Pachuca FTW (Not Palenque)

Hello there. Apologies for the long interlude. Since San Miguel, we have been at Bethel, Pachuca, and are now in La Paz, Baja California. My precious sister Tara hit the road to San Diego after Mexico Bethel, taking all of our pictures and our most congenial traveling companion away from us. Mexico Bethel was breathtaking, even life changing. The pictures will not do it justice, since it is more the spirit felt there than the aesthetic experience. Tara has been entrusted with the solemn duty of posting our Bethel update...but something tells me she has better things to do. HERMANA, DO NOT FAIL ME NOW!

Update: The hermana has succeeded. Snaps all around.

Without Tara, we went limping around as if we had lost a limb, but knew we had to go on. Jaime J., a family friend of Zoe, had been reading our blog and left a comment inviting us to Pachuca, an hour and a half out of Mexico City, where he and his family had recently moved to. With a unanimous ¿Si, como no? we got on a bus to Pachuca, where Jaime and his family showed us the real meaning of aventura. Hold onto your hats and glasses, cause this here is the wildest ride in the wilderness.

As soon as we got to Pachuca, the power went out. Naturally. So, we went out for pozole and to the local fairgrounds. Did not bring my camera, but know that roaming the crowds with us was a 2000 lb. bull, unchaperoned and unphased by the activity around him. The next day, we drove out to explore Huaxco. Along the way, we stopped for a bit of recreation.
Look! A cliff face. What prevents us from rappelling down it?
Only a few pesos. We geared up and slid down. Top, Bobby and I. Bottom, Zoe and Nick.
Javier, karaoke king and bologna quesadilla extraordinaire.
Next were the Balsalt Prisms, where we managed to stay on solid ground.
Finally, we finished the day with a futbol game. Quite different from our football games. As I slurped down my Coca-Cola (?) and snacked on fried pig skins (??), I asked myself, What has become of me?

I really don’t know. But I know Pachuca won.

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It is a good thing we warmed up with some outdoor activities, because Jaime had a little something planned for the next day. Namely, cave exploring and rappelling in complete and utter darkness through the grutas of Xoxofi. Armed with harnesses, headlamps (yessssssssssssssssss!), and naive ignorance, we entered the caves.

We immediately regretted our past tortilla consumption as we realized that making it through the day would depend on a combination of flexibility, tranquility, and sheer stupidity.

Zoe, Nick, me, Jaimie, Bob, and Mikey.

Down the rabbit hole we went, depending on each other and the light we provided.

The darkness provided a pleasant sense of security. What is there to fear that you cannot see? Thanks to the flash of the camera, we were able to see (after the fact) what plummetting into an abyss looks like.

Mikey blazed the trail on the cross-cavern zipline.

There was a little blood, a lot of sweat, and tears of joy when we all passed through a route.

I cannot tell you how satisfying this activity was. Slightly like being born.

I also cannot tell you how small some of these crawl spaces were, but this picture might be able to:

Hours later, we emerged back into the light, considerably dirtier and wiser.

As if this were not enough, Jaime wanted to make sure we conquered claustrophobia, fear of the dark, and fear of heights all in the same day. So we went to one more zipline. Check out Nick, flying past as I glide behind him.

Welcome back, Mikey!Interestingly enough, the zipline spat us out adjacent to natural hot springs. It was as if entering the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey, although littered with men in Speedos.

A signature flower-landscape-sick-Nick-pic:

What started as an unplanned detour to Pachuca ended up being the true vacation within the voyage, a couple days of recreation and immersion in Jehovah’s creation. We were not eager to leave but looked forward to our final stop in La Paz, where our field ministry would continue, the Special Assembly Day would commence, and we would be in Baja California, closer to home than ever before. We met up once more with our friend Jahaziel from Mexico Bethel, and boarded the plane, leaving the mainland behind.

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Bienvenidos a La Paz.

Coming to La Paz before coming home was a good idea. It really does feel like an extension of California, and it gives us a nice cultural transition back into the States.

We went with our buddy Ryan H., who has been serving here for a couple years, to Todos Santos, the nearest surfing town near La Paz.
Our last few days in Mexico await. More than anything, I think we are all starting to think about our plans for the future. Having been able to enjoy two months of spiritual encouragement, our desire has been reinvigorated to do our utmost for Jehovah. We look forward to seeing everyone back home, and we hope that if anything we have posted on here looks good to you, you can come and see it for yourself. Mexico is nothing that I expected. The price is right, the load is light, and the fields are white for harvesting.

What better place than here, what better time than now?