For the most recent Alternative Winter break, the Tickle College of Engineering had eight students travel to Mexico to complete a service project through United Planet, a company that works with internationally with service organizations. While I learned many things throughout my week in Mexico, the number one lesson that I took away from the trip is that no amount of planning can make a trip perfect; the key is to be flexible and remember that we are there to serve, no matter how the plans may change along the way.

We landed in Mexico City on Friday, December 14. While everyone else on the team arrived at 1pm, my roommate and I watched our connecting flight from Atlanta pull away on the tarmac as we waved goodbye—we would catch the next flight two hours later.

As soon as we arrived in the city, we began experiencing the local culture;  we traveled to our hostel for the night, walked through the city streets to see the markets, the food, and the architecture, and we ate our first authentic Mexican meal. I was truly taken aback by how much history there was in the architecture of the city, given that the United States is so young in comparison to most of the other countries in the world.

Following the first night, we traveled to a new city each day, moving further and further into rural Mexico. Day two included a visit to the Teotihuacan pyramids and a trip to a local market in Puebla. I took a risk by not doing any Christmas shopping before the trip, but it paid off as I found some amazing gifts for all of my friends and family at the markets.

Day three found us in Cuetzalan, deep in the mountains and rural communities of Mexico. We were so high up it was freezing, but the local food was absolutely delicious, which made up for the cold. Our final commute on the way to the site of our project took us to the location of our service project, a small town about an hour outside of Cuetzalan. We spent the next three days building a bamboo hut, touring the nearby villages, and being fed everything from tortillas to meatballs to pasta to cornflakes.

The purpose of the project was to give the plantation workers a restroom facility that could allow human waste to be composted, while preventing contamination of the surrounding crops and nearby water source. Our team of eight, along with the workers who lived in the village, chopped bamboo, sliced it, set up a frame, and built walls for the hut. We also had to walk deep into the surrounding forest to gather palm fronds that would be used for the roof.

After crawling in the mud for three days, the cold shower in Cuetzalan could not have been more enjoyable. Once the project was complete, we slowly made our way back to Mexico City, making the same stops that we had on the way down. As we moved back towards the more urban cities, I had a much greater appreciation for the available amenities than I did on the way there. Seeing other people thrive on so little makes one appreciate things regularly enjoyed in excess.

We spent our final night in the city of Puebla, eating gourmet pizza and enjoying the sounds of local musicians. While certain things definitely didn’t go as expected, the trip was full of memories and experiences that I will never forget, and it made me appreciate coming home to my family for Christmas even more than usual.