The Rest of the Trip

I am finally back home in Seattle!  What a crazy adventure I’ve had the past week.

Let’s pick up from Saturday evening.  After chilling out for a bit back at the hotel, I decided to head out again for dinner and see what else I could do around town.  I asked the front desk personnel for suggestions and they recommended a Brazilian restaurant called Pampas.  If you are unfamiliar with Brazilian steak houses, they basically  bring you meat of all kinds and slice it onto your plate and it is all you can eat.  There is one in Seattle called Ipanema Brazilian Grill and another one that I’ve been to in Chicago called Fogo De Chao.  Very yummy!

Once again, when I said I was going to walk to dinner, the staff at the hotel insisted I took a cab.  They were truly concern for my safety at night.  I took their advice and rode in a cab.  Dinner was excellent and very filling (all that steak).  After dinner, I figured I could walk back to the hotel and it was a chance to walk off all that food.  As I made my trek back, I went by a coffee shop/dessert place and I decided to stop for ice-cream.  It was a cool little joint, however no one spoke English.  So I placed my order anyway and asked for ice-cream, seeing that they had a freezer with ice-cream containers in it.  The lady over the counter proceeded to say something to me in Spanish and I had no idea what she was saying.  Thankfully, a lady, who was there with some friends, saw what was going on and stepped in to help me.  I told her what I wanted and she asked in Spanish however the response was strange – we don’t sell ice-cream.  I was confused since I was staring right at the ice-cream containers.  After some persuasion from my new friend Mireya, they decided to sell me a cup of vanilla ice-cream.  Apparently they had the ice-cream there to make smoothies.  For the next hour or so I got to enjoy the company of 3 lovely women (I didn’t get a picture with them though).  Mireya had spent a year in the US and so her command of English was good so it was fun to learn more about the city and people of Tijuana.  After the dessert break, Mireya and friends gave me a ride back to the hotel because they too were worried for my safety.  Since there was not much else I could do on foot, so I decided to retire for the night.

Sunday arrived and I woke early to try and find info about the church I had passed by the day before.  After searching for a while I found the church online.  It is called Grupo Unidad.  The church was quite unique in that it was a huge building with no signs or fixtures to identify it; also the sanctuary was in a circular form but in a rectangular building.  It looked like a former arena of sorts.  Another thing that was fascinating to me was the church was connected to a bar few feet away; they kinda shared the same property.  The best part about the location of the church was, besides the bar, Starbucks was across the street – what more could one ask for.

I got to church about 1/2 hour before the service was to start, found myself a good central spot and sat down.

Only a few people were there before the services started.  People started trickling in about 10-15 minutes before church started.  I wonder if this is a common occurrence around the world – people trickling in to church.

Kicking off the service.  You’ll notice and empty section – it was filled up as the service progressed.  The whole bottom floor was full by the time the speaker came up to speak.  Although I had no idea what anyone was saying and singing, I recognized some of the melodies of the songs being sung.  I was overwhelmed at being able to worship Jesus as part of the Church (universal).  It was a great experience.

After the message, there was a call for prayer and the prayers teams came to the front of the stage.  Their teams consisted of married couples partnered together to pray with people.  It was so cool to see people respond and be prayed for.

I went across to Starbucks for lunch after church.  Then it was time to look for a way to watch the Seahawks play.  This task was harder than I thought.  I walked a few blocks back to the hotel and found none of the TV channels playing the Seattle game so I decided to make the trek out to TGI Fridays.  I was hoping since it was an American establishment they would play all the games on their TVs.  After walking in the sun for about 3 miles, I walked in to a packed restaurant with every TV screen showing the San Diego Chargers game.  I was very disappointed.  Now I had to make my way all the way back to the hotel (which included climbing a steep street).  After exhausting all my television options I decided to try and find a way to listen online and finally there was something I could do.

After the game, I spent some time reading and winding down; then it was time for dinner.  This time I decided to just use my map and walk without asking anyone.  However as soon as I stepped outside, my buddy “Fuentes” the cab driver saw me and asked me what I was doing.  He then insisted on taking me wherever I wanted to go and he even suggested a Japanese restaurant, so I went and had sushi.  It was a nice place and good food.

Upon returning to the hotel, I saw that my favorite swing shift crew was working so I spent the next 2 hours just hanging out with them at the front desk and getting to know them personally.  I even had a chance to talk about church and my faith and hear Gilberto’s take on church.

I found it hard to believe that my stay in Tijuana was almost over.  My friends in Seattle were all talking about how it was probably God’s way of forcing me to slow down and rest in Mexico.  I now had to come up with a plan as to how I was going to make it to the airport to try and fly standby.  I really wanted to get home on Monday so I could turn around the make it out to the Minister’s Retreat.  My plan was to try and get back into the US, return my rental car and get to the airport before the plane left and I succeeded.  Running to the check in counter, I asked if there was a way I could get on the last flight out and the response was yes but for $100.00.  I was now with the choice as to how much it meant for me to return that day or wait till the morning to catch the first flight out.  I tried to get them to see that I had already paid to reschedule my flight for the next morning and I really didn’t want to pay another $100.  Then out of nowhere, a manager suggested to the agent to pull my name up in the system where we found that I was not even booked for the morning flight.  In fact, my reservation had not been changed yet and I was booked on the previous flight on Saturday still.  I was then asked if I still wanted to leave to which I said yes!  The biggest surprise was that they were going to let me travel for no fee.  I was very thankful to God and the good people at Alaska for allowing me to travel home after my adventures in TJ.

So, I made the flight and arrived in Seattle at 9:30 pm, picked up my car and drove fast home.  I was determined to get on the road again to head south for the Pacific Ocean and make it to the Minister’s Retreat.  I got home, dumped my stuff out and repacked for my next trip.  I then headed out for my next adventures.

I had been to the location of the retreat once before many years ago.  I could remember landmarks that I had made in my mind except this time I was driving solo and at night.  It was pitch dark and really late.  I actually missed my turn and kept driving until I ran out of freeway.  It literally took my to a point where the sign said “Primitive Road.”  At this point it was almost 3 am and I had been driver for over 3 hours (after just returning from Mexico).  I was out of cell range so I couldn’t call Josh.  I had to back track.  As soon as I had one bar on one of my cell phone I left Josh a voicemail.  Finally we were able to connect and poor Josh had to wake from his sleep, jump online to find a map and direct me to the hotel.  After what seemed like an eternity, I made it to the hotel.  I quickly jumped into bed to get some shut eye knowing I had a sound check/rehearsal at 8 the next morning.

Morning came fast and we were off to start our day at the retreat.  It wasn’t really a retreat for us since we were there to do worship at every session.  The meetings were good, and the speaker was good and I had a good time.  Here are some pictures of where we were:

That’s the Pacific Ocean out there.

Josh and I drove onto the beach.  He was filming a short video clip and I took this picture.

It was fun to be there, albeit a little tiring.  I got to meet some people and see some old friends and that was refreshing.

Now it back to the grind and easing my way back into work.  I need another break to recover from my crazy adventures and travels but there is none in sight.

I am glad to be home and grateful for the experience I had.