La Huasteca What?

The end of the year naturally gets me looking back on the year that has passed and beyond. I can't believe how far I've come. Recently I've taken it back to what I would call my true traveling roots - driving and discovering new and favorite destinations in Mexico.

I call this my roots because it was when I was driving across Mexico in 2003 when I really began traveling... I mean really traveling - meeting local people, eating local food, speaking local language. Cara, my close friend and I drove down the pacific coast and slept in our hammocks under grass roofed palapas. It was an amazing journey, and it opened my eyes to a new world of travel and a new way of exploring. I learned about something more than hotels and restaurants - I learned about people, culture, and independent travel and discovery. It was during that same journey that I met my partner Pancho. Actually, we met three times: first, Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, second, Palenque, Chiapas and third, Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo. It was natural that two wanderers took up wandering together.

In 2005 we journeyed through Jalisco, Mexico State, Guerrero, Vera Cruz, Tabasco and Yucatan. We were aided by a trusty '79 Dodge camper van (the same one Cara and I used in 2003) that found its end on that long, last journey somewhere outside of Villahermosa. I think the van is now someone's sedentary residence - possibly the scrap yard's night watchman. That voyage was full of adventure and comedy. Some of the memories that stick out are being guided by 'el jefe' (a desert nomad) to a 200 meter deep natural mountain hole with a howling outbound wind; battling for hours on a remote beach when the van sunk into the sand and being towed to safety by a kind local family who offered us bug ridden beds for the night; driving through winding, nail-biting 'roads' in the mountains of Guerrero on our way to a destitute little village and buying goat skins from a rancher who also insisted we taste his home-made mezcal (Mexican moonshine); going to a rainbow gathering in Vera Cruz where the ticks were much happier than the campers; and staying three days at the highway-side mechanic's house far from anywhere while we decided how to move the dead Dodge. It wasn't just the two of us who went, our 5-week old daughter, Denya, was also along for the adventure and, needless to say, she was always a big hit with the people we met.

This year our journey had a much bigger trajectory and 2007 began in Beijing, continued in Mexico City and then traveled north to Edmonton and across Canada to Montreal and back to Mexico City again. We bought a little truck and to break it in we decided to take a road trip...

Starting out from Mexico City we traveled to la Huasteca-Potosina. La What? La Huasteca. I didn't know anything about it either. It's a region east of San Luis Potosi. San Luis Potosi usually brings up visions of deserts and cactuses so I was surprised as we crossed through a mountain range and passed into a water-rich region. Actually the area is known for its waterfalls. We went straight to Xilitla after a couple of hitch hikers told us it was well worth seeing. What makes it famous is a surrealist construction in the middle of the jungle begun in the 1950's by an English bloke named Edward James. He was apparently a friend of Picasso, which might give you some insight into his creativity. The construction is spread over about 4 hectares and it consists of stairwells and doors that lead nowhere. Check out the photos. It was like stepping into another world. James constructed his dream in an area with a beautiful waterfall and he 'tamed' the waterfall creating a handful of small swimming holes. The humid, hot air made for a refreshing dip into the crisp water. We made some friends and we were invited back to work at a New Year's festival. I will be giving a poi workshop and Pancho will perform. Destiny had a part in it because I loved Xilitla and so now I will have the chance to go back again. I wanted to stay but because we were on a tight schedule to spend Christmas in Guadalajara we moved on.

Our next destination was something straight out of a 4X4 television program and we ended up giving our new truck a workout up a 20 km stretch of rugged, rocky road. It took us two hours to make the journey to 'el Sotano de las Golodrinas'. We stayed the night in the back of the truck and at dawn we walked a short while to an open pit where thousands of swallows were heading out for the day. To understand this amazing place check out this video I found on youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2bqxZs0iCc. We didn't jump, but we watched all the birds fly out at the break of dawn from the edge of the 400 meter deep chasm. The locals are so humble about their natural treasure, they charge 10 pesos to enter and we were sold some hand-made fruit juice by Guadalupe, a local woman whose small yard has two maracuya trees. She invited us to stay at her home until the birds came back to their nests at sundown. We kindly declined, bought some more maracuya juice and got on the bumpy road back down the mountain.

We stopped to see some more waterfalls on our way through la Huasteca and then headed to the desert valley below Real de Catorce. Near Matehuala, north of the City of San Luis Potosi this desert hides many treasures. I dare not say more and only encourage my readers to find out more about this unbelievable place and its inhabitants. I took away some souvenirs from the desert and among them were dry, cracked lips and a sunburnt nose. I also took away a bit more consciousness. My daughter took away a couple of cactus spines in her hand but she is fully recovered.

From San Luis we headed over to Guadlajara to celebrate a lovely Christmas with our families alongside Lake Chapala.

This is the kind of traveling I love - the kind where I don't need a plan. I have two wonderful companions, always ready for the next adventure and each time that we journey out I'm reminded that there are always more beautiful destinations to discover.