El interior

I feel like I have been navigating a strange space these last few weeks. My compass needle has been spinning, I think. I have only really been able to understand it after recognising that at the end of the Baja peninsula, there was also an end to that part of the trip. There was something about the whole experience from the border to Los Cabos, that I think had run its course. I had done a lot of what I set out to do: I had cycled over 2500km, I had hitched in cars, trucks, and even a sailboat. I had visited over 20 charitable organisations, most of which are now on Open Volunteer, and a few of which are interested in Angel Mule.

With a little under two months left until I have to be back in Oz, what to do with my remaining time has been a little unclear. I have been reading this book a lot recently, and that has helped to clarify things somewhat. I'll try not to bore you too much with my introspection, but I realised a few things. Firstly, that I have been overly preoccupied with certain things, like finding as many charities as I could, and getting as many as possible to sign up to OV/AM. I had also been a little rigid about only cycling or hitching, or doing things in a certain way, and in a certain time. This is all fine, in a way, and for a time, but it had some unintended consequences. This may sound odd to you, but I found, for example, I got a little stressed when I wasn't doing those things as I thought I should. Also it didn't allow for the flexibility for the adventure to flow as freely as it might. On reflection, I also realised that I had not really found a charity doing real medical volunteer work, which was my main interest. Also on reflection, I realised I hadn't been doing much reflection. I think reflection is important all the time, but perhaps especially now for me.

So I have reframed my objectives. They remain similar to before - adventure, travel, charity, etc - but with some differences. I'm not going to fixate on finding as many charitable organisations as I can, as I have been doing, and as has been quite time-consuming, but rather just the ones I come across, and with a focus on medical work. I will travel, but the object will be much more on the journey, less on destinations, and I will try to look inward as much as outward. As for specifics, I will keep Guatemala as my eventual goal - because I think that is where the story ends - and I want to spend as much time as I can on my bike, but apart from that, I will let the rest play out naturally.

After acknowledging that something ended when I left Baja, and after realising what the next, and final part of my journey was to be, the no-man's-land I had been traversing made more sense. The next step is also very clear, and it is sideways. To be amongst the high mountains, in the language of ZAMM, I must ride up into them, and take the steep road from Mazatlan to Durango.