Fits and starts as spring battles with winter for dominance of the land below. Angry skies mixed with summer-like sun. Sweating, freezing, layers on layers off. Deep sand from start to finish. Mostly flat but a false flat really. Slight slope down trail to the river then slight upslope upon return. Washboard road but handled well in the Rubicon which rips along at 40mph unbothered. Thirty-five inch all terrains, professional suspension and a diesel power plant.
Signs of high water surround us. Strange in a dry riverbed but symbolical of monsoon season when this tame and gentle place becomes a funnel for the mountain deluge of the Sangres. One minute a sun-baked oasis and the next a raging torrent. Scarring on solid rock eight feet above our heads. Debris wrapped and twisted around the most permanent structures. When it comes it comes with little warning. By habit I spot my outs if and when the water makes its way.
These places are sacred, but there are those among us too desensitized to understand what these places actually mean and what they represent. The undereducated, the uncaring and the selfish. No matter where the location, no matter the remoteness, these folks leave their mark. Etchings in stone, shattered glass, and toilet paper blowing in the wind from spots slightly more hidden. Incomprehensible to come here and do these things but each year it gets worse and worse. More humans, more debris, less water. Repeat offenders including beer cans and bottles, energy drink cans, and dirty diapers. Bottle caps on the river bottom.
Surrounding us are hills of stone. Cold faces laced with caves and rock fall. All screaming to be explored. Just off the main trail but years and mental miles apart. “I’ll go if you are up for it,” Larry says. “Yes, yes, I’ll go.” At least at some point I will go. Today we are three, out for a stroll before heading to town for Michelada and tampiquena. Rain, sleet, snow, and sun. We have it all whether you want it or not.
Comments 4
As a species, we do our best to invite annihilation.
There are those who say you couldn’t invent this; no need: it’s already here, and has been here for many a decade. Only the final straws that have been added are now allowing it to have passed the point where even the spiritually blind can’t help but see where we are at.
Spain has, over the past few weeks, been experiencing – in some areas – temperatures fifteen degrees C above normal for this time of year. God knows what we will face in August. Rainfall has been insufficient to bring the reservoirs up to normal safety levels in many regions, and the melt from the Pyrenees is not enough to help the areas around Barcelona, in other words, the industrial heartland. The farming areas of the southern mainland are suffering desertification at an increasing rate… migration may not be exclusively a third world problem for very long. However, it seems that the reservoirs of Mallorca are pretty full thanks to storms.
On the other hand, bits of the US and Peru are drowning in rivers of mud. Mess with Mama Nature too long and she gets pissed at you. It’s only reasonable. Reaping, sowing etc.
Author
I think unpredictable might best sum up the future of global weather. But, not sure there is anything we can do about it at this point. Nobody seems concerned. Don’t forget to blow out the candles.
After our holidays in Mexico (first time in that part of the world) I can only say that human = trash. We’ve been to beautiful remote fishing village Punta Alen. To go there you need to drive 50km into tiny peninsula which is a natural reserve (of trash) with entrance fee. You have trash next to road, huge amount of trash on wild beaches on the way, and when you finally get there after 2h off hardcore off-road (for rental compact car) you see trash everywhere next to water and in the forest. I was heartbroken.. the place could be a little diamond if it wasn’t for humans throwing literally everything made of plastic into the sea. Otherwise I have to say that Latin America rocks and we definitely need to go more south than Yucatan.
Author
Latin America LOVES trash. It’s been that way in every single country I’ve visited. We love trash too but the scale and issue in other regions is beyond repair. There are small areas of success but lack of infrastructure is obvious. Kills me to see it.