Well, I realized that I have yet to share about a “travel day” experience with y’all since I have been gone. Travel day is in quotes because it is never just one day..ever.
Travel days are actually a big part of our journey–we learn things (like when God speaks to us when we travel through a desert for HOURS), we spend time with squadmates (it’s really fun when we have free seats on the bus to jump around), we sleep (A LOT), we listen to music (A LOT), we have introvert time (well, for those of us who need it, it is a good way to recharge before we jump into a new month), we write blogs (long bus rides make for great processing), we reflect over the past month (sharing stories with each other is super fun)….
So, “travel day” started for me and Mel Jo on Sunday night.. After a crazy day, packed with ministry and “see ya laters”, we rushed to the bus station and jumped on an overnight bus that would take us from Cajamarca to Trujillo (10:00-4:30). After 9 “travel day” experiences, it’s crazy how well you can sleep with so many other people around you. Well, normally… This bus had a broken seat part near us which kept me up the whole night (no biggie…kinda funny that would happen, though). So, we get into the Trujillo terminal around 4:30 on Monday morning, and we end up staying there until we could board our next bus at 8:30.. So, our next bus is an 8:30-7:30 bus ride to Lima–where we meet up with part of our squad and get to spend the night in a hostel with memory foam mattresses (THANK YOU, JESUS!). The next day (Tuesday), we begin heading to another bus station around 10:00, to catch our bus at 12:00. This bus was FANTASTIC (lots of leg room, free seats to visit other people, dinner and breakfast), which was great considering it was a 24/25 hour bus ride to the border city of Puno. We get in around 12:45 on Wednesday afternoon, reunite with everyone on the squad (a group went to Machu Picchu and another group was already close to the border), and jump on another bus at 1:30 to make our way to the border. We get to the border at 3:30, and spend about 4 hours there (visas and such) before we can actually claim to be in Bolivia. 🙂 We finally get to hop on a bus around 7:30 to take us to La Paz… This was probably my favorite bus ride experience because we had to cross a lake on a wooden “ferry”, of sorts. 9 months in, and we still get surprised sometimes! 😉 We make our way to La Paz around 11:30 (we are now back on EST), and get to rest our heads at an AMAZING hostel (pancake breakfasts, hard rock cafe delivery, giant-sized beds that make me feel tiny because my legs can’t touch the floor, ping-pong, pool, multiple levels, really good wifi..just awesomeness).
This morning one of our teams headed out for a 20-hour bus ride and a train ride to get to their location, one team got picked up from the hostel to go to their location, one team leaves at 7:00 for an overnight bus to their location, and we get to stay here (at least for one more night)…as we work to set things up for the month. 🙂 I am super excited about what God has in store for this month!
So, just a quick glimpse into this crazy, random, fun, exhausting, long, entertaining, beautiful thing we call “travel day”.. I love it because it gives me the opportunity to re-connect with some of the people I am closest to, who aren’t on my team (who I haven’t seen in a month… #allthehugs), and it also gives me time to get to know others better.. 🙂
With love,
Ash
