Bad Events = Good Travel Memories?

Building a house is hard work. Building a house in the middle of a scorching desert is extremely hard work!

This picture is nicely "framed!"

Two days into constructing a small house in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, all I could think about was getting some rest. In March of 2007, I had joined university classmates on a trip to help out a less fortunate Mexican family. We went to bed covered in a layer of dried cement, and the howling winds ensured desert sand coated what was left!

My watch told me it was 2:30AM when I awoke. The skies in the Sonoran Desert (covering much of the southwestern US and northern Mexico) are some of the clearest on earth. I spent a minute fighting my fatigue so I could watch the spectacle above me. Stars and planets dotted the skies so brightly, I did not even need my glasses to appreciate the beauty!

My awe was then interrupted by an important question that came to mind: "If I'm seeing stars, then where the heck is our tent???"

Sure enough, the ferocious winds had torn our tent to shreds as we slept inside! The next few minutes featured frantic scrambling and colourful language (in English and Spanish!) as my tent mates and I tried to find our one small flashlight and other important belongings. 

The four of us piled into our minivan, which was partially filled with building supplies. I spent the rest of the night "sleeping" at a ninety degree angle with my back against the sliding door of the van.

We somehow managed a full day of building the next day with the others in our group!

Recently, I met one of my classmates from that trip. When we looked back on that night, we laughed! Often, bad travel events tend to be ones you remember and savour just as much as anything good! That sort of stuff shapes one's travel experience.

I should mention, the night after all that happened... thank goodness, we booked a hotel!

The aftermath! Notice how the tent next to ours

 also suffered the wrath of the wind?