A Year In Review

With the end of April comes the end of the school year. Over the year I have explored every part of the border, traveled into Mexico and hiked throughout Arizona. Now with summer coming on strong you can follow my new blog Lifeguard4Life Its focus is on lifeguarding through the summer and anything to do with the beach. There is also a live surf report.

My favorite part of the year was hiking in the border area. The desert is harsh and unforgiving. If you turn your back on it even for a moment, it will take from you. Deadly animals, painful plants, dangerous drug traffickers and a killer sun, the desert has them all. Hundreds of people have been killed crossing the border. Being in the same environment and experiencing the same hike is exciting and humbling.

Tucson has a lot to offer to the outdoors. Its weather, and geography is unmatched for desert lovers like myself. The city has so much to offer, the outdoor enthusiast can get lost for years in Tucson's wilderness; never crossing the same path twice.

This will be my last blog post for the school year. I hope that you enjoyed what I had to offer and hopefully I gave you some ideas of places to go yourself.

Magdalena, Sonora Mexico

Photo by Samantha Sais

Friday morning, armed with a camera, a recorder and a spanish translator, Samantha Sais and I traveled into Mexico to witness the art of saddle making.

Located on a narrow street corner in Magdalena, Sonora, a saddle maker tinkers away at leather strips inside the small shop with mexican music playing over the am fm radio in the corner. The end result forming a lavish saddle ready for hard riding.

The store started when David Molina's father started making saddles in the 40s. Since then, the Molina family has been making saddles for every rider. From the serious rancher, to rodeo cowboys.

The saddles take 8 days from start to finish to complete. The majority of them are made from cow hide, but Molina's shop has made them out of everything from shark skin to ostrich hide.

People come from all over the world to buy a saddle from David Molina. For five thousand dollars you can own your own custom saddle that is shaped to you and your horse.

St. Andrews

A doctor and med-students go over a

patients file at St. Andrews

Photo  by David McErlean

This Thursday was the monthly children's health clinic in Nogalas Ariz. The clinic is put on by Saint Andrews church to help the poorer family's of Mexico that are not able to to pay for it themselves. Children from all of Sonora come to the clinic every month to receive a range of health care.

For this month, the clinic invited BorderBeat.net to come and observe the doctors and administrators that volunteers in action.

There was no better feeling than to witness a 5-year-old smiling as they see for the first time after getting their first pair of glasses, or hear for the first time after putting their first pair of hearing aids in.

Each child is given a fluoride treatment. The water in Mexico is not treated with fluoride. Without the fluoride in the water like here in the U.S. people tend to have more dental problems.

After the dental treatments, each patient is taken to the special area that they need and treated. While being treated, parents are given clothes and other necessary items that they will need when returning home.

The clinic sees and treats over 200 kids, new born to 18 years-old, from Mexico.