so it's been about a week now that we've been here (in rocky point). it's such a different life down here. so many people living with so little and who are in such great need. i was a little surprised at how much criticism we got about coming down here to help. people told us that there are tons of people in the united states that need help, so why would we go down to help people mexico. that's a good question... we just met a family down here a few days ago, and their story is unbelievable. what they've gone through, what's been done to them just breaks my heart and brings me to tears. the family consisted of a mom, dad and four children. the parents were both killed in a car accident, leaving the children to take care of themselves. the oldest sister was 20, the oldest brother 16, and the two younger brothers were 8 and 3. the oldest brother had made it to new york and was working as bus boy in a restaurant. he was doing very well making money for his family, but his sister, who was left with the younger boys was getting really depressed and even suicidal. so he left new york to go back to his family. he and his sister worked hard to save up their money so they could all move to the states. $5,000 is what they had saved up to pay the "coyotes" to get them across the border. after giving these "coyotes" their money, they (the "coyotes") kidnapped the youngest brother, who at the time was just a little toddler, and knocked out the sisters teeth. they demanded the rest of their money, and after getting it, left the four young, innocent children stranded in the middle of the desert. they were completely helpless, and cast aside as if their life was of no value. how anyone can look at the sweet faces of these children, beat them, take all they have, and then leave them to die in the desert is beyond me. they went 3 days without food or water before they reached the main highway that leads from the border into rocky point. and thankfully, by the grace of god, these caring tourists stopped to pick them up. they then spent the next couple months living out of their car and selling little souvenirs on the streets of rocky point. clearly these children had to grow up way too fast. their story ends well, and better than most here in mexico. the two younger boys are going to school and helping out at the families little gift shop, the oldest sister helps manage a cleaning service, and they're living in a safe little apartment in town. though i've known them only a few days, i already consider them my friends, and i care for them deeply. this is only one story of one family here in puerto penasco. sadly i know there are many more. and yes, it's true, there are people here just waiting for a hand out, but it's also just as true that there are many who are doing all they can to survive and still desperately needing help. we are here for those people.
today we went to cholla bay for negative tide. negative tide is when the tide is so low that it’s considered negative. so you can walk out to where you would ordinarily be 25-30 feet below water. which means you can find tons of sea creatures all over the place. right as we got to cholla bay this lady stopped and talked to us because she saw our kansas license plate, and told us she was from johnson county, kansas. small world! they were going clamming, which meant they were going to dig around and collect clams for dinner. i don’t like clams, but if i did i think it would be neat to “catch” your own dinner. but we were there to explore. we walked out almost a mile before we really found anything exciting. we had finally reached our first sand dollar bed. giant whole sand dollars just below the surface of the water. oh, but first i glanced over and saw something bright colored covered in sand. it was a starfish! 
then i found 2 sand dollars. i was also looking for pretty shells. and there were lots of big whole shells all over. i found this one that i think was a clam. the outside was jagged and it wasn’t very pretty, but it was a whole shell with something living inside. since i don’t really like clams, and it wasn’t very pretty, i threw it back. but then i found this shinny striped shell that was open, but both sides were still intact. in the bag it went. then i found a shell that looked the exact same as my stripped one, except it was closed. i held it for a second and it was like the shell was breathing. crazy. so i thought maybe a piece of sand slipped in and maybe there was a pearl! so i put it in my bag too. then i run over to dustin and ellen and see what they’re staring at. it was a sea horse! 
unbelievable. dustin didn’t even think they really existed. he said “i thought sea horses were like unicorns…” nope, not true, because we saw a live one just swimming around. then i go to check in my bag to make sure nothing has broken and i look and see the two identical shells, both open! there is a clam crawling around somewhere in my bag! and then i saw it. this slimmy blob stuck to my water bottle. but then i noticed it had eyes. i don’t know a lot about clams, but i did not picture them like this. as i scoop it back into it’s shell i realize it is a baby OCTOPUS!
he was just hanging out in my bag. i accidentally dropped him in the water and he inked and started swimming away. i couldn’t let him get away before getting a picture, so i scooped him up and he sucked onto my hand. 
in a way, he was kinda cute. but he was also slimmy and disgusting. i wasn’t sure how long they could live out of water, so i dipped him back in so he could “breathe”. bad move. because when i took my hand out of the water he suctioned on my hand so hard it felt like needles all over. so i shook him off and then dropped his shell near him so he could crawl back in. it was crazy. apparently these little octopus’ hang out in these shells when they’re babies because i found another identical shell with one inside. with all of our exciting discoveries we kinda felt like we we’re on the discovery channel, but it was just another day in penasco.
