This morning, after Mass and breakfast, we said good-bye to Nuevo Durango and started our journey back to the City of Joy. This journey took quite a while as today was our “Outing Day” and we had quite a few stops before we arrived to our second “home” in Mexico.
Our first stop took us to a Church that Mission Youth helped to build last year so that we could see the finished product. We had our morning prayer there and got to climb the bell tower and take a look around before meeting Guzman and his family who sold us some artifacts and performed some traditional Mayan music for us.
Then we headed off to Coba where there are some ancient Mayan ruins… and most of us climbed up the tallest “pyramid” there. It was interesting to learn more of the ancient Mayan culture (way less brutal than some other ancient Mexican cultures!) and to see this archeological wonder.
By the time we got back to our bus we were all rather hot and our next destination became even more enticing. These past couple of days (as well as in the January trip) we have been helping a family clear out a Cenote and make it an attraction. Today, we went to one of the largest Cenotes in the area got to swim. Maddie and Gil both launched themselves from the platform into the water (Gil from the highest one!). The rest of us were content to cool off in the underground cave filled with fresh water.
Once we came back up we had a quick lunch and were off again so that we could have a couple of hours at the beach in Tulum. This beach is on the Carribean side of Mexico and the water was stunningly blue. We all enjoyed a bit of sun before it was time to head back to Cancun and the City of Joy.
Tomorrow is our “first day of school”. Pray for us because we know that part of our mission is going to be just meeting these kids where they are at and as many of us know, the first day of school always brings some jitters!
