a few hours today and will be driving most of the way back tomorrow. It took us about 4 hours to get to the city of Cuauhtémoc, where we would stay at a hotel for the night. Jeff booked us in a very nice hotel called The Apple Inn. Before turning in, we all decided to get a quick dinner at a restaurant close by called Troll. They specialized in boneless wings, burgers and beer. We spent some time eating and having a deep conversation of how much this trip means to us.

That’s about all we did today. Now we’re going to go get some rest before taking on the very long drive straight back home. We are glad we can have a day like this to show the new people in our group the beautiful scenery that Chihuahua and the Copper Canyon have to offer. It is always fun to be a tourist for a little bit while we are here!

We started our morning around 7 am. We needed to be extra early to the food distribution this year because we had to meet a guide who needed to lead us through the mountain. We ate a quick breakfast at our hotel of eggs, beans, potatoes, tortillas and pan dulces before we hit the road. Usually we buy and pack the food ourselves for the distribution, but the kids at Creel went ahead and did it for us before we started our trip.

The drive up the mountain was very long and very bumpy. Most of the road is not paved, but Clifford somehow made it through. We arrived at a clearing with a few old buildings. People were slowly starting to arrive around the same time we did. A handful of kids from Creel wanted to come with us and help pass everything out. As people arrived, we passed out sports balls, stuffed animals, candy and jackets. Before we did the rest of the food distribution, some pastors that met us there gave a quick Sunday sermon and worship session.

While the songs were in Spanish, most of the sermon was in the native Tarahumara language. It was very cool for all of our travelers to be able to experience a new language. Both language are spoken in these areas, and a lot of the kids are fluent in both.

After the sermon, we began distributing food out to all the people who came. We ended up having even more food than we needed, so some people even got extra bags to take home.

It was a very successful food drive yet again, and we were glad to be able to provide at least a weeks worth of groceries for families in need. It always warms our hearts when the kids want to go out and volunteer their time to the food distribution, and we always have a large crowd of them wanting to go. Even thought these kids don’t have much, they always want to give to those less fortunate.

Afterwards, we headed back down the mountain on bumpy roads and back to the orphanage for some lunch, and so we could spend some time playing with the kids. Lupe, the director of the orphanage in Creel, made us some delicious enchiladas, mole, beans and rice.

We played some volleyball with the kids with a new net and ball that we brought, and played with all the new toys the kids received yesterday. By around 2 we were starting to feel tired from the days events, and made a quick stop to our hotel to freshen up and take a quick power nap. Soon enough though we were refreshed and ready for the rest of our fun activities planned for the day!

Our first fun activity was the annual Bingo game. We have asked the kids many times what their favorite part of us coming is, and we always expect them to say the Christmas presents. But no, the Bingo game is their all time favorite part. So of course we have to go all out for them.

A lot of the kids are really young here, and they sometimes don’t know all their numbers yet. So, each table will have at least two of us checking all cards every time a new number is called out to make sure no kid missed anything.

Soon enough all the kids were getting Bingos and claiming their prizes. One by one, we check all the winner’s cards before they can pick a prize, and soon enough all the kid’s tables were stacked with prizes. After a long two hours, the game finally came to an end, and all the kids ran back to their dorms to play while we cleaned and set the room up for movie night!

The movie for this year was Frozen II. The first Frozen was a big hit, so we knew we had to show the kids this one. There is no movie theater in Creel, so the kids don’t have access to all the new popular movies that come out.

We use a projector to show the movies since they don’t have a tv big enough for everyone to see. We popped some fresh palomitas (popcorn) and passed it out to all the kids. The kids also got extra glow sticks and mini flashlights for the movie. This had to be one of the most popular movies we have shown yet, and the kids could not stop laughing everytime Olaf was on screen. He was definitely a fan favorite for the kids, and me too.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. After the movie, we had to say our last goodbyes as this was our final day with the kids. We all lined up and got final hugs, handshakes and fist bumps as the they made their way to bed. They can always get a bit upset when it’s time for us to leave, and we are just as sad. These kids have a special place in our hearts, and we have formed close relationships with many of them. We love making them happy and spoiling them, and this is the reason we come back year after year.

We want to thank everyone again who donated to our trip, and I hope you all know just how much happiness you gave to these kids. We couldn’t do any of this without you, and we are very appreciative.

We are very thankful that we could make our trip this year, and can’t wait to come back next year and see all the kids. Today was a very fun and eventful day, and we need some sleep to power up for a little sight seeing tomorrow before we start driving back up North. Goodnight!

After a hectic night, we had a much calmer morning at La Junta. We ate breakfast with the kids, did more fun activities and played with all the new toys. We got out some board games that we brought for the kids, rocket balloons, bubble guns, and lots of play-doh.

We also got to meet some of the animals that live on property including dogs, cats, sheep and chickens.

Around noon we had to start our journey to Creel, so we sadly had to say goodbye to everyone until next year.

It is about a two hour drive from La Junta to Creel. We had to wind through the narrow mountain roads in our big van to get there. It’s a good thing my dad is good at navigating these areas. Soon enough we pulled into Creel, and into the orphanage!

We went ahead and unloaded our trailer before eating some lunch with all the kids.

All of us were eager to start the days activities, but we really needed to freshen up first. Before we drove down the street to check in to our hotel, we got some fun spinning top activities going for the kids to keep them occupied.

After making sure the kids had some fun things to do, we drove over to our hotel, Margarita’s. Everyone finally got to take a warm shower, and freshen up a bit before tonight’s exciting activities.

Around 6:30 pm we headed back to the orphanage to start preparing for Christmas. Once again we went through all the presents and made sure all the kids had them. We only had one casualty this year and accidentally left one present back at the hotel. Luckily it was a quick drive to go and retrieve it. It wouldn’t be a proper trip without something going wrong. Soon enough though we had all the presents lined up and ready for the kids.

One by one we called all the kids up to get their presents. Once again, everyone has to wait until everyone else has their gift to open them.

We had yet again another successful Christmas as the kids ripped open their gifts and laughter filled the room. So much was going on at once, and everyone was busy helping the kids open their toys and showing them how things worked. We were putting in batteries, opening boxes and charging up remote control cars. It didn’t take too long for all the kids to one by one start to retreat back to their dorms so that they could have more space to play. While they did that we all helped pick up wrapping paper and trash, and sweep up the floor. It was a very fun and eventful night!

After finishing cleaning up, and eating some fresh tamales and tres leches cake, we headed back to our hotel. Turns out today was a holiday celebrating the Virgin of Guadalupe. So we were greeted by music, food, dancing and a big parade outside of our hotel. We stayed and watched for a few minutes, but due to the almost freezing temperatures we decided to turn in for the night.

Thank you all who contributed donations to the orphanage here in Creel! We couldn’t do these things without you all, and you made a lot of kids very happy! Come back tomorrow for updates on our biggest food distribution ever, a bingo tournament and movie night!

We woke up around 7:00 this morning so that we could all get on the road by 8:00. The drive from our hotel to the border is short, but that didn’t stop us from getting donuts and coffee for the ride.

We were greeted with unusually long lines at the Santa Teresa border, and after 2 and a half hours we finally got through. Usually the line is much shorter, but today there were lots of travelers coming across the border.

We have a tradition on these trips to stop at our favorite quesadilla stand about an hour from the border. We ordered a stack of fresh asadero cheese quesadillas and a plate full of chapulines (grasshoppers).

After a delicious lunch, we got back on the
road to head to out first exciting stop at the
orphanage in La Junta. We knew we were
running a bit late due to the hold up at the
border, so we tried to get there as fast as
possible. After hours of naps, trivia games, a
few bathroom/snack breaks and karaoke we
finally arrived around 7:00 pm.

We ate a quick dinner with all the kids consisting of pizza, spaghetti and lots of soda before starting to get all the presents ready. While we carefully checked to make sure each kid had their present, the other half of the group entertained the kids with bubbles, balloon animals, glow sticks and candy.

Finally the moment arrived, and one by one we handed each kid their gift! They had to wait until everyone had their present before opening them.

Excitement filled the room as all the kids
opened their presents! All of us were rushing
around helping everyone get toys out of boxes,
and explaining how some toys worked. It was
a lot of fun and a lot of work! Kids were
playing with dolls, remote control cars,
scooters, sports balls, crafts, nerf guns and so
much more! You could see so much happiness
on each kids face as they opened up their gifts,
and played with their new toys! Soon enough
all the kids retreated off to go play with all
their new things, and we started cleaning up
the giant pile of wrapping paper, plastic and
boxes. It was an extremely fun and eventful
night for sure!

After hours of fun, it was finally time to turn in for the night. We all got to have sleepovers with the kids, and got invited to stay in their dormitories.

We had yet another extremely successful Christmas here at La Junta. Thank you so much to everyone who donated and bought presents for these kids. Stay tuned for more Christmas fun tomorrow when we head over to the orphanage in Creel!