People

Carol writing

A few weeks ago, I mentioned in a Facebook post the delightful conversation we had while we were in Paso Robles, with Neeta the owner of LXV winery (recently rated #7 of top ten wine tasting rooms in the country by USA Today).   After hearing about our planned year of nomadic life, She asked us some great questions.  

• What gave you this dream?
• What is one thing you are most excited about regarding your trip?
• What is the one thing you dread the most?

It was actually a great opportunity for Jim and I to hear the other articulate our very different perspectives. We realized that our trip will be enriched because we approach it from different angles and therefore both of us will experience a much more complex adventure by experiencing this together (Xplore2Gether!).

For me, the answer to question number two is fundamental to who I am as a person. People are much more important to me than things, even places. I do look forward to seeing the Mayan Ruins, Machu Picchu, Lago de Atitlan and so many places, BUT the people we meet along the way are really the highlights for me. I love trying to communicate and seeing their faces light up as we connect in spite of my infant-like Spanish skills. Neeta responded to my interest in people and cultures with an interesting comment. She is convinced that all human beings have the same culture though very different religions and customs.  It became clear as she explained that what she really meant by “culture” was basic desires and motivations.   She emphasized that we all want our families to be safe and comfortable. We all want to love and be loved.  There is more common than divides us when you boil life down to these fundamental aspects.

Let me share with you a few of the memorable people we have met in just the last 2 weeks. In Valle de Guadalupe, we were the only English speakers. I was listening intently, trying to understand how people greeted each other, what were the words and phrases commonly shared beyond “Buenos Dias”.  I talked to the 3-year-old daughter of the woman setting out the food. She looked at me solemnly, I assume she did not understand my slow, heavily accented way of speaking. I blew her a kiss. After her mom encouraged her, she smiled, came over and kissed my cheek. SIGH!!!  When I returned to the table one of the couples asked us where we were from (in English) and we learned about their family and life in Mexico City.

In San Felipe, when we settled into our room at Kiki’s RV park/Hotel, 8 BMW GS motorcycles arrived in one group. By the next morning we learned they were all from Guadalajara. One of them, Rafael, spoke English well enough for us to converse, and he gave us a lot of great advice as well as his phone number asking us to stop and meet his wife when we reach Guadalajara. Then later at the same place, just as we were starting up our motorcycles, we met a couple with their 12-year-old son. They are traveling around the world in an ambulance!   At almost every stop we have met people like this family, people from all over the world (USA, Mexico, Honduras, Australia – so far!) at various stages of a trip similar to ours.  

At dinner one night in San Felipe, we struck up a conversation with our waiter, also from Guadalajara; he was a delightful young man. He had specifically moved to San Felipe to work and learn English “on the job”, since so many Americans and Canadians visit the San Felipe area from December through March. He will return home within the next year or so.   His self-taught English was much better than my Spanish!

When we reached Guerrero Negro, we met Seth. Talk about living life and enjoying people and places. Seth grew up in Tasmania, spent 15 years working in IT in Australia then decided to begin an epic adventure. He met a friend in Seattle, Washington bought a motorcycle and has been working his way south for months, with the goal of reaching Ushuaia Argentina, same as us. We enjoyed dinner and conversation with him that night, and the next morning wished him well as he was headed south as we were staying another day to go on our whale watching tour.

There were 5 other people on our whale watching tour. There was a couple from Sonoma along with their friends from Oregon, and a charming young man from Mexico City, who worked as a program manager for a wind-power company. He was enjoying a very full schedule on his 3 day weekend, touring the bird sanctuary, the whale tour, the Salt mining tour and a tour of the dunes. By the time we spent 1 hour together on the bus and 3 hours on the boat, we started to feel like family.

The next day we we rode to San Ignacio, and as we pulled into the Bed and Breakfast inn we had reserved (Ignacio Springs B&B – wonderful place, a literal oasis in the desert!), we were not entirely surprised to see Seth’s motorcycle in front of the office! We may meet him again as we continue south.   The proprietors, Paul and Bonnie, took ownership of the already-established business this last year from another Canadian couple. It was fun to hear their journey, with Paul leaving a life as a big-rig operator and Bonnie as a certified welder, to the quiet little town of San Ignacio. Their Bed and Breakfast is along a delightful river full of Blue Heron, Egrets and other birds. They have kayaks available for guests, and provide a family style breakfast and dinner.

We greatly enjoyed the conversations with the other guests around the family dinner table at night.  We met Joe who lives in the Peugeot Sound area and is doubly retired as a pilot- from the Air Force and more recently from United Airlines (Jim figures it is likely that Joe was his pilot on some of his international flights out of San Francisco). Joe rode his motorcycle down to Mexico and spent 3 weeks in a Spanish-language immersion school near Mexico City, and was in the process of slowly working his way back home.  A serial Mexico visitor (by motorcycle), we enjoyed Joe’s stories and feel a little more confident regarding some aspects of our trip after hearing some of his suggestions.  We realize now that we will continue to meet people like Joe and Seth who have already or are now doing the same thing we are, and there is a natural comradery around common goals and shared or similar experiences.

Greg and Vicki were there from Bozeman, Montana; another couple from Tucson Arizona, and Monica, born in Mexico City but found her “home” in Cancun.  There was a delightful twinkly eyed couple from Germany and a few other couples (I am terrible with names).  And we met Kim, who has experienced more in her 30 some years than most people do in a lifetime. She grew up in Bakersfield, California spent 2 years in Nicaragua, met her husband, married, moved to San Francisco then returned to Bakersfield to help her Mom and Dad. I have recorded some incredible stories of her adventures.

Seth, the Australian we first met at Guerro Negro, first arrived in San Ignacio at a nearby campground, where he met Chris and Sharon, who like us are on two motorcycles and are headed to Tiera del Fuego.   Seth had a flat tire, and having read that the owners of Ignaico Springs were also riders, he came over to ask if he could borrow some tools and assistance to fix his flat.  In the process of talking with the owners (Paul and Bonnie), it came out that Seth (among other things) is a web developer, and Paul and Bonnie were wanting to update their B&B web site.  So they did a barter exchange – Seth to help with web site, and Paul and Bonnie gave him a room at Ignacio Springs.  Back at the campground, as he prepared to move over to Ignacio Springs, Seth invited Chris and Shannon to come over to visit, and that was the serendipitous (providential) way we ended up meeting Chris and Shannon.

Chris and Sharon spent six years as missionaries in Honduras, Chris as a teacher and Sharon as a nurse.  They left to come back to the states for Sharon to get more medical training (Nurse Practitioner) so she could operate her own clinic.  They had the idea for a grand trip before returning to Honduras, and spent a few years after Sharon finished training to save money for this trip.   After they complete the ride of their life – they will return to Honduras to the same ministries.  They were fascinating people and a delight to talk with,  we may end up seeing them more on our trip given commonalities in our itineraries.    

[ FULL STOP:  Jim insertion here:  I was proof reading and editing this for Carol in Loreto a week or more after we left Ignacio Springs.   Remember this – that fact will be important in an upcoming blog post.  Back to Carol]

From San Ignacio we drove to La Paz and spent the night.  The next morning we went to the harbor to get the temporary vehicle import permits (TVIP) for our motorcycles (necessary paperwork and refundable bond for taking an out-of-country vehicle to the mainland) and tickets for the ferry to the mainland for the next week.    While we were waiting for our TVIP  I talked with a young man in line behind us, who grew up in Chihuahua, went to medical school and now practices in Loreto. 

So many interesting people, and after trying to put some of the names and stories down on “paper” for this blog, I decided I needed to make a spread sheet to update each night, so I can recall the details of each encounter. Each one is precious in God’s eyes and I want to remember them.