Welcome to another week of trail reports. This time, instead of reporting from Australia, we (virtually) end up on the other side of the planet, in Mexico. Here our Trail 43 ambassador Gilda is exploring the trails in preparation for her big run, the Monarch Ultra.
Everything must be in your back pack or you need to wear it (such as sunglasses, cap, raincoat, etc). You’ll need to be hydrated and strong, based on what you have drunk and eaten during the past 6 months. I’m carrying a water bottle of half liter of water and a tiny tupperware box with salad. The salad consisted of cooked carrots, lettuce, peeled oven cooked almonds, dried cranberries honey dressing vinegar and goat cheese.
In total, we walked 11km today. We went to Amatlán, which is next to Tepoztlán in the State of Morelos. Mountains among canyons and cliffs. Before or while going onto the mountain, I always ask for permission to the mountain, to keep me safe and return back home.
We chose this track because of the rainy season, it’s full of waterholes and waterfalls. Knowing this I brought more cloths to change into. I also brought my bikini, because I wanted to continue the tradition “where ever you go swim in their waters”.
I’m wearing Merrell waterproof shoes for slippery, muddy, rock and wet terrain. The views are green leaves and purple, yellow, red, white flowers, cloudy with fog. Even though we went for a hike we needed our hands free for climbing, doing spiders man, crawl walking going down, etc. The whole body worked the abs, glutes, joints, fingers, calves; in short, it was a full body workout!
On the first waterfall there’s a huge rock engraving that mixes perfectly between the brown rock, green muss and blue water. We chatted with tourists and natives on our way to the top. I’d recommend this tip, so that if you’re in need people might remember if they saw you passing by or the other way around. Going to the top of mountain we used rocks, roots, soil as steps. I did tons of lunges to the viewpoint. When we got to the top we did some stretches and ate snacks and drank water. We took selfies, danced, and enjoy the view at 1962m. All the colors of nature, breathing it, listening it, feeling it, and swimming it, it’s such a blessing therapy and makes my smile looks different!
I was doing just fine until we went down, when my left knee started hurting again. I calmed down because I’ll swim under the cold waterfalls and it’ll reduce inflammation. The cold water was such a relief for my legs. Luckily the weather was warm enough to get dry while hiking. However, after the second waterhole I was feeling so cold. I fell in the waterfall barefoot and now I’m bruised, still wet and not warming up. By the third waterfall the water wasn’t that cold, so I warmed up again and went for the last swim. The sun was out so it felt so good to my back and the heat was on! Watched the clock we did 11km in 5hrs of hiking and swimming, while skipping many of the waterholes!
In the end, we stretched again to cool down. We had a nourishing lunch on the street, consisting of tacos and quesadillas. I had three to replenish the carbs, and changed to dry cloths to go home without catching a cold!
