Friday June 12 2009
At the border….Thursday night we were driving through one of the check areas and three men flagged us down. Estarado talked to them and discovered that they were looking for jobs to help people get across the border. We were hoping to make it across that night, but it was soon evident the border would be closed by the time we got there. Our new friends took us to a hotel that had a place to park the bus. We were able to park the bus there, but the hotel was not going to work for us. There was no air or even fans. It really would have been a miserable night. They took us to another hotel that had air and much better accommodations than the night before. We went to get something to eat, but we were told there was no more food service for the night, even though others were being served. ….humm, you figure it out.

We woke early on Friday morning and retrieved the bus and got into the line. We had to wait until the border opened. The men we hired came and got our passports and worked on the paperwork. There was some concern about the engine number and VIN number not matching, but we all prayed that everything would work out. Again we prayed for a green light at the border. Our passports were returned with Guatemala stamps in them!

When the line started moving we were relieved when we went through the Mexican border with no problems. Speaking for all of us, I think we had enough of Mexico and were glad to get into Guatemala. Until we were flagged and were detained. The Guatemalan authorities demanded that extra taxes be paid on the contents of the bus. The bus itself was cleared and ready to go. But the things on the bus…school supplies, books, hospital supplies, x-ray machines, and pipes was going to be accessed additional taxes.

It was hard to tell if it was a Guatemalan tax or the official was trying to make a buck. But they gave Estarado an incredibly difficult time and threatened to detain him for as long as it took. The whole day was spent in negotiations. The biggest controversy was over the x-ray machine. The government officials thought it had to be worth over $10,000 dollars and told Estarado that he would have to unload the machine so they could see it, and they possibly would sell it. (more than likely they would pocket the money). This was unacceptable to Estarado who would rather see the machine destroyed than to have them get ahold of it.

At this point we borrowed a phone and started making phone calls to anyone who we thought might be able to get their attention. We called congressmen’s offices and the NEIA Synod office. We knew that no one probably could do anything, but having someone with more authority than they had would make them think about what they were doing.

At some point a threat was made to destroy the machine or at the minimum take the thing apart. Which our guys did. By this time we had gained the attention off everyone in the parking lot. Most of them knew that we were there bringing relief aid to the Guatemalan people and were very supportive of us.

When the officials finally saw the machine….we put it back together by then….they didn’t want it and eventually some young men were given the machine to take away. There were even other officials that were offering to take it out for us and meet us outside where we could get it back.

At around 6:00 we were released from the detention lot and started the journey up the mountain to Reu. We arrived in Reu at about 10:00 and had the supper that Flo had prepared for us. We checked into our hotel and had a well deserved nights sleep.