IDEALS

By Maureen Piercy

Greetings from all of us at Loyalist. I am so proud of each of you as I read your blogs about your personal and communal journey to date — the words reflection, reality, different world and perspective, exhausting, exhilarating — provide a framework for the context in which you find yourselves. I am reminded of a conversation I had a number of years ago with a faculty member on return from an earlier trip to Mexico and Quest. She told me about one student who was very quiet during the flight back to Toronto. When the teacher asked what the student was thinking about, he replied "Now I really understand the difference between want and need." That student's insight has stayed with me, and this appreciation for our fortunate life in Canada is also reflected in your comments.

While enjoying the blogs being sent during the current trip, the one regarding monks and nuns is especially significant. Could the group share with us their observations surrounding the importance of religious life in the communities being visited?

Here in Ontario, a debate over the use of the Lord's Prayer in opening sessions at legislature has sparked a pretty passionate debate. For some, it represents part of our province's history and cultural life, while others say McGuinty is responding to the diversity of our population.

By Gary Warren

While we can hear the noise of the wedding reception further down the
hill; our participants have something else in mind.

We are in a convent with Benedictine Nuns. Back in Canada you would not
see a Monk or Nun in years. Here we live with them, talk with them,
laugh with them, work with them. And tonight the group decided that they
wanted to join them while they sang their statements of faith. The quiet
beauty of those voices brought peace to those who were still in turmoil
about Saturday morning.

By Gary Warren

The passenger trains stopped running years ago. Empty land owned by an
absentee landowner is attractive for those who left their rural poverty
to find a future in the city. So the community of Estacion was born as a
magnet for those in need.

Thousands of people started by living in shanties and shacks, but over
time the homes evolved: electricity; water sometimes; a concrete floor;
a roof of metal instead of tarpaper. New people constantly move in, and
start thier shack with the discarded tarpaper. But what they all have in

By Barbara-Ann MacEachern

Getting off the plane in the Mexico City airport, I could barely tell I had left Canada. Familiar white celebrity faces smile down from countless advertisements in the consumer haven that is airports. Beyond the language, free Bailey’s samples in the Duty Free shop and smoking indoors, it was not unlike any other airport I’ve visited.
Emerging into the city in our comfortable bus - stuffed to the gills with baggage in every space not taken up by a body – was a completely different story.

By Gary Warren

It's 6 am and probably like the others, I am awake and thinking about the day ahead, our second day in Cuernavaca, 85 km south of Mexico City.

By Shannon Jones

The relationships within our group have already morphed dramatically. In little over 48 hours, we went from being perfect strangers, to recognizable faces, to genuine friendships. Some of this of course, is thanks to the close quarters and borderline delirium caused by our lack of sleep that we have shared since arriving in this foreign land.

By Shannon Jones

The compact plane made it easy for our group to continue to discuss the upcoming adventures we would have, even though our seats were quite spread out. It also allowed us the chance to speak with other people traveling to Mexico, and in my case, get a head start on practicing my Spanish.

By Shannon Jones

It has begun.

Folgers was close with their slogan stating that a cup of their coffee is the best part of waking up. Today however, I would have to disagree. The best part of waking up (at 4 a.m. might I add) is knowing that you’re leaving for Mexico.

After months of planning and preparation it is finally here. Two weeks away from the normal routine of classes and homework, bleak and cold weather. Two weeks that will be spent learning, living and appreciating a culture that as of yet, I know very little about.