We’ve safely arrived in Palenque after brief stops in Mexico City, Cancun, and the side of the highway somewhere in Mexico. We made it through the first two flights with no problems at all. No lost luggage. No lost passengers. Sweet.
Problem number 1: Our debit cards aren’t working, so we have no team money. Cancun to Palenque was supposed to be our first race, but without any money, we had to cancel it. We ended up at the bus station and used a credit card to get us on a bus to Palenque. Not all of us could fit on the first bus, so we had to split up. I went on the first bus, which leads to…
Problem number 2: The bus broke down. We were approximately 11 hours into a 12 hour bus ride when the smoke started. Several other buses tried to help us, as well as a tow-truck that passed by. But to no avail. After 3 hours of waiting along a Mexican highway we unloaded our gear and flagged down a taxi. We told him where we needed to go and he told us it would be 25 pesos per person. Sweet, we have enough! So we loaded up and got in. Unfortunately, in the 10 minutes that it took us to load up, the rate went up to 30 pesos per person. Luckily we still had enough.
Which brings me to now. We’re all here safely. Today will be our first day walking around the city and trying to talk to people. There are 5 different tribal dialects which are spoken here. Some natives don’t even speak Spanish. Luckily God speaks tribal dialects, Spanish and English!
Getting ready to leave
After about 14 hours on a bus…
