This past week at Misión México has been all about skateboarding in various forms; from repairing ramps, to buying new skate shoes for the kids, teaching them how to mount grip-tape on new boards, and even a trip down to the local Los Laureles Skatepark.

It’ll be another photo based blog this week, because let’s be honest, no one wants to read about skateboarding, you wanna see it!

Part 1: Los Laureles Skatepark

Last Saturday the kids were clamouring to get out of the refuge for a couple of hours and skate the local park, so that’s exactly what we did, myself and Delmar being the ‘responsible adults’; good luck then everyone! ;P

Group shot

 

 

 

1 of 5: Delmar launches a ma-hoosive ollie over little J

 

2 of 5: Delmar launches a ma-hoosive ollie over little J

 

 3 of 5: Delmar launches a ma-hoosive ollie over little J

 

 4 of 5: Delmar launches a ma-hoosive ollie over little J

 

5 of 5: Delmar launches a ma-hoosive ollie over little J

 

Part 2: Fixing the old ramps

Alan had been telling me that the current ramps at Misión México were built by a professional ramp builder from France who had visited with his team about 2 years ago.  Since then however, the constant tropical deluges of rain in the wet seasons had taken their toll on the wooden structures even though the ramps are mostly under cover; sometimes the rain goes sideways!

So, using some of the donations raised in the Skate Mexico 2017 crowdfunding campaign, Alan and I bought some sheets of plywood and set about bringing the ramps back to life (well, I say ‘we’, Alan has all the practical know-how, so I just stood there and passed him tools, ha ha).

Before and After pictures of the renovation:

BEFORE (small ramp)

1 of 3: L making the most of the smaller ramp

 

2 of 3: L making the most of the smaller ramp

3 of 3: L making the most of the smaller ramp

 

AFTER (small ramp)

The smaller ramp after its face-lift

 

Fresh.

Delmar is the guinea pig

 

BEFORE (big ramp)

Not really fit for use (and a bit steep for most of the kids…and me)

 

So let’s just chop the top off

 

AFTER (big ramp)

Little C monitors Alan’s progress

 

24hrs for the silicone to dry and she’ll be ready to go

 

Skate school 201 with J + D

 

Part 3: The other stuff

Besides skating and fixing ramps we also had a few other projects going on:

1 of 2: Q learns to mount grip-tape on a new board

 

2 of 2: Q learns to mount grip-tape on a new board

 

One of the girls used leftover grip-tape for eyebrows in this stunningly accurate portrait of me

Skate shoes ready to be handed out next Saturday

 

Little C getting some practice in

 

The home-schoolers receive their end of year diplomas

 

Late evening on the streets of Tapachula

 

So there you have it, another week, another few steps towards the completion of Skate Mexico 2017.  Tune in next week to see how the kids react to getting their new shoes and what the final set up looks like with 2 renovated ramps and the grind box.  The kids will have a week to practice their skate skills with new boards, new shoes and new ramps before we hold a mini competition just before I head off on the next adventure.

 

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