Tecaté Adventures - Hudson

Day 0

I remember my first year in Tecate, two years ago. We pulled up to the site on the first day, and I saw a concrete slab and a pile of wood. I said to myself, “No way will we finish this.”  By the end of the first day, after much sawing and nailing and about the most organized chaos I’d ever seen, we had a wall or two up. Even then, I still thought there was no way we’d finish it. The second day came and went, and again it seemed there was no way we’d finish. I didn’t believe it. The third day broke my pride a little more than the first two, but sheet rock nails did become my new enemy. “Okay, maybe we’ll finish it,” I thought as we drove back to camp. The fourth day came, and it destroyed my disbelief entirely when we finished the house with time to spare. I hadn’t spoken with the family much, but on the last day, something happened that struck a chord with me. Our site leader handed the father of the family a wad of cash, no more than a hundred dollars. We went to Mexico to give to him, but that day he gave something to me. As we drove away, the father’s thankfulness for such a simple gift convicted me to never wish for more for myself when I can give what I have to those who need it most. Last year, as we drove by the little house on the hill that I had helped to build the previous year, I thought about that man, and for the first time in a long time, I was happy. 

Day 1 - A-team 

Monday morning rolled around and I happily began my second year of A-team work. After a few hours of lifting heavy boxes and workin the assembly line putting luggage onto trucks, the trailers were ready to roll down to Tecate. Thursday morning came and we made the long trek down to the border where I inhaled some authentic Mexican cuisine, and then got to work early the next morning. I felt like a desert nomad as I set up tents and moved tools in the blistering heat of the day. It was hard work, but I have experienced few things less rewarding in my life. The caravans began to show up on Saturday and we got our first contact with civilization since we arrived. Saturday is always my favorite part since I get to welcome the caravans to their home for the next week. As the night rolled in, I was happy to hear praises of our camp set-up job, but I knew the work wasn’t over yet. 

Day 2 - Sunday 

This morning I got up bright and early, it was earlier than I expected since I didn’t bring my watch and my phone had since died. It’s freeing to not know what time it is all the time, since there’s no rush and I don’t have to worry about arbitrary human measurements constantly. We left for the worksite and I drove by a house that I helped build a few years ago, and I was happy to see the father come out and wave to us in the car as we drove by. We arrived at the site and I greeted the family, and enjoyed the feeling of challenge I got when I saw the pile of wood on the concrete slab. I thought, “This will be a good week”. After hours of work in the Mexico heat, the sound of framing hammers ceased and we had four walls of a house built, the most I’ve ever had done on the first day. As we drove back to the site I thought about the family, and how happy I was to build something so simple, yet so impactful for their lives. 

Day 3 - Monday

Monday is always a weird day. On day one, we get so excited because we go from nothing to something; from a concrete slab to four walls. By the end of day two, the house doesn’t look all that much different than how it did at the beginning of the day. I always do the sketchiest work on day two though. From holding positions akin to rock climbing to essentially doing pull-ups on rafters to try to get them nailed straight, I feel like I always get to do the most dangerous, but also the most fun jobs. We ate lunch, and after many carrot wars we got back to work and were ready to put the roof on at the end of the day. As we drove back to the site, still by light of day I might add (I was with Mr. Starke, who is notorious for always being done late), I had to remind myself that not only was I there to build a house, but to build lifelong relationships with these families who have nothing, but are somehow endlessly happy. 

Day 4 - Tuesday

I’ve never gotten as far as we did on the second day this year. We slammed the plywood on the roof before lunch, and began to lay tar paper and shingles. I really wanted to work more on the roof, but we already had too many cooks in the kitchen up there so I got delegated to carrying shingles up the ladder onto the roof. I lugged almost all of the shingles onto the roof, tearing up my shoulder in the process, and taking a well-deserved break after receiving a “well done” from my leader. On the list of not fun things I’ve done, carrying shingles onto the roof was really not fun. Thankfully, by the end of the day we finished the entire roof and thanks to the cloudy weather, we did it with little trouble and no heatstroke, thank God. After we got back to camp, I got right to work on my A-Team duties. After dumping trash can after trash can onto the fire and wondering why it’s so difficult for some people to figure out what burns and what doesn’t, I climbed into bed and sacked out as soon as my head hit the pillow. 

Day 5 - Wednesday

I thought we would be done by lunch today since we only had sheet-rocking left, but, oh boy was I wrong. We finished maybe two rooms worth before lunch, and then did some more drywall, and some more, and some more. As we neared the end of the day, I began to see the house truly come together as one. Today I really got to connect with the kids more than I ever have. I was never the playing-with-kids type, but there was this one kid named Said who I had so much fun with, and played a ton of soccer even though he worked me the entire time. I did get back to work eventually, and after screwing in as many drywall screws as there are stars in the sky it seemed, and after watching my leaders struggle to get the door on for two hours, the house was finished. The key ceremony was very powerful. As we handed over gifts to the family and finally the keys to the house, their smiles lit up more than mine ever has (I’m not exactly the smiliest guy if you know me well). After the ceremony I had to say goodbye to my friend Said, and we drove back to camp as I thought of what family I will get to help next year when I return to this place, full of empty-handed, but endlessly happy people.