Dirty Inspirations

Amid the barrage of news about drugs, violence and corruption in our neighbor to the south, a few friends and I took off on bikes to remote parts of Mexico for a challenging cycling adventure and to find ‘real Mexico’. What we discovered on the surface was a materially poor, beautiful and rugged country, and much deeper, a close-knit and inherently giving people. The Mexican land kicked our asses and the people supported our endeavor with an inherent grace. In stark contrast to our ride, after 8 days and a little ‘boats, pedaling and buses’ – we ended up in Punta Mita for some surfing, whale watching, sun and family time. See the full picture story on my Facebook wall (schneiderterri@aol.com ) and a few pics below in my blog posts on the trip.

To recap these excellent couple weeks I thought I’d highlight some moments and experiences that seem to have contentedly stalled in my brain:

• Relentless pedaling uphill under a blazing sun in dead-still air feeling like a sweat drenched solar panel, then cresting a hill to start a descent and feeling an ever so slight breeze drape my scorched skin – and my body screaming – Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
• After 6 days of riding Mexico’s dusty interior, catching our first glimpse of the turquoise hued sea and white sand beach.
• Starting up pedaling after too long of a rest break – producing the most exquisitely painful, marrow deep, aching sensation in my flogged quads.
• That we were required to adapt to changing our route and plans many times. And that we did so with only a few glitches and with relative ease.
• Acknowledging on remote Day 3, with one of my riding-mates Greg, how completely ‘out-there’ we really were, with no connection to anything but our bikes and each other and finding out on that day that no Americans had ever come through the village we slept in. That giddy, edgy feeling of keeping-it-super-real.
• Waiting at the top of a hill in the blistering sun to regroup and being so completely hammered from unrelenting climbing that all we could do was laugh hysterically.
• That first sip of an icy cold Coke while standing in the blazing sun on the side of a long dusty road.
• Being verbally affirmed by a local, in yet another country, at how lucky we are as women to have the freedom to make choices about all aspects of our lives.
• Spending evenings with new-found friends who; helped shape our route and adventure, engaged in diverse and substantive conversation, always shared their best tequila, and who ultimately revealed the real face of Mexico.
• The cold lime-infused-cerveza sliding down my throat at the end of a day of hard riding.
• Experiencing a glimmer of doubt as to whether I could make it up yet another brutal climb, but always knowing that I could.
• Happening upon the spectacular El Cielito cabanas. A small piece of heaven after another hellish day of riding and too many prior flea infested beds.
• Having a father and his sons on horseback, gracefully move their cattle so we wouldn’t get swallowed up in the horn laden herd.
• Never really knowing what was ahead and having each day become a novel gift to unwrap.
• Seeing the Mexicans we met so pleased that we chose to see the real face of their country and people.
• That the route we chose was so sublimely inaccessible and supremely tough and in the end offered a satisfying and worthwhile endeavor with good friends. In short – doing cool things, in cool places, with cool people.

And post ride:

• To (carefully) rescue a puffer fish (with my surfboard), after it got washed up on shore and did its prickly/puffy thing for me.
• That stepping off sensation of catching a wave in sensuously warm water.
• Watching whales feed and breech.
• Knowing beloved members of my family so thoroughly enjoyed their vacation time.
• Coming home and looking back on a couple of weeks well spent. I am richer for the experience.

Enjoy my pics on Facebook…

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 16th, 2010 at 3:53 pm and is filed under Adventure, Adventure/Reflection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.