| Adventure6

Arriving in Mexico

What is one of the best traits to adopt if you want to travel, especially with kids? Flexibility!

When traveling, things will not always go according to plan. In fact, they rarely do. Trains may be late, hostels may be booked up and well, life happens.

We landed at LAX close to one am in the morning. Overtired and cramped, we were quite sure that planes have actually gotten smaller since we last traveled, we collected our luggage and headed for the car rental terminal. We were thankful to have friends in LA that we could stay with. Funnily enough, these friends were actually in Calgary and would be having a party in our home while we were away! We arrived at their home in Van Nuys and collapsed into bed.

The next day we got an early start as we would now have to drive some two plus hours, with traffic, to get to the San Diego airport in time to catch our ride Mexico. The sky was a clear and it was a beautiful day to reminisce with the kids of my experience in California when I had lived in LA some 20 years ago.

Traffic was steady and we arrived at our meeting place 20 minutes late and found 5 other families waiting for us. We couldn’t believe our eyes and ears. So many kids and so many accents! (We’re a family who LOVE accents). Our excitement grew as we started chatting with some of the other families and hearing where they were from. After about 20 minutes of waiting we were told that one of the vans that was due to pick us up broke down and two families would need to stay behind. We immediately volunteered with another family as many of the other families had younger children.

Realizing we had a 4-6 hour wait ahead of us, I quickly dashed back up to the car rental terminal and was able to get our rental car back so we could at last drive to the beach nearby. Our kids played on the rocks, climbed trees and took in the sights of the warships that sat in the bay across from us. It wasn’t planned but it was all part of the story of experiencing adventure and learning how to be flexible. Tools that are not only helpful in the everyday moments of life but surely needed when you travel.

Soon the leader of the camp phoned to tell us the we would be picked up by six o’clock only to phone 20 minutes later to say it would actually be closer to then 9, and then again was changed to midnight. The last call was to tell us that they had decided what was really needed was to rest and that they would pick us up in the morning at 7 am. In the meantime, there was a YWAM hospitality house nearby where we could shower and stay the night. Happy to not be held in limbo any longer, we picked up some snacks for dinner, dropped off the car and took an Uber to our accommodation. The Norwegian family that stayed behind would be joining us also.

The following morning our rides arrived right on time and our two families piled into two separate vehicles. Now, without further delay, we were finally on our way. We made a quick stop at the border to get the required visas and then continued to follow the beautiful Pacific Ocean south. After an hour down a bumpy dirt road, we arrived at what would become our home for the next several months.

The road led us to a beautiful ranch surrounded by tall mature trees, nestled in the valley. It truly felt like an oasis in the desert. As we drove up we saw families mingling and kids running wild. Our kids leapt out of the van and took off running. After all the praying and planning over the last 18 months the new chapter had begun.