After a 10 hour climb, which took us two half days out of Tuxtla we pedaled over the ridge and here it is, the town is no longer a name in the distance, on the map or in the future. It's in the here and now, though the last few hours were pedaled in the fog and it seemed unreal when the clouds parted, the ridge was climbed and the sky opened up to the sight: Nestled between high mountains which seem to hold the clouds back, descending to the town I have been waiting for and worked ever so hard to get to: San Cristóbal de las Casas.
Last night we tried to find a place to camp, but the indigenous people of the mountains of Chiapas seem to be highly suspicious of people like us, or possibly just any foreigner. We have been born believing all worlds can be made accessible to us, we can be curious and go after everything we want to know, we have the tools, the desire and the way of thinking: Yes, I can! And yes, we do - call it a privilege, if you want. But to understand another world another life another being is something else - to be sensitive, to except rejection without judging is much more difficult than just to go after what you want. I don't really understand and I never will, but I don't want to judge the person who just looked at me and told me I can't pitch my tent by the church (for Christ's sake..) or any other place around this little village. Smiling, but shaking his head, shrugging his shoulders - he was brave to even talk to us, all the others are hiding. One older man even ran seeing us coming....
It was late, it was still raining the thunder was still growling after an enormous downpour with lightening all around us and those people - human beings on this earth with us, denied us a place to camp.....Hard to take, really hard to take, especially after we've been so welcomed into family's homes, people we never seen or met before, curious people, like us, who want to learn and be with others and understand. We wound up getting back on the road, soaked and puzzled, climbing another 300m and found a place on the side of the road - somewhat hidden away from the cars. Fine, good enough, even if we didn't have enough water AND a little sore from the experience none the less...BOOHOO our feelings got hurt!
Now, the next day, climbing in the fog, into the void, the endless slightly uphill road in front of me, chilled me and my thoughts: Who am I to even be upset? I REALLY DON'T HAVE A CLIMBS OF A CLUE what these people are alike and how they feel. Born into this world I can only see with outsider eyes. I've been born into another world and my thinking is altered by my experience. I see somebody change a tire or go about their business in a way that makes me think: gosh, this person really doesn't have a clue - would be good to teach them a thing or two.....Really? how arrogant? Do I really know how it's done better? And even if I do......nothing is BETTER, it's just different! I am the one who goes out venturing into somebody else's business/life, so, I am the one who needs to learn. Ok, people, I am humbled and ever so thankful, because I am doing what I want to do and I like it and that seems to be my way of learning. Thank the world and everybody in it!!!
