The Extra Mile Adventure

12.3.08 DAY 3 – CROSSING THE BORDER
by Summer Shapiro

I woke up this morning sandwichd between the back row of old school bus seats and a passed out Ryan.  Vinicio, our vegan chef, and Alison, our little rasta and cleanliness master, sound asleep and smashed into the mattress sitting above us over the engine.  When I lifted my head to see Sam, our ex-Obama field office lead and semi-pro cyclist, standing tall among our sea of sleeping bags and limp limbs I was grateful for getting more than the 5 hours of sleep I had accumulated over the last 2 days.  Today was the day that made this trip real.  Granted everyday has been that day, but today we were up early in San Diego ready to cross the Mexican/American border.

Last night we had our biggest bus meeting yet, where we changed our route from circumventing Tijuana to going straight through it.  So, once I heard Sam say, “We should probably go now.”  We were off.  The 30 minutes from where we stayed last night to the border was very quiet.  Everyone sat in their own spaces. I layed down and closed my eyes to meditate on the ease with which we would pass the border.

Ulisses, our native Mexican, tour guide, clown, and magician, was the first to get off the bus.  He walked down the steps with his long white feather stuck in his hair and bouncing on his back.  In short, the general response we got from border offiiclas can be encapsulated in this phrase spoken by one of the officials, “You need to paint flowers on your bus!”  All went smoothly until one official got annoyed at our 40 foot Patricia (bus) blocking so many parking spots.  He ordered us to quick cross the border, however, Ryan and Ulisses were not back yet and we couldn’t find them anywhere.  So, Weldboy, our famed bus driver and fix-it-all guy, brilliantly chose to move back and forth “trying to get out of the parking lot” for about 15-20 minutes.  The boys finally returned smiling with instructions on getting our permit.  We drove away happy as a gaggle of gunned marines waved and flashed us the peace sign.

After stopping in Tijuana for our permit and some roasted corn we drove down the coast along the snaking border fences.  There were a few layers of fence and tall lights hanging over them.  From the top of a hill we could see the San Diego suburbs along side the Mexican houses – two worlds a few feet from each other divided by a sheet metal.  We drove on and the further we got into Baja the more everyone’s eyes began to sparkle and glow.  We shot out over the sea o a road much like HWY 1 in Northern California, with craggy cliffs and wide ocean views.  Lean-tos with tarps covering them made for some people’s homes.  The best use of a billboard I have seen was today - strapped over a frame and sufficing as a  home.

Suddenly I turned over my right shoulder to look into the waves.  Quickly we all started yelling and hooting and laughing – there was a pod of dolphins swimming south with us.  We stopped the bus to say hello to them, watch them jump in the waves and take a communal pee.

Back on the bus, as Liz and I painted each other’s faces and necks with irridescent paints, the rest of the bus crammed into the front few seats to spend time with our driver, Ryan, and sing one of our newest songs. 

Today has been full of music, we even had a recording session tonight.  We’re developing our repertoire of music to bring to the towns we visit and work with.  So far in one day we had approximately one jam session every hour.  We have a performance date coming up to benefit the polluted Lake Chapala.  We already have ideas of clowning, teaching through music and dance, acrobatics, shadow play, and performance rich in audience participation and rooted in environment education.  Right now, next to me sits Ulisses dictating the story outline to our writer, Tony, as we bump along on our way to la playa El Cayote and Bahia De La Conceptcion.  We have two more days on the road before we reach La Paz where we will build adobe earth domes for 3 days.  Lots of pictures and video is being taken so check those out too at http://www.theextramileadventure.org. 

I want to thank and appreciate everyone who donated food to us!  Vinicio and his kitchen team made an incredible feast of butternut squash, potato, zucchini, pineapple coconut curry, with quinoa and beans, and a gorgeous pomegranete, persimmon, peppermint, almond butter chutney.  Our food is really feeding us with health and gratitude so that we can go out and make the difference we are dedicated to making.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Until next time.  Thank you for all of your support, we are excited to share this adventure with you and inspire change in all we can.

So much love!!!

Summer Shapiro

Project Manager, Clown, Communication Goddess, and Connector

Photos