The Race (leg 2)
Palenque,
Mexico to
Antigua,
Guatemala
We were informed that the race would begin on Sunday afternoon at 12:00. We were abruptly awoken at 5:00 am by our local contact Samuel yelling, “Buenos dias amigos, Buenos dias! ? Hay noticias. Amigos! Amigas!”
Jumping out of my tent…half asleep still, I realized the race had begun. Each team received letters with instruction on what tasks accompanied our race. We first had to jump into the water and be submerged to our necks. (I happily volunteered to take the picture!)
J
We then had to get from
Palenque,
Mexico to
Antigua,
Guatemala. It was straight up chaos! People half asleep running around everywhere…tents being torn down…chilly screams coming from the water as people got in…bags being packed…and all this only with the light of the moon and what seemed to be enormous lightening bugs everywhere from the flashes of light from head lamps.
We decided to double of up with a team from the ‘B Squad’ since we weren’t racing against each other.
We were packed up and loaded onto the bus…ready to go! The driver was incredible…and a little scary at times (much like many drivers here). He raced us along the way…passing cars and a few other teams as well.
We stopped only twice. Once for one of our girls who got car sick and the other for food and bathroom.
The ride to the border was about 7 hours. At the border we were surprised to see the team who had left camp a few hours before us. (We actually were the last team to leave
Mexico).
We stamped our passports and found a van that would take us all the way. (Thank God we didn’t have to ride a bus!)
J
We arrived in Antigua, much to our surprise in second place and only about 30 minutes behind the team that left
Mexico at least 2 hours before us!
We were all a little tired but extremely excited. And then the bad news…this wasn’t the end of the race. It would be continued in the morning.
So we unloaded our bags in the church we are staying at for the first few days here in
Guatemala, headed to an ATM to get out some money and then headed to a local restaurant to watch the ending of the Super Bowl!
J
The next morning the race began at 7:00 am. We were to race on foot to a local place called Cerra de la Cruz.
This is a massive cross on top of a hill overlooking the entire city of
Antigua. It is gorgeous. When arriving at the top we spent some time together as a team praying for
Guatemala and then raced down to the middle of town square. When we arrived…we found out that we had arrived in last place.
I didn’t mind much…I was just excited to look around and see the new city we were in! Here are a few pictures from the area.
Words can’t really explain how amazing it is here! The other night we were out to dinner and as my chair began to shake, I realized we were experiencing an earthquake from the active volcano nearby. Life here is great!
We sat down with our local contacts yesterday and they explained some of the areas we could go to for ministry. We should know by tonight where we are headed. I’ll keep you updated!
