We arrived in Palenque at about 10:30 last night after about 30 hours of traveling. I was really concerned about finding a place to stay; there were rumors of sleeping at the bus station. I was so concerned that I wished that the bus would keep on driving through the night. Once again I should not worry. We ended up finding a hotel right beside the bus station and piled about 5 teams into 3 rooms. The best part of the room was the warm shower! The Lord provided.
I awoke to rooster’s crowing at about 6:30 this morning. My team piled in a taxi headed for the Palenque ruins. We drove past mountains with fog still lingering and arrived at the park about 30 minutes before they opened. As soon as the first team got their tickets, the foot race began through the ruins. We ran past venders, up stairs, through trees, over a bridge to come to the foot of the Templo de Cruzo. Our team scaled the temple to come in third place, I think?
When the dust had settled from the race we were able to explore the ruins built by the Mayans. Exploring the ruins was a great way to recoup from the race. The setting for the temples was beautiful with jungle-like vegetation and waterfalls. I was so thankful to be able to be in such a beautiful place, but couldn’t help but think of the violent Myan history.
A leader just came in and announced that we will be staying at a Presbyterian college for the next week. There are dorms and showers. Praise God! We will start working with ministries and continue training. Then the rumor is that we will move on to a campsite for the next three weeks. I don’t think I will have time for blogging or e-mail this week, but thanks for the comments and e-mails.
