Saturday, October 12, 2013

Blowouts, Borders and Banditos Part Two


BANDITOS!

So now they are just starting to cross Mexico, with its wide open spaces and long stretches of empty roads.  This is bandito country.  So, clearly a wise person would never say, “What else could go wrong.”

John had hired a guide to get them through Mexico, a very good thing for anyone wishing to get across.  So after leaving the border they were guided through a large city and were beginning to make good time.  Felipe is driving the box truck with John in the passenger seat.  In the rear view mirror they can see some guys pass the semi and pull up behind them.  They are checking out the Bronco.  They move forward and show a hand gun out the window, yelling at Felipe and John to pull over.  Felipe freaks out!  “They have guns, they have guns! What do I do?”  John is watching everything and turns to Felipe, “Do Not Pull Over!”  But Felipe is totally fixed on the gun thing.  Then the vehicle pulls closer in front and shows an M16 out his window.  Felipe begins to think he really should pull over.  John repeats, “Do Not Pull Over!”  Felipe screams “But they have guns!”  His eyes are huge and his knuckles are white on the steering wheel.  John yells, “Listen, if we pull over we are dead!”  Somehow those were the words needed to spur Felipe on.  He stopped talking, faced forward and hit the gas.  In the mean time John can see the car next to him with a gun in the window aimed at him.  He takes off his hat and begins to pray.  (The fervent prayers of a righteous man availeth much.  This was a fervent prayer.)

All the time this was going on Tim was behind them in the semi yelling “Don’t pull over man, don’t pull over.”  He is watching the whole thing, guns flying and the box truck speeding.  At one point the banditos pull in front of the box truck and put on their brakes to get try to get Felipe to stop.  Felipe, not wanting to die, just blasted past them.  I think Tim was cheering!!
 
Further on down the road the guys in the caravan can see a Federale Check Point.  They were not required to stop so they just blew on through.  The banditos disappeared but Felipe’s foot never left the gas pedal.  John said that Felipe was confessing to God all along the way.  I’m sure promises were made to God in exchange for a longer time on earth. 

They still had not slowed down a lick and there was a town up ahead.  The guide who was up ahead must have been pretty shaken up because they missed a left hand turn.  John recognized the road and told Felipe to turn left.  Of course, Felipe had to argue with that because the guide did not turn left.  John said, “Turn left Felipe.”  But Felipe wanted to argue and stick with the guide up ahead.  John leaned over to Felipe and very firmly said, “Turn left or I’m going to punch you in the face.”  Felipe turned left.
At the end of day five they had doubled the planned distance for this part of the trip.  See, God can make something good come out of every situation.
 
BAD TRANSMISSION AND STINKY PEOPLE

The guys got some sleep that night because they arrived early at their destination.  So, you might at this point say “What else could go wrong?”, but that would not be a wise question.

The next day was a Sunday.  I say that because it’s really hard to find a mechanic who is open on a Sunday.  The box truck lost its transmission.  They had to pull off the road as far as they could and take out the broken transmission fluid line.  I did not know this, but transmission fluid is quite stinky.  John had to eventually get all the way under the truck and transmission fluid was all over the place.  This gets quite interesting because I had failed to mention earlier that when you cross the first Mexican border they put a lock on your cargo until you reach the other side.  All the guys had put their clothes in the back of the truck.  This was day three without clean clothes.  So John gets out from under the box truck and doesn’t even have a rag to wipe off with.  He now has to go find a mechanic who can help him fix the broken transmission line that he carries in his oily black hands. 

And so he did.  He found a small Mexican village down the road a bit with a mechanic!!  (Because God is good!)  Through hand gestures and attempted verbal communication the guy understood that he needed transmission help.  That and the fact that John held the broken line in his hands.  So the very nice man gestured for John to sit while he worked on it.  So, John sat and sat and sat for over two hours.  When he heard someone come in the back he peeked around and saw a young woman carrying a bag from a store.  The guy must have sent his daughter somewhere to buy the part they needed.

Unbeknownst to John while he was getting the part, the police had showed up back at the box truck.  They were insisting that the truck must be moved.  After much attempted communication they realized that it had to be fixed before it could be moved.  Finally, after John got back the truck was fixed and everyone was happy.  One of the people there saw that he had transmission fluid all over him and gave him a special hand cleaner.  John was really impressed when the fluid just bubbled off his hands.  And it left the skin behind! (Of course it probably contains some kind of cancer causing agent but that’s beside the point.)

A little side note here, perspective determines how we live our days.  Will they be good and prosperous or will they be depressing and negative.  I have come to find out that John has a positive Christian perspective in almost every situation.  Some may say that the police were just hassling the guys, trying to get bribe money.  John said that he was glad the police were there.  He said he was glad to have  police protection in the middle of bandito territory.   We have the choice to view this how we wish.

BORDER RULES AND DRUG SNIFFING DOGS

After traveling all the next day the caravan ended up in a town called Escarscia.  They had to stop because there is a rule in Mexico that they can only drive from 6am to 6pm.  It was 6:10 when they pulled into the only Burger King on this whole trip.  Because it was after 6:00 they couldn’t go any further and had to find a place to park the semi.  By the time they found a spot they had driven through the entire town.  Remember how I mentioned that the semi was only 12 inches of the ground?  Well, this quaint little Mexican town had exactly six speed bumps which all measured 13 inches.  Tim and John were laughing when they were telling this.  “Yea, we shaved about an inch off each one.”  Maybe the people of the town appreciated shorter speed bumps.

The next morning they got to the Mexico/Belize border.  This was a newer border with rules that the guys had not heard of.  There was to be only one person in the cab when crossing the border. (I guess the other person was supposed to get out and walk across.)  When they went through they got the green light to pull over.  It’s kind of like Dean Rice being singled out at every airport security they went through during the last trip to Belize.

So now the inspection begins.  They have to open everything up.  There is a new female inspector running the place and she comes out and starts to climb in the trucks.  John, a very honest and upfront guy shows her the bike way in the back that had not been tagged for duty fees yet.  He wanted to do the right thing and pay what was due.  So, the inspector starts to climb down and accidently kicks over one of my kitchen canisters.  It falls to the ground and out comes a white substance.  It got very quiet.  This is bad, very bad.   John looks at her and she is not happy.  John really didn’t know that it was back there.  No one knew it was back there.  John bent down and tasted the substance, knowing that video cameras were now aimed at him.  He looked at the camera and said, “Look, it’s just sugar!” I had asked Amy, my wonderful daughter-in-law to empty them out and then put them in the Bronco.  She probably thought she was being nice by letting me keep my sugar.   He looked around as the inspector was getting her paperwork out and said, “It must have come from this bin.”  And just as he said that he picked up another one of my canisters and the lid came off.  And you guessed it, flour came pouring out all over the ground.  At this time the armed guards were backing up while covering their faces, thinking that maybe something treacherous was going on here.  All was quiet again for a moment. But then the conversation sounded pretty grim, I’m sure “Get the Dogs” and “Call the Federales over here” was part of it.  John was at a loss for words.  He was envisioning himself behind bars in the very near future.

But God is good and John has his ear.  After he said a quick prayer he walked up to the inspector woman and tried to get her to see that he was an honest man and this was all quite innocent.  God softened her heart and all she said was “This is the first and last time this will ever happen.”  She showed mercy. 

In the end, it took the guys two days to get through the final border.  John and Tim went home to sleep and then had to go back the next day to get everything in order.

A few days later we are sitting around the dinner table again and John actually said these words, “Next time….”

Proverbs  2:7-8
He (God) holds victory in store for the upright.  He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless.  For He guards the course of the just and protects the way of His faithful ones.





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