The Hike

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On Sunday I met up with four of my schoolmates (I’m taking Spanish classes if you didn’t know) for what I though was going to be guided bus tour of the hills surrounding Guanajuanto. Instead it was the five of us (Lynn, Margaret, Natasha, Meredith, and me) on a friendly little hike. So off we ago up the road and heading up the hill. Now let me clarify these are really big rocky hills, only 800ft or so of being classified as mountains. It was a beautiful day so I thought why not. And so the five of us walked for 40 minutes, to where the road turned to dirt and the town below looked like colorful Monopoly pieces and we were just getting started. Lynn, who is a Canadian Nurse, had been up the trail so she was the guide. As we got higher and higher the trail got more and more narrow.

Another 30 minutes later and we were at our first major obstacle of the day. I forgot to mention that with the exception of Natasha (who is 25) these ladies were, 62, 57, and 66 respectively, so we weren’t exactly hauling ass up the trail, but the company and conversation was cool so I didn’t mind. The path the forked into the hard road and the easy road> We took the one MOST traveled-the easy one.

So now that we are at our first climb, Meredith, who had just flown like 24hrs from England, by way of Paris, by way of Mexico City took a time out and the rest of us proceeded. It took me like 8 minutes to get up the hill and the view was awesome. I did feel bad because it took the ladies like an addition 10 minutes, but we all have our limits. Once at the top we had lunch and took pictures. Now I had no idea that we would be walking let alone be gone this long, so all I had was a bottle of water. The ladies had all kinds of snacks so they showed me love and shared. What was weird was that there was a small group of cattle just chillin at the top. There was no house or ranch anywhere in sight. There was a bull amongst them, but I wasn’t trying to get the horns, so I gave him ample space. Meredith rejoined us and we trekked on.

Just past the cows was another section or rock to be conquered. Now at this point I’m feeling like Frodo from Lord of the Rings climbing all over Guanajuanto, but I am not one to not try something new, so I took it all in. When all was said and done we went like another 40 minutes higher. If you have ever seen the pictures of the big Jesus that looks above Rio in Brazil, well that is how high we were. As a matter of fact there was a 6 ft. white cross on top of the rocks and I went all the way up. Now at this point I could see like the next two towns and somewhat beyond. It was really an awesome view.

After climbing down we took another break. Now we had left at 12 and it was now 3:30. So I had to end this 3-hour tour and march along at my own pace. At this point I could see the hard road we had skipped, and being me I took that back. Why was it like a 7-minute route versus the 28-minute easy route? I did almost bust my ass, but I kept it smooth and managed to get down without any incident. I got back nearly an hour and 15 ahead of the group by walking at my own pace.

Never in a million years would I have thought of myself as the hiking type, but it was really cool. I think that to really enjoy one’s self you have to get outside your norm and roll with it. Now wouldn’t go bar hopping with the ladies I hiked with, but I am grateful that I went and for having gotten to experience something new.

The moral to the story> hang with people that are on some different stuff. You just might like it.

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Photos

King of the Hill
Just me doing my thang.

The Fellowship of the Ring
Me, Natasha, Lynn and Margarett at the peak of the Hills.

Comments

[Nathan Owens III]

Negro Please....
In engineering, especially at Rockwell Automation and how global it is, I have to hang with all kinds of people. I'm not going to lie. I can get caught in stereotypes. There's this Italian who thinks he suave for real, this guy France or Russia, that got the most distinctive unibrow ever grown, etc...it's crazy though. I feel you. All these different people that I come around like really different things and hey, it just interesting at least. Kick it until you quit it.