Finally Connected Again!

Okay, you are probably wondering where we have been.  We have been in Comalcalco, Tabasco, Mexico.  We have been staying with a family who do not have wifi. Although the family are extremely nice I find it to be a hardship not to have an internet connection. I realize that I sound like a spoiled, whining American but it has been very hard to not be connected to family and friends. I thought Merida was tough because we only had wifi in the lobby! I was wrong. So my words of wisdom are that if something is important to you you  should make sure that whatever it is is included in the arrangements others make for you.

I loved Merida! It reminded us of Antigua Guatemala.  It was cleaner and pretty. It has lots of restaurants and great old buildings. You feel safe walking around.

We took Ado busline from Poza Rica to Mexico City through the mountains. Great driver. Beautiful scenery. Veracruz is very green. Then we flew Interjet airline to Merida. Nice flight. Interjet airline was easier to work with than Aeromexico airline.

We have been out in service a couple times. It was interesting...mostly return visits and Bible studies. Tomorrow we will go out in Paraiso. We hope to finally see the ocean! I will let you know how it goes!

Yesterday we finally got to see Paraiso. We are thinking that if we do pick the Paraiso congregation to serve in we would like to live in Paraiso rather than in Comalcalco where the congregation is now meeting. Paraiso is closer to the ocean and smaller.

We are planning on leaving this area on Tuesday. We are not exactly sure how we will be going home. We will let you know.

Robin gave the talk today. The congregation meets on Saturdays at 2:30. Monday night we will go to meeting again.

We have driven by houses for rent. The rental market is diverse.  We saw

Cancun

Very pretty! Very overbuilt! The water is warm and clear--a sort of turquoise color. Sitting at the beach tonight I think will be a pleasant memory from this trip. We missed the ferry to Isle Mujeres and going to Jimmy Buffet's Margaretville restaurant! We hope to leave Mexico on Friday but we still have to buy our plane ticket. We will work on that tomorrow.

Update!

Comalcalco and Paraiso went fine except we stayed with a family who did not have wifi and lived outside the city. In the city there were Internet places or coffee shops with wifi. I wrote a long note on my phone to add to this blog but it is having trouble uploading. We are now in cancun, hoping to make arrangements for a flight home in a day or two! Love you!

Merida

We are in Merida now! The convention is at the assembly hall. The assembly hall is a metal building with concrete floors and plastic theater seats. Works well with the humidity. Terrible storm yesterday during the lunch break. Very loud. Ready for day two!  Lupe,dave simonian is our bethel speaker,his wife gave us the bethel tour! Chris B lives in Merida with his family. Funny what a small world it is! The friends from Chiapas let us ride with them.

Poza Rica

Well we left Poza Rica this morning at 5am! I was teary because the congregation is very kind. Our host family were a pioneer couple in their 40's. He teaches English at an elementary school. There is no getting around the fact that it is an oil town. It smells like a toned down oilfield. The most important fact is that the congregation wants and needs help. They were very sincere in asking us to please come back. Robin had 2 parts in last night's meeting. We went on studies, rv's and did some canvassing for English speakers. One young brother drove to the bus station to see us off. Very sweet. Now we are in Mexico City waiting for our flight to Merida for another convention and we will meet the Tabasco congregation. It will be a hard decision to make. Love you guys!

Monday & Tuesday

In Poza Rica Veracruz, photos of young pioneers we went in service with yesterday until 8pm! When we got back to our host family they had dinner for us! How very sweet! One picture has a mango tree--can you see the mangos? The other pictures are of the skyline from a park. Tonight is meeting and I am looking forward to meeting the congregation. Missing everyone!

Poza Rica view from friend's rooftop patio area

New Friends

Couple from Colorado

Saturday

Another great day! The sister on the left is mexican and in a Japanese congregation and the sister on the right is from chicago living in Ensenada in an English congregation but is a french teacher!

Assembly hall in Texcoco

First Day at the Convention

Great program! Took a taxi to the assembly hall in Texcoco across from the Mexico Branch. Crazy ride! Met the friends from Poza Rica. Met the sisters I have been communicating with through email. We also met up with Dewey & Edie and a pioneer couple who were in Safford and went to our pioneer class 4 years ago! At lunch time you eat in the cafeteria standing at a table. After the session we visited and then went out to look for a taxi and asked a brother where we could get one. He told us that he would take us to the main street to get one. First he had to help his friend who had a dead battery. No problem. Turns out his friend is staying at our hotel! So he gave us a ride back but first we all went to a sister 's cousin's taco shop. Very good food. 6 pesos a taco. They had beef, pork, tripas, brain,or tongue...I just had beef. So tomorrow we will ride with our new Columbian friend to the convention.

English Convention

Starts tomorrow in Mexico City!

Breakfast!

Rob had beef & eggs. I had cheese and nopal cactus...pretty tasty. Yesterday morning our friends said that we needed a good breakfast so they served us fish tacos! Marlin! It was very good and quite a surprise! Mazatlan did have some juice bars like jamba juice but with more choices. We are getting very excited about checking out the two cities we came to see. Tomorrow first day of the convention!

Pics

Grandchildren, how do you like the school uniforms? The city picture is from around the airport! The truck is a roving bakery, yummm

Today

Our Mazatlan friends' bird, Ponchito; airport in Mazatlan--very clean; our hotel room!

Wednesday

Went to meeting last night. They have many native English speakers, most are from Canada. A couple of families are from Cali. One sister was from Australia. We left Mazatlan for Mexico city. We flew. Flying was about the same price as taking a bus. We got a room at the Marriott which was one of the hotels on the list for the Mexico city English convention. Nice room. Gotta go, rob wants to eat! He doesn't think having only breakfast is enough!

Mazatlan Observations

Most of us have heard about the crazy driving in Mexico, it is all true here in Mazatlan! You never really know how many lanes there are supposed to be. There are cars all over the place. The rule seems to be if you can fit your car in the space then you do it. The brother we are staying with gave up his motorcycle because of the traffic. The congregation lost a sister last year who drove a vespa type bike. Buses here kill a lot of people both in cars-motorcycles and pedestrians. So when you hear the warnings about Mexico don't forget about the traffic! Oh did I mention that people ride in the back of trucks and some trucks have benches and are carpooling type vehicles. It is common to fit 7 in a sedan with front bucket seats!

More pics