When I was 16 years old my family decided to go to Mexico for the summer to visit my Grandma, she was suffering from lung cancer. I got out of school two weeks earlier, it was a long trip from Pasco Washington to Guanajuato Mexico, but I enjoy traveling. When we finally got there I was really happy to see Grandma, I hadn’t seen her for over two years.
The next day one of my aunts called and asked three of my cousins and me if we were interested in going to a camp and spend two days there. My aunt explained to us it was a really fun camp, she told us there would be horses to ride, ATV’s to drive, pools to swim in, and cabins to spend the night, and she said we would have a great time. I thought it was a great idea and I was excited to go. The next day after agreeing to go to the camp my three cousins and I left to Queretaro, a city about three hour from where I was staying. When we got to my aunt’s house it was about 6 pm and the bus was going to pick us up at 11 pm to go to the camp. When 11 pm finally came my uncle took us to a bus stop. We waited for about one hour for the bus to get there.
When the bus came we got on. Once on the bus I had a bad feeling, I wanted to get off the bus and leave, but it was already too late because the bus had started to move. My cousins and I were seated away from each other and not allowed to speak or look out the windows. Even though the bus was full, it was all quiet, and I was feeling scared because I didn’t know where we were going. I thought I was going to be killed or kidnaped. I moved the curtain aside to peek outside the window, but then a tall guy with a mean face, long hair who was wearing a leather jacket, blue jeans and boots that was two seats away from me told me to close it. I looked at my cousin’s faces and they all seemed scared just like me, I felt glad that at least they were there with me. We traveled for about two hours without speaking. It was the middle of the night, pitch dark, I couldn’t even see my hand if I placed it in front of my face.
When we finally arrived to the camp they told us to get off the bus with our eyes closed. We formed a line and were told to hold hands to make a chain. We walked for about 200 meters and when we stopped a guy who was wearing a black shirt, blue jeans and had a flash light in his right hand came and told us it was ok to open our eyes. After that they started searching us to make sure we didn’t have any cell phones or any other type of electronics. There were 25 others like us who also looked scared and nervous. No one knew what was going to happen. After being searched everyone was taken inside a huge tent. There were two big tables with chairs around them and lit candles placed on top of each table. We were seated around the tables, but no one was allowed to sit next to someone they knew.
I believe it was like 2 am when the same guy who had told me to close the curtain in the bus came inside the tent. He introduced himself to us and said his name was Ernesto and he was going to be in charge of us. He gave us each 10 pieces of paper and a pencil and told us to start writing the most impacting events we have had in our lives, and any problem we faced or something that was bothering us. We were told to go back to when we were little kids and remember every life changing event and try to find out what events had shaped us to what we were this day.

We wrote all night long everyone was tired. Some people were starting to fall asleep, but Ernesto would go around shaking people with his hand to wake them up. In the morning I was really tired, we hadn’t slept all night. They asked us if we wanted to go to the bathroom, I raised my hand and said I wanted to go. When I got out of the tent I saw we were in the middle of nowhere, there was only desert around us and a few dried up trees. When I got to the bathroom I was surprised the bathroom was only a hole in the ground, and it had no door, and it smelled so bad it almost made me vomit. I went back inside the tent and we were all there for another 8 hours sitting down. It was 6 pm we were all taken out one by one to share our story with one for our godparents, that’s how we would call the people that were there to help us and give us advice of our problems. When it was my turn I went out and told what I had written. They gave me some advice on what should I do to deal with my problems and how to be a better person.
At about 11 pm we were given chicken soup that was the first meal in 24 hours. When we all finished eating we were sent to sleep, inside the tent. The tent did not have anything to separate us from the dirt, so we pretty much all slept in the dirt. All we had were two blankets and I had to share them with my cousins. I fell asleep fast, I hadn’t slept in 32 hours and I was really tired. I woke up at about 3 am it was really cold and I was even shivering. I couldn’t go back to sleep right away because it was so cold, but after half an hour I was back asleep. They woke us up at about 5 am and the godparents said we were now allowed to talk and get to know the other people that were there with us. I got to meet a lot of people and made new friends.
At about 2 pm we all were told to form a circle and hold hands we prayed and promised to try to be a better people. At 3:20 pm it was time to leave the camp. I was really happy that we were finally going home. I was mad at my aunt for lying to us, but after that experience I felt sometimes we take for granted important so many things in life. Thanks to that experience I value everything I have even the simplest thing like a bathroom, and the bigger things like my grandma.