Today, Tuesday July 1st, The World Race July ’08 Team is in Palenque Mexico…all of us. It took a while, a while longer than we anticipated, but it happened.
We all arrived in the Miami airport Saturday evening. We found a quiet part of the airport and rolled out our sleeping pads. The squad needed to meet at 5am in the morning to get through security, so most of us averaged on 2 hours of sleep total. We made our way safely to the Mexico City airport for a 5 hour layover. This is when our traveling difficulties began,
Myself and the other team leaders were given our team’s debit cards and instructed to get money before leaving for Cancun. As we each attempted to extract the money only one of the leaders had money in her account, and it wasn’t me.
We arrived in Cancun later that afternoon. Our squad leader Stephanie Fisk had taken an earlier flight to make arrangements. Upon arriving we were informed that we would be racing in small teams to Palenque.
Hmmmmm no money? Racing? In the dark?
We quickly vetoed the race and decided to figure out how to get to Palenque together. Don’t worry we will have plenty of time for more races.
We were able to buy bus tickets from the airport to the bus station for all 31 of us. It turns out that from Cancun to Palenque is ATLEAST a 12 hour busride. From 7:30pm to 8:50pm we were in some bus station in Cancun far from our destination (with no money). Luckily a teammate who speaks fluent Spanish and our trusty squad leader were able to find 19 available bus tickets to a place I can’t pronounce (Villahermosa?) that is 2 hours away from destination.
Just wait…it gets worse….
So we left 2 teams (12 people) at the bus station, to catch the available bus in the morning…ALL tickets were sold out to Palenque. At 9:00pm 19 of us loaded up and around 10:00am (13 hours later on a bus, that luckily had air conditioning) pulled over to the side of the road…
We were clearly NOT in Palenque or Villahermosa.
We waited and waited and waited.
Another 2 hours went by and the bus had not been fixed, despite the busdrivers’ tried attempts. Our squad leader left with two others (ALWAYS best to travel in groups) on a taxi to go to our final destination 40 minutes away to get some help.
Shortly after she left, the bus driver told the rest of us to get off the bus and get our stuff. This is what that looked like:
We quickly decided in the 100 degree heat, on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere, with all our possessions for a year, we needed to do something, quick! Finally we got 2 van-like taxis to take us to where we needed to be.
The other team arrived this morning, safely with less difficulty.
Our adventure was off to a rocky start. But God took care us, our every situation and provided a way out every time. I take comfort that this is in His character. I am not sure what’s next but I can’t wait to see how God will continue to provide for us.
“Do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God I will strengthen you and help you I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
