Another day, another journey! That has been the theme of the month. I have spend 2 days in Antigua, 3 days journeying to and from the jungle, 3 days at Lake Atitlan, and now I have spent my last 3 days of ministry in Guatemala journeying to and from Rosario Rio Hondo to Esperanza de Vida Internacional/Hope of Life International.
Once again, most of the adventure was in getting there. We were basically thrown onto a chicken bus to be taken to Guatemala City, squeezing 3 to a seat. Suggestion to future racers – make yourself wide enough to brace yourself in the isle between two seats, you may actually get some sleep! When we finally got into the city, we had no idea where we were suppose to get off the bus so we got off at a random stop after we thought we had already missed our stop. As we got off the bus, taxi drivers instantly swarmed us and again we found ourselves confused and wondering how we exactly ended up in the back of the cab. Still unsure of where we were going, we knew that we needed a bus, so the taxi driver took us to the bus terminal. The bus terminal was scary to say the least – and as the only 3 white girls we definitely stuck out like sore thumbs. As we attempted to find the bus, we were constantly told that there was no bus going where we needed to go. Confused and unsure of what to do or how to find a bus, Sarah and I finally found someone that gave us a local bus to take us to another bus station. There is nothing more scary than not knowing where you are at, where you are going, or how you are getting there when you’ve been told there is no bus that goes that direction. The only thing we could do was TRUST a complete stranger.
Thanks to the stranger and our poor Spanish, we made it to where we the bus station that had a bus that would take us to Rio Hondo! All we could do was praise Jesus that it was NO chicken bus! After another 4-hour bus ride we finally made it to our destination and were picked up by our contact at Hope of Life. Going to Hope of Life was an incredible blessing!
Not completely sure what we were suppose to do for the 3 days we were there, we were blessed with great people from back in the states, a bed after 3 weeks of sleeping on the ground in the rain in tents, and a pool that could have been at a resort. We spent our first day touring the 3,000 acre property that includes an orphanage, ‘retirement’ home, a center for malnutritioned kids that the organization rescues in the depths of the Guatemalan Jungles, a home for disabled kids, a community for women and their children. It was almost impossible to take in everything that this organization is doing for the people of Guatemala.
Our weekend at Hope of Life was surprisingly relaxing and a great way to end our ministry in Guatemala – meeting, learning about, and determining future World Race contacts. Guatemala you will be missed but Honduras here we come!
