The race begins!! Our second challenge was to travel from Palenque, Mexico to San Pedro, Guatemala. The five teams started at 9 am, each finding their own means of transport for the long journey. The previous night at the bus station we met a friendly Mexican guy called Alesandro. He offered to give us a lift from Palenque to San Cristobel, about a third of the way to our destination. God provides!
Together with the lime team (MXP´s), as well as two Italian tourists, we were squeezed into his Suburban van with ALL our luggage (aprox 180kg!!) on the roof. That was our preparation for the chicken buses in Guatemala (later more on that). Apparantly “race” in Mexico means “lovely sightseeing tour with Italian tourists”, so we were taken to Cascadas de Agua Azul, which means The Waterfall with Blue Waters. Here we intensely focused on the race by swimming in the waterfall, strolling through the local art market and buying bananas and oilbaked-crispy-sugary-cookie-things from Mexican children. It was all part of the Lord´s plan, as we got time to relax after our days of travelling.
The two SA teams, Alesandro and our two Italian friends Cascadas de Agua Azul
We arrived at the border post between Mexico and Guatemala at 23:00 after taking a bus, two shuttles and a taxi. There they didn´t allow us through until 6:00 the next morning, soooo… we camped in the backyard of the border post on the cement. It was impossible to enter Guatemala with a single entry visum, which all of us had, but God provided yet again by answering our continuous praying, and we were allowed in!!! We thank God for His provision and protection! He is really blessing us with His presence!
