"How Far is 180 km?"

Too stinkin' far, that's how far.

Our time in Guatemala was coming to a close and we were on way back to the capital to meet up with the other team who had stayed in Guatemala City.  It had been a rich week - a lot was crammed into the few short days we had in Chisec.  We had loved on the kids in the schools and we had loved on the kids in the villages.  We had washed the feet of pastors' wives and we had held the hands of those seemingly forgotten by the rest of the world.  We had run from spiders and rats but we had run to Jesus when some were missing their kids and some were missing their comfort zones.  We had laughed when we wanted to cry and we smiled when we wanted to weep.

We set out from the mission station at 8 a.m. on Friday morning.  The goal was to get to Guatemala City in a timely manner, do a little bit of souvenir shopping, get cleaned up at the hotel and then meet the other team in time for dinner at 7 o'clock.

That goal got squelched about 45 minutes into the nearly 7 hour drive.

We were in Chisec, to the north, and
had to get to Guatemala City, to the south.

First off, I barely made it down the road before I got horribly nauseous from motion sickness.  A sinus infection had kicked in too the night before. I had already taken one Dramamine, thinking that would be more than sufficient.  I normally take a QUARTER of those tiny pills, but on this trip, I was popping a full dose every day. (I took two to get me through this particular trip.)  It wasn't that the roads in and of themselves were bad, it was that they were so windy, going up and down and all around through the mountains.  I should have known I would be doomed as soon as I sat a couple rows back in the bus.  It's such a miserable feeling, motion sickness.

So, I move up closer to the front of the bus, in the front seat.  The motion sickness gets less just because now I can actually see the road and see where I'm going. (If you've never had motion sickness, this will not make sense to you.  Consider yourself lucky.)

We kept cruising along and I kept wishing the trip was already over.  Meanwhile, my aisle buddy, Jill, was worse off than I was.  She caught some sort of bug and was getting sick to her stomach every so often. So there we were on the front seat of the bus, sicker than dogs.  We made quite the pair.  I took another Dramamine because the world was still spinning.

We came around a bend and found that traffic had come to a dead stop.  Cars were parked on the road and it was immediately clear nobody was going anywhere.  Manny, of Cindy and Manny, the husband and wife team that started Mission2Guatemala, parked the bus and got out to go see what was happening.  Manny was born and raised in Guatemala so he's well-acquainted with Guatemalan customs, traditions and odd things like stopped traffic mid-morning.

He came back a little while later and said the road is barricaded, we can't get through.  The indigenous people are protesting the government, we don't know when the blockade will be lifted.  There is absolutely no way through.

Awesome.

So Cindy and Manny started making phone calls to local friends and family who might know what was happening. At one point Manny suggested we might have to take the long way around, all the way to the coast and then back down to Guatemala City.

And I thought, "You've got to be joking me.  You can leave me on the side of the road at this point because I can't imagine another 8 hours on this bus."

We decided to turn around at this point and head back to the mission station and wait it out.  We eventually received tentative reports that the barricade would be lifted at 1 o'clock but we didn't want to get on the road again until we knew for sure.

Jill and I were still not doing so hot at this point.  We had come back to the mission station, found some empty beds and crashed, hoping the world will stop spinning and that our stomachs wouldn't betray us.

Word came that the barricades would likely be lifted soon.  If we were going to have any chance of making to Guatemala City before dark, we would need to leave soon.  So, out the door we went again.

The blockade had, in fact, been cleared and we rambled on down to Guatemala City.  At one point, I turned to Jill, who is still feeling miserable and I told her, "Should I end up on the floor for any reason and medical personnel need to know what pills I have taken, here they are..."  I figured somebody ought to know what I'm on in the event that these drugs don't mix well.  I realized in hindsight that she probably was not the ideal person to have told.  She had an equal chance of being on the floor next to me, with the medics asking her the same question of what drugs she had taken.

We were about 180 kilometers from Guatemala City when Jill sees the sign indicating the distance.  She turns to me and asks rather groggily, "How far is 180 kilometers?"

My equally groggy but smart aleck answer was "too stinkin' far."

Over 6 hours later and a few pit stops along the way, we finally made it to Guatemala City.  By then it was pouring down rain and the streets were flooding.  But I thought what's a little rain when you're so doped up you don't care anyway?  We were late for dinner so we went straight to the restaurant to meet the other team.  They, of course, look halfway decent, have clean clothes on and are actually looking and sounding rather chipper and happy.

I found it insanely annoying.

I had on a pair of khakis that hadn't been washed in a week and had been worn nearly every day of the trip.  I had no makeup on. My hair was pulled back in a ponytail with a headband on and I was still feeling miserable.  I really just wanted to be left alone in a dark corner for the next 24 hours and not speak to another living being.  It's the introvert in me.  I was on people overload and just ready to hide.  

And poor Mimi.  She was on the other team and she asked me how I was doing and if I was up to sharing any stories.

My response was simply, "No." And then I turned around.

Clearly I lose my filter when I don't feel well and am tired.  And clearly I am more prone to being rude. Note to self:  work on bad attitude when medicated and overwhelmed.  I apologized to her at the airport the next day, I felt so horrible about how I had responded.

We hopped on a plane the next day without a hitch, smooth flying from Guatemala City all the way back to Columbus.

But I still say 180 kilometers is too far.