The Grand Finale

Friday and Saturday

Friday. The work-hard-play-hard day when you spend the morning on duty (in our case washing again the now-much-dirtier dishes used at Thursday's Valentine's dinner) and then go out as tourists with the team for the afternoon...

Our first stop: the roadside fish taco stand for an as-real-as-it-gets Mexican lunch. Second stop: the market. Third stop: the beach.





                   What's going on here?

 Standing beside a normal-sized person for

     comparison, after spending some time

                    sinking into the sand.



Everything about the coast is endless:
endless ocean, endless beach, endlessly breaking waves
 stretching out to the endless sky...





Chicken tacos, rice & refried beans

Last stop: the restaurant where our YWAM leader always takes the entire team to cap off the week. As if we could still handle more food after tackling all the (amazingly good) southern-style sustenance at the restaurant, within a few minutes of our returning to base camp, a bonfire was blazing for s'mores night.

Saturday, 3:00 p.m. We're now packed into the YWAM van, waiting in line at the border. Beside me a little girl is standing on someone's shoulders, juggling as the person on the bottom wanders between lanes of ponderous traffic. Every few minutes we drive pass vending stands set up in the middle of the road; meanwhile ,other sellers stroll up and down the rows of vehicles offering everything from giant porcelain turtles to live puppies. It's anyone's guess as to what's about to float past the window next. Although a few bags of fresh, hot churros (and also a slingshot) have come into the van since we arrived at the line-up, more is going out the windows as we hand sandwiches, bananas, stickers and toys to the vendors and their kids. That's the greatest thing about traveling with this group: there's nary a single ministry opportunity that passes by untaken.







Walking towards the beach, we could already
 smell the salt in the air.