The team leaders for this amazing journey have been working tirelessly to figure out routes for our trip. They have begun to purchase vehicles, including RVs and 4x4s with campers, that will be used for the bulk of our trip. Because we have so many people going, we are going to have to split up into different groups. There will be 2 or 3 separate routes, and the entire team will meet up as a whole at certain points. The routes have not been finalized, but here is a rough idea:
Both teams will being the journey in Redding, CA and be commissioned by Bethel Church. They will drive through California and most likely both enter Mexico through the Nogales border. Team #1 will probably stay in Western and Central Mexico, then head for Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Team #2 will begin in Western Mexico but then head over to Central and Eastern Mexico, eventually crossing the border in Belize and continuing on to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Both teams will meet up in Colon, Panama and ship the vehicles on a ferry into Cartagena, Columbia.
We are hoping to start the journey throughout South America together in Columbia, then split off again as we weave through Ecuador and Peru (meeting together as a whole team at specific points). At certain times, we will leave our vehicles and take boats or planes to get into unreached areas of the Amazon. Afterwards Team #1will head to Bolivia, Paraguay, meet up with Team #2 in Argentina, head back north into Bolivia again and then into Brazil where they will meet up again with Team #2 in Santarem. Team #2 will travel through Chile and Argentina, even to the southern tip of South America near Antarctica, then back through Uruguay and Brazil. Once both teams are in Santarem, they will take a ferry to Manaus (with or without their vehicles...TBD), then travel north. Team #1 will head into Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, then fly into Caracas, Venezuela to meet up with Team #2. From Caracas, both teams will fly into the Caribbean.
Currently, the team leaders have contacts in every country in Central and South America, and the Caribbean contacts are still in the works. I personally dream of visiting Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. Hopefully that will happen!
I have no idea what team I will be placed on, but I am open to doing whatever. When I was in Mozambique, I was placed on a different outreach team than several of my good friends and couldn't believed they'd been put together without me. But I ended up having an amazing experience and loving every minute of the time I spent with my team. I couldn't have asked for a better time. So I trust I will end up in the right spot. I can't wait to see all the amazing things that will happen that no person could ever plan...
