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Day 5 Art and Geography in Ajo

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This morning, everyone woke up well rested and ready for a great day. We all filled our water bottles and went downtown into the plaza to meet a photographer named Tom. Tom took photos of items the government took away from immigrants when they were crossing the border, such as wallets, mirrors or water. After, we all had free time to eat lunch and pack up the van with our stuff. In the afternoon, we met a geographer named Scott who talked to us about water and differences between The Bay Area and Arizona. Then we all piled into the vans and headed to a Marriott hotel in Tempe. Here, we had pizza, ice cream sandwiches, and a pool party! Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to get   into the pool after long hot days in the sun. While we have had an amazing trip, we are all getting ready to see our families and sleep in our own beds tomorrow night. We are so grateful for all of the adults, chaperones, and teachers who took care of us this trip. We are excited to see you all tomorrow! - Cass
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Day 4 Revitalization of Ajo and Desert Art

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Kalin, Jacob, Robbie, JP   Today started with the group hearing about the history of the Curley School in Ajo. A few of the locals who actually attended the school many decades ago when it was still open informed us about the detailed and interesting history of this building. In fact, the Curley School which was shut down in the mid-1980s is the same building which we are staying in now. It has been heavily renovated and has been converted into a fully-functional comfortable hotel. After lunch we visited Pam and Cathy at the Curley High-school auditorium. We all made desert art using designs like cacti, scorpions, and views in Ajo. We used methods like print making and carved out stamps.  Once we finished creating our wonderful art projects we went on a trip to an old mine in Ajo. We learned about the great importance of the mine and what it meant to the town. Essentially Ajo was a company town, they deeply relied on the mining company and the resources they provided. Eventually the
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Day 3- Travel to Nogales and Ajo

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Today started with the bright sunshine peeking into our tents. We were much more well rested than the previous night. After a hearty breakfast we packed up camp and rode in the vans to the border city of Nogales. Along the way we stopped at Patagonia Lake State Park where we journaled and splashed in the cool waters of a small lake. Once we reached Nogales we met up with the mural artist Priscilla also known as "Nefftys". She guided us on a walking tour while speaking about the border. This included the cultural significance of the border. She helped us debunk the misleading images of the border and how we as Menlo students can help correct common stereotypes about it. We finished our stop in Nogales with a sweet treat of ice cream. We hopped back in the vans and two hours later, we arrived at the cozy town of Ajo for a delicious homemade dinner and winding down with well needed showers. Today was a beautiful day to be in sunny Arizona.  - Hana and Claire  Today, we explored
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Day 2- Canelo Project

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T Today was an adventurous day! To start off the day, we met Bill, the founder of the Canelo project. We talked with him about how sustainable living is very important in modern society. We also discussed  that we don’t know where much of our food comes from and that lots of it undergoes processes that have negative impacts on our bodies.  Next Bill gave us a tour of the area and showed us the many buildings built by the community to give us an example of how adobe bricks and other natural materials could be used in building structures. Speaking of adobe bricks, we made some today! We mixed clay rich mud with our feet and put it into brick molds.  Another activity we did was creating a plaster and putting it on walls, which everyone enjoyed!  Overall it was a fun day filled with new experiences that pushed us out of our comfort zone, we're looking forward to traveling to Nogales tomorrow to visit and learn more about the border firsthand as well as Ajo (where we're all looking
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Day 1- Travel to Tuscon & Elgin (Canelo Project)

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  We arrived at SFO at 1:30pm today excited to begin our travels! We flew for an hour and a half from SFO to TUS where were greeted by our Dragons instructors with some delicious burritos before embarking on the ~1 hour drive to the Canelo Project campsite in Elgin. Upon arrival at the Canelo Project we were greeted by a breath-taking starry sky, some cool air that was a nice escape from the heat, and the sounds of crickets chirping. We pitched our tents, got our sleeping pads and bags, and settled in for the night to ensure we were ready for the following day. Everyone is doing well and we are excited to be meeting Bill and his family as we get to know more about the Canelo Project today.   
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Getting Ready? Getting Excited?

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  Cameras & Computer...Check!   Water Bottles and snacks...Check!  Hat and bandana...Check! I hope everyone is as excited as I am and going through the pre-trip doc here:  Preparing to Go .   See you at SFO on Sunday at 1:30pm!
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Updated Flight Itinerary

Hey Parents, Welcome to the Southern Arizona blog. This is where you can get daily updates on the Southern Arizona trip when it begins in a few weeks. For now I wanted to let you know that our return flight has changed; the group will now fly direct  from PHX to SFO. The Preparing to Go flight itinerary and map are all changed as well.The muster time and outgoing flight is unchanged.  Here, for convenience, is the updated flight itinerary: Sun Jun 09, 2024 [Muster at 1:30 pm at United ticketing (departures), Terminal 3, SFO United Airlines # 5688, San Francisco, CA (SFO) departs at 4:20 PM; arrives Tucson, AZ (TUS) at 6:44 PM] Friday, June 14, 2024 (updated 5/20) United Airlines # 742, Phoenix, AZ (PHX) departs 10:15 AM; arrives San Francisco (SFO) at 12:19 PM.
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