Yesterday squad A piled out of a bus in Matamoros, geared up with our packs, and took off on Go! We needed to find a way to get to Palenque, which is in the southern part of Mexico. Team Hupomone found out quickly that our Spanish is going to be a hinderance in the race. We found a woman that spoke English very well and she offered to walk us to the bus station and promised that it was not a far walk. Along our walk the woman and her husband shared that they had been deported from the US about 2 weeks ago. They own a home and she worked as a nurse near Houston. The woman told me that they would be swimming across the Rio Grande in order to get back into the States. She then said, “You want to swim the Rio with us? I laughed thinking it was a joke. Still serious she said, “We just have to wait until the water level goes down then we will swim across.” Realizing that she was serious, I came up with a quick excuse, “I have such a big pack, I would sink to the bottom.” She then told me that when they have gone across before all they took was a change of clothes in a plastic bag.
Our team eventually made it to the bus station to find three other teams ahead of us. Two of the teams spent money on a taxi and one of the teams found a ride with an AIM worker from Matamoros. I was a little disappointed to have come in behind the other teams, but I felt tough having walked the whole way with my Giant Purple Monster.
I had a nervous momment when I thought the team before us took the last tickets for the 4:00 bus, but there were seats available. So we rode on the bus from 4:00 pm until 9:00am to Vera Cruz then from 10:00 am to 4:00pm to Villahermosa. We are in Villahermosa now and will get on the bus at 7:30 pm for about 3 more hours. The bus rides have not been as bad as I expected. They have played movies and the seats are pretty comfortable.
We are to finish in the Plaza de Cruces in Palenque. Before that we need to eat at a taco stand, find someone to pray for, and we already interviewed the women in Matamoros.
Thank you so much for your prayers and comments. I have received them I just did not have to to reply.
