Riding in the clouds

We woke up early today, to the sound of buses and three wheeled motor carts that parading through the city of Tehuantepec. Lou and I went down to the market to fetch some coffee and pan in order to get ready for the long ride ahead. Tehuantepec is 200 feet above sea level, and about 30 minutes from the Pacific. How tempting that may sound, we were destined to head back inland to San Cristbol de Las Casas, a historic town full of colonial architecture and beautiful tourists.
The ride was our best yet. It may have rained on us for around 1/3 of the trip, and my boxer shorts were very wet by the end, not to mention a very sore ass; however, the Sierra Madres today had taken us up to heaven and back. On the way, we saw everything from oxen driven wagons to high tech wind turbans providing energy to the power grid of Chiapes. What a wonderful ride. After passing the capital of Chiapes, we quickly climbed up to 6000 feet were the indigenous inhabitants of this very green land live and love. As we climbed through the wet and cool climate, we moved up into a dense cloud hovering through the clouds. Looking off the cliff sides along the road, all we could see was a dense fog. How many people can say they road their motorcycles in the clouds? Not to mention, along the way, we saw beautiful women in hand woven cloth of purple, turquoise, green and blues with intense needle point carrying the freshly cut tree limbs to start the oven for tonight's meals. Men climbing the mountain sides with saws, cutting the wood for tonight's meals, and children parading side by side, down the side of the highway, going home from a day at school above 5500 feet. Only angels think of such beauty, yet me and my best friend (aka my R100GS BMW motorcycle) had the amazing opportunity to see such beauty.
As we made our descent from the heavens down to about 4500 feet into San Cristobal de Las Casas, we were happy to find a wonderful hotel in the center square of the city, overlooking a city so alive and so wonderful, that we could almost imagine the fiestas with wondrous food and salsa dancing happening just 300 years ago, just outside from our balcony. How alive I feel right now, how rejuvenated, how majestic. I am alive.