Our first day in
Valladolid proved to be one of great adventure. We spent the day touring the city before we started clinics for the next five days. Here are some pictures:
The view from the lobby of Hotel
Zaci. This is where our team stayed during our time in
Valladolid.
The tan building pictured here is where we were served breakfast and dinner. Every morning we enjoyed walking together to this place from our hotel.
A couple of the lovely ladies who lovingly prepared our meals. Each day they served a hot breakfast complete with scrambled eggs and bacon! Mexican food has never tasted so good!
Pastor Doug introduces
Aníbal, a Mexican pastor who would serve with us in ministering throughout the week.
Later in the day, we went on a bus tour of the city. Anna and I became good friends. We met at the airport; Anna and her dad spotted us with our GHO team shirts and flagged us down. We had the same flight to Cancun, so we got to get to know each other while we waited at our gate. Amazingly enough we compared tickets and seat arrangements, and it turned out that I had the seat right next to where Anna and her dad were placed! We enjoyed talking and building a friendship during our four hour flight to Mexico. God is so good!
Back to the bus tour. As we went around the city, we saw many churches that had been built around the 1500s.
Situated directly across from where we had our meals, we walked by this beautiful church every day!
After this brief tour, the bus brought us back to the town square where we had begun. However, we had been expecting more. The sole purpose of the tour had been to visit Ek Balam, Mayan ruins not far from the city of Valladolid. Our team leader, befuddled, asked the bus driver why he hadn't taken us there. The two Mexican drivers insisted that they couldn't, and that they would need to ask permission from their boss before going.
To make a long story short, our translator/coordinator/"rescuer" and ultimately the "jack-of-all-trades," Ricardo, happened to be driving past and noticed the bus (which should have been gone by then) and wondered what was going on. He briskly walked up and conversed with the two drivers, then reported to us that they had "just wanted to make a buck" and would take us there. So, off we went!
In the meantime, while all this was taking place, we made some friends at the square. I learned how to play "piedra, papel, tijeras" (rock, paper, scissors) the Mexican way.
Once we had all piled back onto the open air bus, we made our way to Ek Balam. As we drove, we noticed that the driver turn toward a gas station, but even so, we kept on going. The line of cars waiting at the station was very long. As we continued on our journey, ten minutes later the bus started to sputter, and we came to a halt. We had run out of gas! And, on top of that, we were out in the middle of nowhere!
Our team leader, Pastor Doug, hanging off the broken down bus.
Thankfully, not too long later a police car drove by. After bringing back some fuel, they worked on siphoning it into the tank.
After this unique occurrance, we sat in amazement as to what had happened. Like
typical tourists, we took boatloads of pictures documenting this hilarious event. During the long process of waiting for help as the drivers tried to get the bus up and running again, we passed the time by sharing testimonies, telling jokes, and overall learned more about each of the team members. I think the whole experience served to bring some precious bonding time for each of us and brought us closer together as a team.
To sum it up, we did get the bus working again. After filling the tank, we all got out of the bus and had to push it to get it going. What a picture! (I actually got video of the event, and hope to post it if the computer will let me!) Now we truly were on our way to the ruins of Ek Balam!
Later on during the week, Pastor Doug, Steven, Anna, and I played a game called "High-Low." Pastor Doug taught us this game, asking us to share our opinion of what we thought were the high (favorite) experiences of our trip, and the low (not as favorite) times of the trip so far. When I said that I considered the bus adventure a "high," he was amazed. Although a stressful situation at the time, it actually was also very fun. I look back on that bus ride with joy and fond memories.
As it is late, I will have to share pictures of Ek Balam another time. Get ready for more!
It was a birthday unlike any other! Sure, I knew it was my birthday; on the other hand, I didn't really expect what was to take place later that day. Blessed by my own family as well as a "new" family, you could say that I was delightfully surprised that evening when I walked in for supper with Dad and Steve to be greeted by a warm birthday welcome! It was especially neat because one of the ladies on our team also had her birthday on the same day, so we celebrated together.
Later, we went out for popsicles in the rain!
Monday was our first day of clinics.
Behind us is the hut where the doctors set up their station
The dental station was located in the main building and was always busy!
Happily serving
Anna brought a bunch of balloons ("globos") for the kids! They loved all of the different balloons she could make! Throughout the week, she was surrounded by children, each wanting their own "globo." Her famous quotes were, "¿Quieres un globo? ¿Cuál color? ¿Qué tipo?"
Havin' fun
The options for getting down to the cenote were either by rappelling or taking the stairs. Genevieve served as our scout and braved the rickety stairs.
The stairs 
The entrance gate
The pyramid we climbed
