TA
Latitude:24.17992
Longitude:-110.30125
GPS location Date/Time:10/10/2012 00:43:13 NDT
Message:TA’s location on her Sea to Summit Expedition in Mexico…from the Sea of Cortez to the summit of Orizaba
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TA
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The way you treat yourself sets the standard for others.
~Sonya Friedman
With a visit to some of Mexico’s most famous (and the world’s third largest) pyramids, Teotihuacan today and the National Museum of Anthropology yesterday, I am feeling like a small rock in a sea of many. Viewing the remains and artifacts of thousands of years of history (that’s three ofs) has me feeling both small and incredibly connected to the web of humans who’ve gone before. Whether marvelling at how the Teotihuacan people moved over 1 million tons of rock without mechanical assistance or wheel or the created murals that would withstand 1200 years of weathering or feeling as though my heart would somehow burst through my chest in climbing the steep steps while not being yet acclimatized, I am moved in every step I take. My mind works hard to imagine life here in 750 AD and it stretches with every new piece of information and experience.
Climbing the Sun Pyramid (pictured above) was great training for Orizaba though not terribly pleasant. We’re still in the phase of acclimatization that slight exertion brings breathlessness to the fore and a whirlwind of physical sensations descends as a result. I’ve done this process enough to trust that it gets better each day. I’d hate to have to throw on a big pack and walk uphill yet. Hopefully, when the time does come, my body will have caught up with the demands.
I’d like to say a special hello to the Grade Four Classes at Bishop Abraham School in St. John’s. They are Explorers in Training and following along on this expedition from Sea to Summit. We’ve been enjoying learning about and tasting Mexican food. Tonight we had Prickly Pear Cactus pads and last night we sampled what are supposedly Mexico City’s best tacos. We’ve also had guacamole, enchiladas, huevos Mexicana, and churros (perhaps the Explorers in Training can research what all these foods are and post a comment for all to see).
Tomorrow we’ll say good bye to the Red Tree House and fly to La Paz, Mexico to meet our expedition team for the sea kayaking portion of the trip. We’ll be sad to leave as we’ve only scratched the surface of Mexico City.
Below is a picture of Marian with our new room mates 🙂 We’ve seen over a hundred skeletons since arriving here and it’s not even Halloween yet…so we thought we’d invite these fine ones home for a visit.
I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.
~Abraham Lincoln
Action is the antidote to despair.
~Joan Baez
I remember my first arrival in Mexico City more vividly perhaps than any other expedition start. I was 21, spoke no Spanish, and arrived three days earlier than the rest of my climbing group. The plane was several hours late leaving Houston and we landed at 11:30 pm in a city that houses the equivalent of half of the Canadian population. I had sketchy details of how to reach my lodging at La Casa de las Amigos and I was sh*tbaked. Fortunately, the kind young man seated beside me who was studying high school in the US and headed home for Christmas took me under his wing. He helped me navigate immigration and customs (where at that point none of the signage was in English) and we stepped out in the wonderfully exuberant mob that was almost his entire extended family.
Given the late hour, they kindly offered to drive me to the Casa. Given the late hour, we could rouse no one to answer the door. Fortunately, I had the name of the hotel where I was going to meet my climbing team and asked my guardian angels if they could drop me there. The hotel was open and they had a room. The family offered to take me home with them. I didn’t want to be a bother… I’ve always regretted not taking them up on their offer for I know now, what an amazing experience that would have been.
I slept hard that night despite the change in altitude. Mexico City is located at 7000 feet or so (both Marian and I are feeling the jump from sea level as I type). Being the shy type, I wondered if I would ever leave the security of my hotel room. “I could fast” I told myself.
Hunger and curiosity drove me out the next morning. With my phrase book in hand, I sorted out changing money, ordering breakfast, and even riding the subway. By the time the team had arrived, I’d gotten brave enough to visit several sites and ventured further afield each day.
Today as we landed I felt that same tightening in my belly. That niggling trepidation of navigating a new world with the vocabulary and skill of a toddler all tempered with a still pretty strong dose of shyness. We got through immigration and customs with our monster bags. Sorted through paying for an authorized taxi (who wants to get kidnapped on your first day). Played punch buggy (Gotta love all the VW Beetles still plying the streets) all the way to our gorgeous guest house (The Red Tree House) and I’ve been enjoying reflecting on how it feels like book ends to be back in Mexico to climb Orizaba for Oma. That time in 1986 marked a momentous change in my life when I moved to the US for love and higher education and began the path that would eventually lead to Newfoundland and tall mountains and now back to Mexico.
We have two days to explore here and acclimatize before heading to Baja California for the sea kayaking portion of our Mexican Sea to Summit expedition.
Be humble, for you are made of dung. Be noble, for you are made of stars.
~Serbian Saying
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
~James Baldwin
Never be afraid to sit awhile and think.
~Lorraine Hansberry
We probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do.
~Olin Miller
In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser – in case you thought optimism was dead. ~Robert Brault
As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words.
~William Shakespeare
You will find something more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters.
~St. Bernard
We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.
~George Bernard Shaw
Sunshine has no budget, the sea no red tape.
~Terri Guillemets
Wisdom begins at the end.
~Daniel Webster
The color of the mountains is Buddha’s body; the sound of running water is his great speech.
~Dogen
A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows.
~Doug Larson
Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. ~Gil Stern
If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.
~Eleonora Duse
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. -Helen Keller
I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.
~Vincent Van Gogh
The color of the mountains is Buddha’s body; the sound of running water is his great speech.
~Dogen
Jumping at several small opportunities may get us there more quickly than waiting for one big one to come along. ~Hugh Allen
The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.
~David Russell
Moonlight is sculpture.
~Nathaniel Hawthorne
To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.
~Emily Dickinson
Since the house is on fire let us warm ourselves.
~Italian Proverb
Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward.
~Soren Kierkegaard
Good judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment.
~Rita Mae Brown
Of all the people I have ever known, those who have pursued their dreams and failed have lived a much more fulfilling life than those who have put their dreams on a shelf for fear of failure. ~Author Unknown
In spite of the cost of living, it’s still popular.
~Kathy Norris
Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. ~Hans Christian Andersen
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
~Nelson Henderson
Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted. ~John Lennon
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
~Pablo Picasso
To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.
~Soren Kierkegaard
Don’t refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase – that’s what wild geese are for.
~Author Unknown
It’s never too late to be what you might have been. – George Eliot
TA Loeffler's Adventures that Move 