WHY I GO TO MEXICO

I have come to love Mexico. I thought moving 30 minutes from the border would mean I'd take hundreds of students every year... but the truth is, we've taken waaaaaay less in San Diego than we ever did in Nor Cal. My largest trip here is still about as big as my smallest trip team from there.

Part of it is because local Mexico news is local news here, so people are actually more afraid of the border here than they are in Nor Cal. We tend to believe the news and lately, Mexico is a fearful place to go filled with drugs and waring and you'll likely die if you go.

Yeah... well... we keep going, but now that they require passports (something I've required from Nor Cal for years), we are taking fewer and fewer students. This time it was 4 high school girls, 5 from the Berrytribe (we didn't take Becky and Billy cuz we thought it was too soon a transition for them and a variety of other reasons), and some of our adult volunteers- all in all totaling a nice size group of about 15 of us for a day trip in honor of the Veteran's day off.

But regardless... I'd go with my family alone. Why?

• CUZ I'M RICH: It's good for my kids to get around a culture that reminds them they have too much. It's good for me to be reminded I'm rich. Today I went to a wedding rehearsal in Rancho Santa Fe. In the hour before the rehearsal that Shannon had to be there, Jake (who is a ring bearer) and I went to a coffee shop. Rancho Santa Fe is the land of 10 million dollar homes. Really. The church the wedding is in is sitting around MULTI-million dollar estates. Jake and I had coffee in a place where my car was clearly lower class and we went window shopping for fun at a real estate broker next door and there was not one house for sale under 2 million. The largest we saw had 9 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, 2 pools, a grass tennis court, and was going for 16 million. Yeah.. hang around in Rancho Santa Fe and you'll feel poor. Now drive south of the border for 15 minutes, spend the day there with a family we sponsor who has no car, no phone, no refrigerator and 6 kids who live in a 200 sq foot home and you'll shut up about being poor in a hurry.

• CUZ IT MAKES ME HAPPY TO SEE THEM HAPPY: I love seeing kids play. I love sharing food and serving along side those who could use my help. I love bringing them food and sharing the abundance we have with those who could use a little more.

• CUZ OF THE FOOD: Ok.. I go for the taquitos and the ice cream. Truth be told, if you told me I couldn't stop for taquitos, I think I might question motive one and two in light of motive 3. I LOVE to eat in the hole in a wall open air taco places. I've yet to get sick. I always pick one whose reputation is good among the locals and looks good and clean and yeah... we just roll in and eat till it hurts. It's really the best thing about Mexico. They are good cooks :)