Let’s Tijuana: Mission Trip 2026

Hello!

Beginning Sunday August 2, 2026, I will post updates here from my upcoming experience camping out and building a small house with a group of 31 other people in Tijuana, Mexico. I will post updates as the week develops. You can click on the title of the post or the photograph above to find your way to the full, updated post. Thanks for reading!

2 Copper Halo / Monday Morning

Says the rooster over and over again, since four a.m.

“Copper halo-o-o!”

Or it could be, “Drop the hammm-er!”

It depends on what you want to hear. I’m still wired to central time so what the heck I woke up. I needed to viaja al baño anyway.

It was a decent night’s sleep. Some tossing and turning. No more than anywhere else I park these bones for the night.

The rooster is in that strange compound set in the corner of this lot. The one with what look like water treatment pipes coming into and out of the ground. Of course they aren’t water pipes so they must be part of a gas pipeline.

There was a smoldering trash fire burning in there when we arrived. Around ten p.m. last night someone, los campañeros were using shovels to tend to the fire in some way. Their shovels scraped against this hard-packed, ant-ridden ground. The smoke fanned out all around and we fell asleep in a trash fire fog. I was tired. Long day, asleep.

Rucked my pack back to the airport. There were already a handful of folks in on a United flight. I had enough time to fill up the two hotel freebie water bottles (half full of frozen water courtesy of the hotel mini fridge…those mini fridge freezers, some of them, can get plenty cold enough to make ice in…)

Before I knew it Frank was at the curb in Big Blue 2 and we were on our way to the Car Rental Help Center. I’m driving an older Dodge Caravan. Cigarette lighter-style charging ports kind of old.

We were ahead of schedule. After parking on the pickup curb for a few minutes I drove over and parked near McCain Blvd, which is along the route to Point Loma to/from the airport. It was a fine spot to wait for the rest of the crew to arrive.

The Box Truck had a flat on one of the back tires. And some rim damage. That was the problem of the morning but Jim took it to some father and son tire shop and they got a new/old tire put on.

I went to Home Depot on Dennery Rd, filled the van with gas, went to Von’s for secret pal items, nuts, and a couple of canned coffees. Then we met our Amor reps. David will be our building guide again this year.

I’m in the same tent with the same cot as last year. There are 32 in the group, many for the first time. Some returning after a many-years’ hiatus. Mike is doing this trip for the 30th time. He’s got all of his kids here, and four of his grandchildren. People are getting married, getting engaged, having kids. All around, spinning, this Earth and just about everything on it.

It was a typical long evening into the dark and through the smoke. Campfire, some singing, an ice breaker, some small group. By 21:30 I was finally free to collapse in my tent like someone was slowly turning down the switch that dims me.

I had dreams but I don’t remember them. It’s 5:07. It’s 72 degrees and 70% humidity. What did I do this summer that was fun? When you gotta dig deep to answer that it causes a sort of reflection or introspection that I do enough of as it is.

I first answered by saying I had been cleaning my deck of dirt and mildew. Well, that’s no fun, I was told. OK, hmmm. How about waking the mike up to the middle school to run/walk in the morning? Getting a workout in without having to drive?

The other easy answer is Nora, our dog. She has been a true bright spot. There hasn’t been much else going on this summer. Nursing home visits? Harassing phone calls from an insurance company? Family strife on both sides? Shredded, torn-up, canceled plans?

Enough of that. Time to drink one of my canned coffees and scrape myself together to get my van halfway across Tijuana proper to get this house started. More to follow, probably in the manner of photos and captions.

3 Get Down With Your Downtime

I’m seated in my chair outside my tent. The sun is up, the night is down. Dondé estuve el noche? The roosters crow all night. Only a rising sun silences a determined crooner.

Plume of smoke, digging in the hills. Engines take you up, engines get you in. Our key to this crusty earth: burn some of it to access yet more; repeat.

I am in the dark silence, I am in the cold van. Pour me over, drink me down. Burn me with sun, salve me with aloe. Save my root, I’m not quite fallow.

Our toilet bank has moved. A small chain lock was installed in the one I’ve been using. One of the ones with the sidekick urinal. I remember someone one year saying about the baños with that little side urinal, “Just—no.” I suppose if you are seated that side slide is just about at eye level, and could be wet. This is just part of the fun.

Sunscreen applied. Boots on. Tools in the van. Black van, dry river, hazy sky. Anything left out in the night is wet. It always amazes me how quickly this camp switches from dusty, dry, and hot to damp and slightly cool.

I was in shorts with just a sheet over me. Upon waking I was just a touch cold, welcomely…

4 El Realito, Day 1 in Photos

These will be in chronological order. Maybe I’ll write more about today tomorrow. It was a long day. Spoiler Alert: We did get the full pad/foundation poured, although I only have a photo when it was halfway done. We are building a so-called “double,” a house that is twice as wide as the standard Amor house.

5 Raising the Roof

We assembled the wall panels on top of the concrete pad and then put the roof panels on top of the house yesterday and topped them with plywood. Here are photos from the day in chronological order:

The mess tent, French toast on the grill

6 Stucco if You Want To

Another series of chronological photos. As I type it’s 21:08 pacific daylight. I have writing and more quotes from Mexico in Mind I wish to share but these photos will have to speak for me for now.

7 Of Clouds and Camarones

Photos from the final work day, the house complete and then a meal at Menuderia Guadalajara.