We made it, and wow!

Brad and I made it into Oaxaca about 8:30 tonight. Wonderful local pastors Jaime Garcia Merino and Isaac Guzman Hernandez picked us up at the airport. We were whupped. Flight delays had made it an eight-hour trip, and once we made it to the Oaxaca airport, the customs agent had a few questions about our big bags of shoes (the four of us are bringing 100 pairs of shoes collected through Shoes for Orphan Souls for an orphanage here). I know enough Spanish to understand the question, "Are all of these YOUR shoes?"

Once we got that cleared up and reached our our hotel near the city center, or Zocalo, we didn't feel tired at all. We paused long enough to throw our bags in the room and then we were back out. We'd driven up into the middle of a celebration, complete with a parade, fireworks and thousands of people enjoying the cool night walking around the Zocalo under Christmas lights. What a beautiful city center. Tomorrow we're going to see some areas of real need, but tonight we're enjoying the festivities. I've attached some photos.