San Cristobal, Palenque, Arista, Guatemala

***I am now in the USA. We tried to update the blog multiple times while traveling across Chiapas, but we never had decent internet access. Now that I am online, I will fill you in on the rest of the trip.***

After leaving Tuxtla Gutierrez, Nolan and I hit four locations in about six days. It was a wild adventure. We first went to San Cristobal de las Casas, a fairly large city about and hour away from Tuxtla. It is higher up in the mountains, and is known for its cool, fresh climate. On the way there, we had a little car trouble. Below, Josh is trying to figure out why we were leaking so much coolant.

We spent a day and a half in San Cristobal, and had the opportunity to meet with a group of young people in the city and talk to them about university ministry. There is currently no evangelical work that we know of on the university campuses in this city. We continue to pray that some of the youth will catch the vision of reaching college students for Christ in San Cristobal. Below is a picture of Nolan (in the middle) with Angeles, Elisa, and the brother and sister of Angeles. This was on Monday night as we toured the city.

We spent Tuesday working in San Cristobal, and getting the car fixed, and then on Wednesday we traveled to Palenque, a beautiful site in northern Chiapas were there are many ruins from the Mayan civilization. The first picture is a high valley in the mountains of northern Chiapas. Getting there was no easy task, as we took one of the most difficult, yet picturesque roads I have ever seen. The second picture is of our group at Palenque, in front of the temple of inscriptions. From left to right is Josh, Angeles, Elisa, and Nolan.

After leaving Palenque, we traveled south to two beautiful waterfalls. Chiapas is a very pretty place, and has many natural wonders. The picture below is of Josh and Nolan at la cascada Misol Ha. Later we went to las cascadas Agua Azul (Blue Water), where we spent a lot of time swimming.

On Thursday we went south, but the group in Tapachula wasn't ready for us yet, so we stopped to spend a day on the beach. We ended up in Puerto Arista, Chiapas, where the waves were huge and the beach was wide and unoccupied. We had a great time relaxing and playing in the water. The first picture is of some of the huge wave action. The second is Nolan taking a siesta in a hammock.

After resting for the day we again went south, stopping in Tapachula to meet with our friend Leyver, and then on to Guatemala. We spent a day and a half in Guatemala, checking out Antigua and Guatemala City. We were somewhat concerned that we wouldn't make it back to Mexico, but thankfully we caught the last bus out of there and arrived in Tapachula Sunday night. The first picture below is Nolan at the Guatemala border. There were hoards of kids trying to "help" us get across the border. It was really tough, you know, walking across a bridge and everything. The second picture is Josh and Nolan with our new buddy Ben, who is from France. We met on the bus, and spent some time hanging out in Antigua.

After returning from Guatemala, we spent several days in Tapachula. I will tell you about that in the next post.

Drumroll please....

****** The following posts were made by Amy... not Josh... Laura skipped town... actually the country and she had the log on information... so, I, Amy, am fully responsible for the following posts :) *********

And the winners are........ THE GIRLS!!!!!! Yes, we made it to the finishline first.... so, therefore, we won :) Haha... well, we've returned. It was a great adventure... you can read about the finish below....

Puerto Vallarta...

Can you tell that Puerto Vallarta was our last city?! We don't have many pictures from it!! However, it was a great city! We had a meeting with Enoc... he's going to be starting a MIES there this next year. He has some great students who are leaders... we also met with a girl who will be starting a Bible Study on her campus in the Fall. We were able to give her some materials- and spend time with her. We also got a chance to go to a Jovenes meeting. It was a great city... to see a ministry about to begin! To see the seeds that have been sown in the past... and to see how they are starting to bloom...


Just a beach picture... I like to take pictures at the beach... I thought this one was a typical Mexican beach picture... the globos and all!

Laura and I on the boardwalk... waiting to be picked up for our meeting with the Jovenes.

Finding the Universities was rather hard... we talked with a few people there... and no one really seemed to know exactly where the universities were. So, we hopped in a taxi and he drove us to this private university in the middle of nowhere... and well, we weren't allowed in. So, we asked him to drive us to another university... we ended up (again in the middle of nowhere) at the Univeristy of Guadalajara- campus Puerto Vallarta. This is where they will start the prayer groups and Bible studies next semeseter. We had a chance to pray for the campus and the future work that will begin. Getting back to the city was interesting... we walked a long way- in the heat/humidity mix that was by far the worst we had ever experienced!! We stopped at an OXXO just to get a break from the heat... but, we eventually found our way back on a bus.

Tepic...

Welcome to Tepic!! This was the first city that we visited that had an active MIES going on! It was great to visit and get to know the people and the ministry there! This is the University in Tepic...

We stayed with Tanya's family- she is the Director of the MIES here. Tanya was not there because she was doing summer missions. This is her brother and Laura on the train we took through the little park... Arely and me on the train...

We were only in Tepic for 2 days... however, it was a great visit! They have a very active MIES... two of members are on summer missions. They have groups from the US that come down to do 'intercambios' with the students who are learning English. While we were there- they were planning an evangelistic concert.... and raising money for summer missions! Always staying busy!

Mazatlan...

Welcome to Mazatlan!! In this city, there is no University work going on that we know of... We had a contact... who we couldn't find! So, we took the next step... we went to the campuses and just talked with the students... and then also went to the churches and talked with the people there. After that, we had many contacts... who then let us know that they aren't working with University students. So... this city needs someone to work with them! We also took a couple of days to rest in this city... which was perfect because, it was by far my favorite city we went to!



Universities by the sea?! Yes, this is true...

At one of the universities we even met the director!! Okay, so- there weren't many students on campus becuase it was summer. But, we talked with a few... they told us that there aren't any Christian groups on campus... but, there are some students who are Christians.

This is the campus of Tourism. Notice the green grass and flowers! This was a pretty campus...

We went to the PIB of Mazatlan... it was interesting getting there. We decided to take a bus... it took us downtown- and then we had to kind of ask where it was from there. We walked.... and walked... and walked... and found it at the back of this residential area!! Everyone at this church was very kind and helpful!! This guy, Carlos, was the only student we found at the church. He is actually living in the US right now- and just came back to Mexico to find some sponsors- he's about to qualify for the Olympics!! So- look for him in Swimming!! He was also very helpful in getting us names of universities to visit.

This is one of my favorite things about the beach... sunsets!! Isn't it beautiful!!

In Mazatlan we took all kinds of transportation... also, this was our first tourist town- we were no longer the only gringas around! We were constantly spoken to in English... and honestly, it threw us off a bit... we answered in Spanish. The horses were no exception! The man the night before told us that it cost 50 for us to ride for a half hour on the beach! A GREAT deal we thought... so, we said we would come back the next night. And we found a different guy that told us 25... then he went down to 20 for the hour!! 20 pesos for the hour... WOW, what a GREAT deal. Laura even said, "I'd do this every night if I lived here it's so cheap!" Well, when the guy asked us to pay him... I handed him 20 pesos (about 2 US Dollars) and he just looked at me like I was crazy. And said... "I said 20 BUCKS" And I told him... "Well, this is 20 bucks to me... I live in Mexico, I don't have dollars... I thought you meant pesos!!!" And he was a little distraught... and Laura and I looked at eachother- Lucky for us we didn't bring that much money. We ended up paying 60 pesos each (about 6 US dollars)... he was nice about it- but it was funny! I think it was because we spoke in Spanish with him that he was okay with the mishap. So, the next night when we went to rent a 4-wheeler... he told us 150 for the hour... and I had to go back and ask him if it was in Pesos or dollars.... it was pesos, so we decided we could afford that! Oh the craziness of a tourist town!!!

Well, when you are sent into the wild without a car... you have to take what you can find... so, we had to rent a 4-wheeler for transportation :) Yes, the warning does say... 'Do not ride on flat surfaces... Do not ride on main roads with cars... Do not ride without a helmet... Do not have passengers...' Yeah, we broke all but one rule... however, I don't think my helmet was approved by authorities... it was falling off my head... however, at least I tried! It's Mexico... no rules- just fun! Okay, just kidding... there are rules... it's not that free of a country, just a few less 'regulations'! ... Oh, by the way... this picture was taken in front of a university- so technically, we were 'working'... you know, Laura and I really never stop working... it's a way of life :)

Tuxtla - Part 2

Written July 5, 2007

Tuxtla Gutierrez, where Nolan and I were two weeks ago, is a beautiful city. The following picture was taken in the central plaza downtown, as the sun went down right after a big rainstorm.

On Friday, we visited the psycology campus of the UnACh. The picture below is of Nolan, Ubeldi, Deborah, Jose Antonio and Josh. Ubeldi studies psycology there. We met with a group of students and talked about how they can start a ministry next semester.

On Friday afternoon, we visited the plant where our host (and state MIES director) Victor works. The plant has helped to iradicate the boring screwfly from the United States to the southern border of Panama, and now they are trying to iradicate South America. The first picture is of Victor, his daughter Fernanda, and his wife Leti. The second is of our entire group of students that toured the plant. All of these students are passionate about reaching Tuxtla for Christ. The third picture is of Nolan and I doing some hardwork, with the help of a forklift, the most popular piece of heavy equipment in Mexico.

On Saturday, Victor took Nolan and I to the Sumidero lookout over Chiapa de Corzo. There is a river that runs through at very deep valley, with huge cliffs on both sides. The following picture is at the lookout.

Saturday night, there was a large meeting of students from all over the city. It was a good time, plus we got to talk to the group about starting evangelistic ministries on their campuses. Many students were excited about the opportunities. In the picture below we are with two of the student leaders, Elisa and Ubeldi, and little Fernanda was hanging out with us as well.

On Sunday we went to the church were Victor is the pastor, we had a great lunch, spoke at the largest church in Tuxtla in the evening, and then went to a birthday party for Claudia. Claudia is the youngest of the Guillen Pacheco sisters, who are part of one of our favorite families in Mexico. These guys are awesome! Below you can see Cyndi, Andrea, and Hector (the little brother) in back, with Claudia on their laps and Nolan and Josh in front. We had a great time playing games and celebrating Claudia's Quinceañera (15th birthday party). That is a big deal here in Mexico.

We left Tuxtla on Monday morning, and I will update you soon on our travels since then. Until next time, keep the Cremosas handy!

Tuxtla Gutierrez...and the mango-piña

After visiting Salina Cruz, Nolan and I traveled to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital city of the state of Chiapas. We are still here, and we love this place. They are going to have to drag us out of here.

We are staying in the home of Victor and Leti. Below you can see Victor relaxing in the hammock with his daughter Fernanda. A hammock is a great place for a nap or a good night's rest.



Victor and Leti are treating us great, but we do have one complaint. The first night here, they gave us some fruit that we had never seen. Leti showed us how to eat it, by rubbing it to release the juice, making a little hole in the top, and then sucking it out of the hole. We loved the crazy new flavor and Nolan quickly finished his, and I ate two of them. Leti told us they are called mango-piñas. What she did not tell us is that they are natural laxatives. We spent the next day or so fighting for the bathroom and carrying baby wipes (know as Cremosas) everywhere we went. We are all better now, but learned a good lesson. All members of the mango family are laxatives, and the mango-piña is the most potent of all.

Back to business...There is an awesome group of students here that is very excited about starting a ministry on several campuses. In the mornings, we have been visiting different campuses and meeting with students there, while in the evenings we have been spending time with the student leaders, training them, and just having a good time. The picture below is of Nolan, Deborah, Andrea, and Josh. We were at the zoo.



The next picture is of Nolan and Oscar.



Oscar and Deborah study medicine at the school right across the street from the internet cafe where I am writing this. Andrea studies civil engineering with Ismael, another buddy who we have been spending time with. We need to go right now to meet up with some friends for lunch, but we will update you again soon. We have lots of fun things planned for the next few days, and we are looking forward to spending more time with the students here in Tuxtla. I will leave you with a picture taken earlier today on the Med School campus of the Universida Autónoma de Chiapas. Pictured are Nolan, Angela, Deborah, Josh, and Oscar. Deborah is giving Josh the infamous Zoop that is currently being spread all over the southern part of the country. Until the next time, stay away from the mango-piñas!