far far away!

My first long trip

It took us 611 miles on freeway I-5 going south, starting from Sacramento California all the way to Mexicali, a Mexican big city that has very nice and conversational people, tranquil streets, and delicious food.  A really wonderful place! That’s why I had a fantastic experience and enjoyed every minute of the trip.

I never had a trip to other place rather than home and school. But at age of 15 my family and I had the first trip to a city far away from home. The purpose of it was to visit Uncle Ruben and ant Sara since we didn’t know about them for 8 years. My parents, two sisters, and I were in this exiting trip that begun Friday afternoon with a stop at Wal-Mart supercenter to gather the basic things, such as snacks, water, and of course a map. Because we knew we were going to have a hard time in Los Angeles taking the right freeway towards Calexico.

Finally, after we past L. A. we had to stop at a gas station because we were all really hungry. I took some cash out, but my dad didn’t let me pay, he ended up paying. So, I left my money in my seat and when we came back to the car my mom made us throw all the garbage out of the car. My sister didn’t see my 80 dollars that were close to the chip wrappers and threw them all away. I got really mad but somehow it was funny, that I forgave her.

Since this was our first time traveling I took so many pictures. Pictures of the road, the big buildings of L.A., the big sea of Salton Sea, and people I saw through the journey. We arrived to Calexico at 9 Saturday morning. But it took forever to get to Mexicali, which it’s just across the border. So we ended up arriving at my aunt’s house at about 11 in the morning, because we couldn’t find the address. In Mexico, the cities are arranged with colony names and we only had the name of the street, so it was hard to find the address. However, very nice people helped us get to it.

Given that Mexicali has a very hot weather my uncle told us we were going for an ice cream, but we didn’t go to any store. They took us to the biggest mall I ever been. La Plaza la Cachanilla the oldest and biggest mall, and shopping center of Mexicali. It was at La Calzada Adolfo Lopez Mateo where many hotels and famous restaurants are located. I considered it far from my uncle’s house, but worth it because I had so much fun and joy. I had the best walnut ice cream cone in my life and really good Chinese food made by Chinese Mexicans, because there is a lot of them in Mexicali.

So this is how my first big trip with my family went. I slept few hours trying to not get lost in many of the cities we past by like L.A., I lost some of my money by a funny accident, I took many pictures of stunning places in the way like the Salton Sea, visited a really beautiful and big mall in Mexicali, and ate the best ice cream and Chinese food I ever had. So far this has been the most unforgettable time in my life. I don’t want to forget this trip, but I do want to experience it again.

Written by:

Miriam Espinoza