My name is Jorge Aguayo, Desk Officer and now also the new social Manager here in Mexico. I was born and raised here in Guadalajara, Mexico

Together as one to help clean and paint the Nia-Fam Orphanage!

This last friday we had the chance to gather our volunteers here in Guadalajara for a beautiful good cause, and everybody responded just great by puttting on the sportmanship jersey and bringing their best game and attitude by helping paint the boys orphanage in an act of true inspiration and great good will. 

Congrats to all our volunteers for their dedication on this great mission that was greatly accomplished!

Nia-Fam is a boys orphanage here in our beautiful city of Guadalajara,Jalisco.

Check out the dirty day album to take a closer look at the amazing work done by our volunteers: http://www.mytripblog.org/pg/photos/album/252581/dirty-day-071212/

The Arts&Crafts project is one great artistic project, but there´s a lot behind this great show, there´s a lot of dedication and hard work from the people running the project (The Barbosa Family) and the people working there, it´s not all fun all the time, these people put their hearts and time into a lot of projects that sometimes become monotonous and not so fun, like designing stuff for hotels or other clients that ask for the same all the time.

It´s a work that demands a lot of focusing and perfectionism, as well as sweat and long long hours working the clay,paint and ovens for a serialized order where each single item must look the same. As in any other job, there are ups and downs and monotonous moments that one must overcome, but in the end the great results always come straight from long sessions of arduous work and dedication.

To check a bit more of this behind the scenes, please take a look at our Arts&Crafts photo album.

Congrats to Chloé Gendron on her amazing work at the Arts&Crafts projects, keep up that great work Chloé!

Day of the dead happens to be one of our most mexican traditions, celebrated every 2nd of November, this past Day of the dead brought with it some inspiration to Chloé Gendron, these muses came in skull-shaped forms and look just fantastic! 

Check out some of her work in the Arts&Crafts album, stunning work!

The San Juan de Dios market is one of the most popular scenarios in our city centre, inaugurated on the 30^th of December of 1958.

The kind of place where you find everything, if you don’t find it lets say it doesn’t exist! The market is believed to have around 2000 commercial stands (yes, 2000 or more!)where you can find it all from electronics like the best speakers or the newest videogame, tennis shoes, musical instruments, candies, food and even animals! And price can always get cheaper and cheaper, that if you happen to be good at bargaining, which is always a great plus in a market like this.

Half the stuff you will find here can be original and the other half lets say is not so original sometimes, so having a good eye is one more good skill here.

If you are visiting this market I would recommend you to try a classic Torito, it’s a steak burrito wrapped up in a flower tortilla and covered with melted cheese and pizza sauce, quite a heavy meal but worth trying it!

Congrats to our volunteers Chloé Gendron and Majli Knappe who did a fantastic job at the Nunutzi Kie centre for children with special needs.

Wheelchairs were donated to the Nunutzie Kie centre by a team of groups like Hope Heaven, Rodar para Vivir and the California Rotary group; some of their volunteers where here in Mexico helping and a couple of our volunteers reached out to give an extra hand by helping with the translation and assembling the weelchairs for all the people who needed one at Nunutzie Kie. 

This was a geat experience for all of us! We feel very proud of the job the did at the school and people who got this benefit will be forever thankful with them for their hard work and beautiful heart.

Well Done girls!!!

Here´s the recipe for last week´s cooking lesson: Mexican (Alambre) 4 people :

1/2 kg. Beef
250 grams. Bacon
1 Pepperfruit
1 Onion
1 Plantain
1 Orange

Tomato Sauce:

Salsa:
Tomatoe 1/2 kg
Garlic 1 Clove
Dry Basil 2 grams
Salt 1 Teaspoon
Water 1 Cups

Preparation

Put the tomatoes in a pot with water. Boil them during 20 minutes. Put the tomatoes in the mixer with some garlic clove, the salt, and the basil. You can take the cup of water from the same one that you used to boil the tomatos.

Preparation

Chop all the ingredients (except the oranges), fry the beef in a separated pan, squeeze the oranges and add the juice in the previously fried beef.

Now in another pan, fry the rest of the ingredients and finally add everything into the same pan and voala! can iether be served as a single dish or as tacos.

Now enjoy this truly mexican delicacy! Buen Provecho!

Day of the dead is a 100% Mexican celebration; an even when it´s name may have a bit of a gloomy ring to it, it is totally the opposite of what this may sound like, it´s a celebration of life, a commemoration of a new beginning for those who have taken a detour on the road of life and now await for us to join them.

Day of the dead is celebrated on the 2^nd of November and it honors the dead; tradition is to build an altar with decorative personal items to remember that special someone who passed away; like a favorite drink or favorite cake, pictures and sugar candies, the whole altar is dressed in typical Mexican brilliant colors like orange, purple, green, blue, etc., a “calavera” is also placed next to the person´s picture, this is a funny/honorable poem that narrates a bit of that person´s ways of living, attitudes or adventures, a noble way of remembering and paying tribute; a celebration that dates back to the prehispanic era in Mexico.

Jose Guadalupe Posadas is the maximum Day of the Dead exponent, the famous Mexican skeletons used to decorate the altars are actually based on his own designs and illustrations.