A Mexican Road Trip: Taking a Chance on the Unknown
There is always some fear involved when you go to a new place that is foreign. Particularly when there is a lot of fear-based media surrounding that place, and well, unknowns! Well, it was no different for me when I decided to go on a road trip down to Mexico.
It was for a climbing trip. Our destination was El Potrero Chico, an internationally known climbing destination near the town of Hidalgo in Mexico. To get there, we needed to pass through the border town of Nuevo Laredo (known to have cartel activity), on the other side of Laredo, on the Texas/Mexico border.
Stress and anxiety started to creep in as we got stopped at the Mexican border, but we passed through the border easily enough. It became evident, as soon as we passed, we were in a different country.
The difference in the more dilapidated buildings, signs in Spanish and the many police trucks we saw with men holding machine guns wearing face mask made me realize, “we’re not in Kansas anymore.” We made our way to the migration place to get my Visa, which is right near the border, with trepidation in my heart.
While intimidating on the outside, (more police men with guns and what I guess were lots of Mexican citizens attempting to get migration status into the states) I was able to procure my 6-month visa with ease and smiles. And we were quickly out of there (thankfully)!
We soon made it out of Nuevo Laredo in more open land and my stress began to melt off. It started to open into the Mexican wild west; mountainous, desert-like terrain that was just stunning!
La Posada Camp Lodge in Hidalgo Mexico
We arrived at our destination, La Posada soon enough, a luxurious, zen, modern, chic campground with a beautiful pool and nice amenities. It is a climber’s paradise! Lots of climbers from around the world were there hanging out, slack-lining, and talking. It was a welcomed change of scene and energy from the stressful border town.
After days of climbing, (of what I would describe as the most epic, scary, and amazing climbing of my life!) we would grab amazing tacos, tamales and cheap beer from the beautiful, friendly locals in the town of Hidalgo. While Hidalgo was noticeably poor, the people seemed happy and friendly with what they had.
On the last day of our trip, we ventured out to San Joaquin Hot Springs to soak our sore muscles (recommended!). On the hour drive there, we got to pass through other small Mexican towns located in the desolate, desert region. Its amazing to see how people live so differently from our very “cush” American lifestyle. While, by looks of the infrastructure, communities appeared impoverished, they looked completely “rich” in community. What seemed like the whole village, outside to be together for only what I would guess as some kind of Sunday style “family” gathering.
Thinking back on the trip, the hot springs and the climbing were so amazing to experience. But equally so, was seeing “authentic” Mexico with my own eyes, a place I had only heard about on the news as being so dangerous. To me, it seemed very culturally different, but also the same; people wanting the same thing as anyone, happiness, and who seemed to have great sense of what “true” community means. And visually, Mexico was so beautiful! The desert mountains made me feel so wild and free. I found myself repeating over a few times, “Now this is living!”
While I am a big advocate of solo travel, this isn’t something I would have felt comfortable doing alone and was so happy to have a partner with me who knew the place. But, I am happy I said yes to the unknown….to explore, to have an adventure, and to feel more alive than ever! So say yes to the unknown, whether it be a new place to go locally, a new way of being, or traveling somewhere totally foreign. You’ll experience different places, people, and parts of yourself you didn’t even know existed.
