Today has been yet another and different adventure in our time in
After breakfast our group gathered with Rob (Minus David and the Germans). It was not an easy conversation for me, but it was undeniable that those of us who finished in the dark together had a new bond and that the whole group was solidly together and committed to each other!! What a blessing to be able to wake to a new day and be open enough to share our real feelings. The conversation ended with me making the decision to take a plane out and not hold up the group just for the sake of "making a point" that I could do it. I know the group would have supported either decision and that was a good feeling. I felt like I would have more energy for the next 4 day trek if I took a break.
By 10am, the group was heading off to cross the river behind the 
finca. David and Rob had arranged a motor boat to help with the crossing. The village on the other side had sent over representatives the morning because they were under the impression that our group might be spies for the company that wants to build a dam and flood this whole valley. The family of the finca has lived here for over 100 years and the Q'eqchi' have been here for over 1500. The government insists that it is an "uninhabited valley" so the dam is planned. The village asked that those from our group sign a statement that they were not spies and that they opposed the dam. Rob told them that we’d be happy to and, if it would help, we would even be willing to sign something that said we were OPPOSED to the dam.
Rob went over with the second group on the boat and said goodbye to everyone and then came back to wait with Ty and I for our plane. The plane still hadn't come by lunch so our host’s wife fixed us lunch. We had that amazing chicken soup, rice, chicken (including the heart and liver--not my choice), and lemonade. We were still waiting for the plane, which normally comes in 30 minutes, when one of our host’s sons came back with the kids from school. He told Rob that the other group was still in the village across the river. When Rob asked him why, he said they had all been detained in one room and the village was waiting for someone to come verify who they were. Rob said he had no idea how they would do that because whomever they would call wouldn't know them. The son also said that the village had called to cancel our plane and that
was why we hadn't been picked up. Another son had run up the mountain for the second time to call the plane again, so we waited for him to come back. When he returned, he said the pilot had told him he would come if the weather cleared up in a 1/2 hour. We talked about whether or not Rob should go over to that village but he said he would just be put in the same situation as the others and in Coban he would be able to work on getting them out without running up a mountain every time he needed to make a call.
We decided to just keep waiting for the plane and then head back to Coban. I spent the afternoon in prayer for the group detained. For each one, over and over in Taize fashion, I prayed, "Lord, be with (Name). Keep him/her safe. Guard his/her heart, mind, and spirit. In your Son's name. Amen." For each of the 10 members of our group there was constant rhythm. Every time I would start to talk to Ty he would reply with something like, "Nothing has changed." After 3pm, when I checked back in with Ty he said, "Rob went up the mountain to call the plane." When no plane had come by 5pm, Ty and I discussed the probability that we would be spending the night at the finca. Rob still hadn't returned and we knew our window of opportunity for daylight was quickly disappearing. I had just switched my mindset to the fact that we wouldn't be leaving when we heard a motor and all the children of the finca ran up out to the airstrip in front of us yelling, "Avion." 
("Airplane") It was like a scene from
In under 5 minutes, we saw Rob come running down the hill, were told to hurry, grabbed all out gear, ran over to meet Rob at the plane, threw in our gear, and were seated on the floor of a bush plane ready to take off. I was seated on the floor facing backwards between the pilot and the door, which was only secured with a handle with the strength of an outhouse latch. It was designed to keep it closed with no pressure or force. Within 30 seconds of the door closing, we had turned around and were taking off. It was the smoothest takeoff I had ever been in. Once we were up, the pilot indicated that I could turn around on my knees and look out the front.
It was a truly amazing ride on the plane. He flew up over the village where the others were being held and we flew over twice to see if we could see them and took lots of pictures. Then our pilot flew us up through the canyon we had hike down through last night. We also flew over a huge waterfall at the mouth of the river we tubed down. When we went past the waterfall, he felt like we didn't see it well enough so he opened the window on the side and flew around again so we
could get the shots. At one point the pilot took his hands off the controls and motioned that I should take a picture of Ty and Rob in the back. I quickly assured him that I would because I felt that holding the control to get us OVER the mountain we were heading towards was mor important than the photo!! The landing in Coban involved landing on a road with bike riders and two young men sitting on the edge of the runway and leaning back when the plane went by.
We pulled up to the hanger and the plane was pushed in. The reason the pilot hadn't stopped the plane on the finca was because he had left the battery with his assistant in Coban. There were two big dogs in the hanger--Coban TSA airport security-- and the hanger was locked while we waited for
After we were back from dinner,
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