June 2

Post date: Jun 2, 2010 5:07:56 AM

Route

Toll Roads from Mexico City to just shy of Villa Hermosa. Total cost of the tolls thus far: about 800 pesos! That’s over $60 to just to cover 430 miles! You’d think the roads were gold plated and scratch free, but most of them have filled and unfilled potholes. Many thanks to Garry, my Mexico City host, for leading me to the first highway out of the city. I’d hoped to make Palenque, but it got dark earlier than I’d hoped. I found no roadside land that looked impervious to greedy eyes or late-night no-good-doers, so I drove through the dark until I stumbled upon a hotel. Got a room here for an outrageous 275 pesos (only one towel, second floor, with a tv remote that barely works). The receptionist said my bike was safe since it was parked beneath cameras.

Environment

Nice, foggy mountains, including one snow-covered one that may be the volcano I heard about. Also some palm tree forests, wide rivers with happy swimmers, marshes with birds, and lots of grazing cows, horses, and donkeys or mules (I can’t tell the difference). Also there was a lot of smoldering, flaming, and smoking roadsides. This, I suspect, is their form of mowing. I saw the same thing in Brazil. It smells like a cross between roasting marshmallows and beef jerky. I failed to check if there were actually marshmallows or meat cooking in the fires.

Social

I was diverted into the military inspection lane after one toll booth. “Oh @%&$%” I muttered. I stopped before the group of soldiers. The main one smiled lightly and waved his hand in a way that I thought meant, “Dismount.” I did not. He asked in Spanish if I speak Spanish, and I said, “No.” He motioned again, twice, the second of which I understood as “Go.” So go I happily went. At a gas station spoke to a kind Mexican-American who travelling from Atlanta, Georgia to a nearby city with his family. We discussed the importance of retaining one’s cultural roots while also learning about other cultures through travel. Another gas station attendee showed interest in my motorcycle. He asked if it was strong, and I replied “Yes, except in high altitudes.” He muttered a bunch in incomprehensible Spanish. My problem is not only that I suck at Spanish, but that I can speak some of it fairly well, which leads my listener to believe that because I can speak some, that they trust I will understand their two minute monologue. Just nodding goes a long way in terminating the conversation in a timely fashion.

Psychoanalytic

Love is not a reaction. Love is an action. So often we say, “I love her! I love it!” Such is a statement of liking, not loving. Love is a choice. It arises from within oneself without prompting from any stimuli. Love is the act of giving. Moreover, it is giving without expectation of compensation. Love can be given to anyone, regardless of one’s liking of that person. If people distinguish between infatuation and love, and if love is idealized more than infatuation, society as a whole would shift towards greater peace. Infatuation is selfish, possessive, greedy. Love has nothing to do with one’s morality, tastes, or personal endeavors. It is spontaneous, free, and born from an overabundance of health.

Wild/Weird

Every so often along the highway there are wells boasting signs reading “Agua.” Wells along a highway?