One of the great things about being a part of different ministries this year is that we get to travel….a lot. The process of getting from Guatemala to Nicaragua was an adventure as always. We started off the trip by walking through Quiche to a corner of a fenced lot where several vans are waiting to take people to the next town. The drivers cram as many people onto their vans as they can and still get the door shut. Along the way, the driver always stops and 5 or 6 more people manage to squeeze into the non-existent space left in the van. He then takes off at a breakneck pace swerving in and out of the opposite lane of traffic, screeching around corners, and barreling down the mountainside. I have learned to position myself as closely as possible to the window and hang my head slightly out so I can gulp in air along the way and hold my carsickness at bay.
At any rate, once we arrived at the next town of Chichicastenango, we popped out of the van as if loaded by a spring, and began the hike around the “Sink Hole” with all of our luggage in tow. The Sink Hole is a big section of the road that completely washed out several weeks ago.
Now people must walk from one side of the sink hole to the other carrying all of their things and catch a bus on the other side. Once on the other side, we hiked to where the chicken bus (brightly colored school buses that provide transportation from town to town) was that would take us the next leg of the journey. Usually three people are crammed in each seat and the aisles are full of people as well. Luckily for us, only our squad was on this bus so people did not have to be in the aisle.
My seatmate and I enjoyed a nice lunch of cornflakes left over from breakfast which we dipped into a jar of peanut butter we had brought along. It helped pass the time as the bus rumbled down the road through the beautiful mountains of Guatemala. Finally we arrived at our destination of Antigua, Guatemala where we were going to spend the night. Once there, we grabbed all of our bags and hiked to the hostel where we were going to spend the night. I definitely need to shed a few pounds from my pack which weighs in at 42 pounds! I resolved to go through my things again and see what I could pitch before our next travel day!
We a had free evening in Antigua and enjoyed walking around and exploring the beautiful town which rests at the base of a volcano.
The next morning we loaded up into vans once again that drove us the couple of hours to Guatemala City. Once in the city, the bus driver of my van got lost and I started counting how many times we drove past the same places in search of the Tika Bus Station. Our driver began to get agitated and drive recklessly in frustration. I thought my friend sleeping in the seat next to me might get whiplash as he slammed on the brakes and darted in and out of traffic. Finally, we found the Station and were reunited with the rest of our squad.
I was extremely excited to find that we would be taking the Tika Bus (like our Grey Hound buses) the rest of the way to Nicaragua. What a luxury to have a cushioned seat all to myself and room to stretch out my legs! My seatmate and I watched a movie on her computer and snacked on some more peanut butter. We reached El Salvador and caught a few hours of sleep in San Salvador at the bus stop hotel. 3:30 AM came quickly, however, and we piled back onto the bus. We watched twelve hours of Lord of the Rings and ate more cornflakes, cookies, and peanut butter as we rolled along through El Salvador and Honduras.
The bus rolled to a stop at the border of Honduras and Nicaragua and we had to get out and walk across. The border guard made us pull our luggage out and started to go through our bags. He quickly tired of all the straps on our tightly packed hiking backpacks and simply did a quick glance at most of them. Two hours later we were finally on our way again. We arrived in Managua, Nicaragua in a torrential downpour and were picked up by our ministry contact who then drove us three hours to Vision Nicaragua which is located not far from Chinandega where we will be serving this month.
Three vans, two buses, three countries, 30 plus hours of travel, one bag of corn flakes, and one jar of peanut butter later, we are here! I am so thrilled to be in Nicaragua and am excited to share with you what the Lord is doing in this amazing country!
