Knowing that we were leaving Sunday for Guatemala, we tried to have the upper hand and line up a ride to pick us up at 6:00 am and drive us to another destination. We assured the driver this was real and a race, so please do not be late. How sly and cunning we were in our attempt – we thought!
On Friday evening, every world racer gathered for some time off before our next leg began. At this time, we were all given a letter with “clear” directions on it saying we could not leave until Noon on Sunday period. Disappointed, we just sucked it up and went about our time of Sabbath.
SUNDAY: (I would appreciate it while reading this if you would get an anxious, rapid, & confused attitude in order to identify with us!)
At 5:00 am, someone was obnoxiously honking his horn and screaming “Amigo.” Oohhh I was not a happy camper. Katie, our team leader, jumped up and ran over to stop “our” driver from making so much noise. This is when we realized that it was actually someone else waking up everybody because it was officially race time NOW!
Instructions in the new letter received that morning at 5am:
Pack your stuff as quickly as possible, and get a picture with your whole team (except the one taking the pic, which was me) in the river at least chest high. What a catastrophe! It was absolutely hilarious to see all 50 people running around. Happy to say, I was the second person to completely finish packing. I don’t know how except GOD.
We then went out to the road, because we had “the” vehicle lined up still. Needless to say, it was 6:30, and our driver has not shown up. The other teams were still packing, except one (Team Salt), which had left on foot while we were waiting for our ride. Hmmm… We were getting very antsy! THEN… a chicken truck drives up and stops. After some negotiating, we hop in his truck for a 6 hour ride to Guatemala. YEP, the seven of us crammed our bags and bodies into this vehicle and rode out.
It was quite an interesting ride to say the least. The exhaust fumes were about to kill anyone who rode in the back. Hannah was getting very nauseous and switch with Jimmy, who did end up vomiting twice!
We arrived at the Guatemalan border only to find Team Salt already there (very suspicious about our driver never showing up…). They proceeded to walk off on foot again. We were in high gear race mode again! We quickly found a bus to take us another 2 hours down the road. OK, this is soooo funny! This bus was a regular Blue Bird school bus, but highly and colorfully decorated (love Hispanics). It stopped probably every 5 miles or so to pick up additional passengers. The bus filled up rather quickly. When I say filled up, I mean FILLED UP! They wasted no space. I had four other people in the seat with me, and so did everyone else. It did drive very quickly down the road though.
We got to another bus station, and were just dropped off. A person we had met on the bus helped us to get another ride for the last 5 hours of our road journey. Once again, we packed our bags and bodies into an undersized vehicle (minivan). Our driver was very cool. He was very supportive of our race and even passed some other vans just incase it was our competitors. We were all pumped, yet VERY EXHAUSTED!
We arrived in Antigua, Guatemala at 7:00 pm to our first racing destination. Dog-tired and very hungry, we were finally here, only to see team Salt eating in a restaurant. GRRRR!!! The good thing is that the race could not be finished until the next day, so we found the church where we would be staying and settled in for the night.
7:00 AM, MONDAY:
Amanda, who is on Team Salt, lived in Antigua, Guatemala (here) for the entire year—last year! Another grrrrrr…. Everybody followed her out the door to the beginning of the race destination, except Me, Jimmy & Stacy…. See… you only have to have four peeps with ya to race. Our first four ran to the plaza and the cross, while the three of us waited for Josh to hall butt to the fountain where we were waiting to WIN THE RACE! Very strategic huh? The problem is that team Salt was on to us, and hopped a cab to beat us by ONE MINUTE ONLY!!!!
The first race we were third, the second race (this one) we were second (by a minute), the next race, WE WILL WIN!!!!
