Two school projects

Yari is a fifth grader and this is her pig which eventually became a piggy-bank. She worked on it for a week on my patio day by day. It's paper mache over a balloon but then each coat of paint has to dry. Then glue on nose, ears and eyes ... and a pipe cleaner for a curly tail. She has contributions of about 27 pesos so far.

The second is Euriel's Biology project. When he got in the car after school he announced he needed to buy some condoms because everyone in the class had to learn how to use one. He described the dummy whatever as looking like a bird. We haven't figured that one out yet. He was embarrassed to go into the pharmacy to buy them so I went in with his mom. I hadn't bought one for years so felt I had to explain they were for her son who had a school project. 43 pesos for a 3 pack of the basic kind. Euriel is in 7th grade

The last foto I just threw in as a sunset from farm country

Yari's piggybank

A 3 pack of Trojans

Sunset from my roof

Condom-mobile missing in Mexico

October 1, 2008

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY--— Missing in Mexico: One truck carrying 5,000 condoms, 800 HIV tests and a 23-foot inflatable prophylactic.

The coordinator of an HIV/AIDS awareness tour, Polo Gomez, said Wednesday that the ‘‘Condomovil’’ was parked in front of a friend’s house in Mexico City when it disappeared Sunday evening. He believes the truck was stolen, but he doesn’t know why. Police are still investigating.

The truck should be easy to spot. It features painted images of a peeled banana, the exposed part shaped like a condom, and a shirtless man saying: ‘‘I protect myself. Do you?’’

Gomez estimated $19,000 worth of material is missing, including the truck, its contents and sound equipment. The United Nations AIDS program says there are some 200,000 people living with HIV in Mexico.

The Condomovil program has toured Mexico since 1998 promoting safe sex practices while distributing 1.2 million condoms to more than 700,000 people, Gomez said. The inflatable condom was used to draw attention from passers-by.

Gomez said a scheduled tour of Mexico’s south would likely be canceled unless the truck is found.

The group bought the truck with a grant from Mexico’s federal Health Department. The department also donated the 5,000 condoms in the truck when it went missing.