---

On the first day of the trip, I woke up around 3:50 am to start what would be a very long day of traveling. I was both excited and a little nervous to begin this adventure in Mexico with other engineering students whom I did not know. Once everyone had connected in the Mexico City airport, we began the next stage of our travel, by taking an Uber to our hotel. People in Mexico are inconstant when it comes to biking, driving, and walking through the streets. Despite the craziness of the drive, it was exciting to see the bustling Mexico City, full of bright colors and millions of people. This was only the beginning of our travel as we went from Mexico City to Puebla to Cuetzalan to the ranch for volunteering and then traveled in the reverse order to return to Mexico City.

On our first full day in Mexico, we went to visit the pyramids of Teotihuacan. There are three principal pyramids located there: Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Pyramid of the Moon, and the Pyramid of the Sun. We first saw the Temple of the Feathered Serpent and then walked down the Avenue of the Dead to get to the Pyramid of the Sun. After what felt like 100 stories’ worth of steps, we reached the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, which offered a beautiful view of the rest of the archeological site and in the distance, the mountains of Mexico. I have never been anywhere quite like Teotihuacan, and it amazed me to think of how long ago these pyramids were built, without the tools and equipment we take for granted today. After touring Teotihuacan and buying some of the local crafts, we headed to Puebla, my favorite city of the trip.

After a three-hour bus ride, we arrived in Puebla, a city with 3.25 million people. We toured around the town, seeing the Zócalo, a museum, and craft markets. I enjoyed seeing the brightly colored buildings and churches and all of the local crafts. At the museum, we were able to learn more about the art and archeological findings from Mexico and visit the rooftop terrace, which gave us a beautiful view of Puebla. The Zócalo of Puebla is a city square with a park, fountain, and churches. On the way back to Mexico City, on our final night in the country, we had dinner in Puebla at a restaurant that had the best pizza and tapas. It was a fun opportunity to reflect upon the wonderful week we had with new friends.

Cuetzalan was a curvy, up and down, three-hour van ride from Puebla. In Cuetzalan, we saw a variety of sites including a waterfall, churches, and more pyramids. After a short hike, we came to one of the most powerful waterfalls I had ever seen. When we arrived at the waterfall, no one else was there, making the scene surreal. Next, we went to the archeological site with pyramids that were smaller and more recent than those in Teotihuacan. It was interesting to see the two sites and the differences in the structures and layout of the site.

Our final travel destination before heading back to Mexico City was a ranch where we would complete our volunteer work. The ranch grows bamboo and mandarin orange trees and is home to fourteen sheep. Our volunteer work began the day we got to the ranch as we began cutting and hauling 30 foot-long bamboo pieces to the site of the composting bathroom that we would be building. After we had collected enough bamboo, we walked a half-mile into the forest where palm leaves had been cut off the trees, and dragged them back to the site of our project.

The next day, we began cutting the bamboo into the correct heights to form the support beams for the walls and roof. Next, we split the bamboo four ways to form pieces that were then nailed to the beams already in place for the walls. Nailing the pieces to the wall was a slow process as we only had two hammers, and unfortunately, no nail gun. The last step was adding the palm fronds to the roof by first splitting the palm leaves in half, braiding them, and then cutting the palm fronds the correct length for the roof. To secure the palm leaves, rope was woven around the leaves to ensure the roof would last a long time and repel water. Throughout this challenging project, I was able to talk further and connect with the other students on the trip. To me, one of the best parts of a trip like this is meeting other students and quickly becoming friends, as we spent a fun week together and bonded over volunteering.

Mexico is a beautiful country, full of hard-working people who are willing to help you even though you do not speak their language. I always feel like Mexico has the stereotype of being unsafe or unwelcoming, and I never once felt this way when I was on the trip. I am grateful this trip allowed us to see so many different parts of Mexico through driving and touring around the different cities. To me, one of the best ways to learn about the culture of a country is just by walking around and seeing the many different areas, and I am so glad we had the chance to do this on our trip!