The Wakefields in Mexico: August 2011

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Move Over, I'm Driving Now!

I know I'm neglecting my OWN blog, but I am guest posting/hijaking Elias' blog over HERE.
So check there for the next few days to read about some things that I've WANTED to post here on this blog, but they are very un-missionary-ish. So I couldn't. But now Elias has given me my chance!!

~Bethany~

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Crazy Day

This past Thursday, the north and south side churches decided to take a trip to Los Ahuehuetes (remember this place?) with our Bible quizzers. We figure they deserve a reward now and then :)

Soo, at 9am we all packed into the car and began the 2 1/2 hour trip...

We saw a lot of this:

Then...

My grampa's van started over-heating.

So we did this for a long time trying to let the car cool down:

Tio Mario, me, and Tia Hayde

Monse scooping out water from a little brook. We then splashed it on the radiator, hoping to somehow speed up the cooling process.

Arturo and a very white boy we picked up on the side of the road :))

We pulled into some tiny little indigenous town and there happened to be a mechanic there.

So we told him the problem. and he said he could fix it.

So he took a lot of our engine apart, looking for the thermostat. About half an hour later we discovered he did not really know what he was doing.

While he was putting our engine back together, some of us youth went exploring...

We found this jungle in the back of the town with 2 big rivers running through it.

It was beautiful.

Some of the guys found giant iguanas in the brush, but they ran off before I could see them and get a picture :(

We then we hit the road once more. But that lasted about 5 minutes!

Once again we had to stop on the side of the road, out in the middle of no where.

We found some old rusty baling wire in a field close by and tied my Grampa's front bumper to our tail hitch.

Aaand started the journey again haha.

We pulled him for a few miles and just as we drove in front of a gas station, (finally back into semi-civilization) the baling wire snapped!

So all our guys jumped out and pushed the car the rest of the way to the gas station.

Thankfully there was a mechanic shop next to the gas station.

While my Dad and Grampa worked everything out with the mechanic, some of us went exploring again :)

This was the name of the little town:

Tepeojuma

I actually got to see some things that I'd never seen before, like a tianguis like this one.

It was like a normal big market, but with no walls...

There were tables set up and blankets on the ground with people selling flowers, clothes, fruits & vegetables, jewelry, etc.

Abner buying tepache from a street vendor.

Tepache is a traditional drink made from pineapple rinds.

Freezing cold and delicious :)

Bathroom break!

Haha, I hadn't been in a bathroom like this for a long time...

Four tiny bathrooms with just a dingy little curtain with half a toilet inside. That didn't flush :)

Still wandering around Tepeojuma... We were exhausted.

Finally! The mechanic told us everything was fixed, put the engine back together, and we were off!

We were so excited to be getting home! (It was around 3:30pm)

We drove about 5 miles and the car broke down again.

:D Yipee. You can imagine our joy.

Haha.

We had found an old frayed rope earlier in the trip, so once again we tied our cars together and towed my Grampa and his crew of kids to the next town, where we bought a really nice thick rope and towed them all the way back to Puebla.

We got to the university, where we played a few quick games of painful tug-of-war.