Day 67: The Art of Waiting, Part 1 (Days 15, 16, and 17 of the Rally)

There were many opportunities along the rally to....wait!  During these times, we made the best of our moments either waiting for a repair, or waiting for clearance from Honduran Customs.  Indeed, we are still waiting for the Honduran Customs to release Patricia!  (Our ambulance eventually earned her name Patricia, derived from the Brazilian "Patricinha."  She requires a lot of attention and maintenance, but she has a good heart.)

In Oaxaca, we had to wait about 10 days for the repair to Patricia's rear axle.  So while we were there we took advantage of our free time to visit the Oaxacan coast.  Not a bad place to wait (and work) while waiting for the repair!  Here we are on a day trip to the Bahias de Huatulco:

This entire place was beautiful.  It would be great to come back here on another vacation on a different kind of budget.

And we spent some time waiting in Puerto Escondido:

And some more time waiting (and working) in Puerto Escondido:

While we were waiting, we learned to slow down and enjoy the nature all around us:

Back in the city of Oaxaca, we also used our waiting time to learn about the history of the place.  We visited our first ruins--the Monte Alban, or White Mountain.  This was our first visit to any ruins on the trip, and it was really illuminating.  Our guide was excellent.  He was a Zapoteco indigenous man from the Oaxaca area; his native language is Zapoteco, the local indigenous language.  He spoke excellent Spanish and English and gave the tour in both languages.

Later, some of the things we saw here for the first time would show up again at other ruins sites, such as Copan Ruinas in Honduras.

Our waiting time was some of the best times of the trip!