It’s been a long time since we sent out a lil recap. A lot has happened and also not a lot has happened.
When we last left off we were in the city of San Luis Potosí, being electrified by EDM music while bathing in Media Luna’s somewhat poopy thermal waters.
We traveled through the Huasteca region known for its bright teal waterfalls and natural jungle vibe wonders.
We witnessed the spiraling ritual of the cave of swallows. Thousands of birds emerging in a swirling formation out of the dark abyss.
The surreal became the real at garden of Sir Edwards James, such a trippy place to walk around and admire creative construction.
Just after Xilitla, we found ourselves in the magical little town of Ahuacatlan where a priest led us to a basketball court to sleep, Ernesto witnessed a ritual, and everyone gave us free coffee.
We made our way up more mountains through the Sierra Gorda in Jalpan de Serra. Camping next to a reservoir we met a nomadic cycling legend named Tobin who had been biking/ living nomadically for 4 years. He hated scented soap and loved avocados. Tobin gave us some recommendations for going off the beaten path and we made a lil treacherous detour loop that really led us nowhere and brought us back almost to the place where we started.
Once we descended the wonderous curvaceous roads of the Sierra Gorda we were in the straight up desert. So we threw out the thumbs in hopes of reaching Queretaro, we got some short hitch rides to the outskirts and pedaled into the city like champagne papistas.
We stayed with the homies at Verbos y Vibras and, as we rolled into the kush spot, lo and behold we ran into Sunny, Abili, & Fer the legendary cycling family we had met in Baja. What a small world!!
We stayed at the hippie haven in Queretaro for the better part of a week; the collective often held eco-building workshops and was fighting against a sewage leak in Queretaro that had turned the city’s river into a giant floating turd. Needless to say, we fell in love with Verbos & Vibras but eventually had to leave. After this respite we had our sites set for Michoacán. We cycled/ hitched thru Guanajuato and Michoacán passing many a farmland and strawberry field. We arrived at the Bioreserve for the Monarch Butterfly. Witnessing this mass migration of over 150 million monarchs was a surreal and magical moment.
From the butterfly frontier we had a deadline to make in San Bartolo Amanalco. We were about to participate in a Vipassana Meditation Retreat. (Quick plug 
: Check it out at dhamma.org, if you’re interested at all in meditation or getting to know your mind. The courses are totally free). We also reunited with Ernesto’s dad, Ernesto, who was also joining us for the retreat.
After an intense 10 days
of silence and contemplation we parted ways with Ernesto’s dad and biked through the hills towards the big city, Mexico City, CDMX. One of the better camping spots we had along the route was right next to a waterfall and suspension bridge that a lil bodega owner told us was an energy vortex portal into another dimension. Needless to say our chakras were hella aligned.
We then made our way to the outskirts of Toluca where we camped at a chill go kart arena for a night.
Rolling into Mexico City was a breeze of fresh smog. We coasted downhill into the city slicker lifestyle for the better part of almost 2 weeks. Music, food, museums, bike lanes, homies, and lots of family. We reunited with KG the hooomie who is from somewhere near Chicago. This was his first visit onto Mexican Soil. Luckily, KGs going to be hanging with us for the next month or so! In CDMX we also got to shower daily & eat food that wasn’t beans-out-a-bag with Annina’s mom, Deane, and her mom’s boyfriend, Patrick.
The few became the crew when Katan joined us, scattering piano notes and vision echoes into our realities. Once Deane and Patrick left, we cycled out of the CDMX haze and into the ancient pyramids in Teotihuacan to celebrate the spring equinox along with Katan and KG. Amidst the blazing sun, we learned a traditional Nahua dance and learned about the pre-Hispanic culture that built the pyramids.
From there we cycled to the volcano Iztaccíhuatl, stopping in the town of Amecameca and being graciously hosted by the firefighter squad. We reunited with KG at Paso de Cortés and camped out a night at 11,000 ft. We woke up to frost and the deep bellow eruptions of Popocatepetl volcano. We undertook a gnarly 5,000 ft climb to a mountain refuge where the air is thin and the sights are filtered by haze.
Upon landing back in the earth’s atmosphere, aka the base of volcán Popo, we simultaneously realized our tent poles were still at the volcanos peak and were told to leave the park immediately as the volcano might explode. An anxiety-filled night of lava-dreams later and we arrived in Puebla, the city of sweets & mole. We got to reconnect with some homies from the Vipassana retreat, got kicked out of a club for looking too ratchet. Eventually we left towards Vera Cruz on bike with one of the mediation homies; the spectacular Johnzy, a radical Canadian with a wild smile and a tendency to spontaneously dance.
Here’s the video recap of the last little bits:
To be continued...
Till next month. Sending you mayonnaise, tortas, and hugs.
What’s going on in your reality?
Sending you smelly sleeping bag love,
Annina & Ernesto
