Field Trip Chaos

I thought I was getting pretty good at taking students on trips. Taking a group of 10 to 20 college aged students into the wild outdoors is like going on an all-inclusive cruise compared to taking 106 sixth graders on a field trip. Field trips with that many middle schoolers is like hiking into present-day Iran and narrowly escaping with your life. This last Friday myself and my fellow 6th grade educators took our class to Hacienda El Carmen about an hour west of Guadalajara. I had organized the trip about 3 weeks ago when a generous parent invited us to see greenhouses where they grow bell peppers for export and then have lunch and play.

The greenhouses were great- the hacienda employees took control of the kids and took them around and discussed nutrients, plant life cycles, disease and how they care for the plants. The kids loved it and asked all kinds of questions. The best part was the caps and face masks we all had to wear to go into the greenhouses. It looks more like a group of 12-year old doctors. I had no idea it would take 30 minutes to get 106 kids off the bus, 30 minutes to get them back on the bus, 30 minutes to separate them into groups, etc. Trips with that many kids take a lot of time!

Next month we are headed to Guanajuato to stay at the Vicente Fox center for a week. This trip was kind of a test-run for the students. During that week we should get to go to a science center in Monterrey (with an IMAX on surfing) and then hopefully we will meet the ex-president Vicente Fox. I think I'm more excited than the students!

A couple of weekends ago I tried my feet at surfing in Ticla, Michuacan. Here's a couple photos of one of the best beaches I've been to so far:

Running...

Why do people run marathons? I've always thought people who ran just for the sake of running without a ball to chase were crazy. But you can't say you don't like something until you've tried it. That's why I decided to sign up for the 22 degree Atlas (one of Guadalajara's soccer teams) half marathon (13 miles or 21 km).
I was convinced to sign up by a fellow teacher and started running short 5k to 16k loops at Colomos park. Bosque los Colomos is a 92 hectare park in the north-eastern section of Guadalajara. Miles of concrete and dirt paths wind their way up and down hills through pine forests and manicured gardens. I immediately fell in love with the park and running seemed like a good excuse to go.
I'm painting the picture that I trained a lot for this race. In fact, I only ran 16k the weekend before and then trained through soccer, climbing at Ameyalli (a rock-climbing gym), playing volleyball and surfing at San Blas. Not exactly the recommended marathon runner's training program.
Most of running marathons is mental from what I've been told, so I decided not to be to worried about being in proper shape.
The race began at 7 in the morning with hundreds of people crowded around Avenida Patria for the start. Music blared and crowds cheered as we passed through the starting gate. We passed huge blow-up Corona and Coca-Cola bottles on our way to 2 hours of non-stop running. The energy of the crowds actually made the experience more enjoyable and fun. I ran with a fellow middle school teacher up to kilometer 16 and then decided I could finish in less than 2 hours. 2 hours is the magical half marathon number to beat. Once I hit kilometer 19 I knew I could run 2 km as fast as I could so I went for it. I sprinted with everything I had left and crossed the finish line at 3 minutes over the 2 hour mark. Darn, well I guess I'll have to run another half marathon before I leave Mexico!