About three years ago, when I was still studying my career, I heard that traveling was something that nourishes the soul and feeds the spirit.
At that time my soul and my spirit were hungry, hungry for growth, to experience and know this world that still remained so alien to me, did I have to travel to find me?
I had also heard a very famous phrase that says the following: " there is no perspective without distance" and I had to check it.
How was it possible that there would be no perspective without distance? Did this mean that if I didn't get away from that "bubble" in which I lived, I would never be able to really understand life?
Now I know that you travel for incalculable reasons; to get out of the routine, to take distance from every day, to know and experience new cultures first hand, to go a little "further" and get out of our comfort zone.
At 22, I knew I had a lot to learn and a long way to go.
It was difficult for me to understand others and I felt separated from society, it was difficult for me to adapt and express myself, I was not a big fan of socializing, I argued with my boyfriends and most importantly; I had not finished understanding a situation that had me completely tied to my past: my parents' divorce. I was still heartbroken about it and it had been almost 10 years!
I really wanted to find myself and stop feeling that I was "alone in the world."
I felt that I had no control over anything and at the same time I wanted to control everything, I always wanted things to be done my way, I tried very hard to get the best grades in college.
I knew that each of us understands and sees life in a different way, I wanted to open up but it was hard for me to be flexible and understand the mentality of others.
It was then at the beginning of 2016, in the middle of my career, when I decided to go on my first mountain expedition in Iztaccíhuatl, at the age of 22 I would touch the top of one of the highest mountains in Mexico.
On that trip, my intention was not only to reach the top of the mountain but to climb a new mountain in my life that would allow me to know myself in a different way, in a deeper way.
The beginning of the expedition was not when I set foot on that mountain, but from the moment I set foot outside the home.
I gave up all the luxuries I was used to; I slept in a hostel where I did not even dare to lie in bed without putting my sleeping bag under me, I did not bathe in three days, I had to eat only "what was available", I had to carry my 15 kg backpack. and was cold all the time. As you can see, it wasn't exactly a fun ride ... or a comfortable one.
Although it is hard to believe, it was right here, in the middle of the cold, the fear, the uncertainty, and the discomfort, that I experienced a fascinating and new way of seeing and living life.
It was in this first high mountain expedition where I realized that taking a "trip", which implies leaving your comfort zone, is something that fills you with 1000% learning, there is no way you cannot learn something, that simple.
I fell in love with this way of exploring an unknown place, but above all with knowing myself.
That is how I was encouraged to do several expeditions in the Andes during the next two years, to conquer the highest peaks in America.
The important thing was not the expedition or the mountain to which I went, but to conquer my own inner summit and continue expanding in every way, thus knowing how far I was capable of reaching.
I learned to see and accept my limits and capabilities and experienced a different journey each time.
After these expeditions, I decided to do other types of trips, that were more focused on hiking and exploration, and so it was that I walked almost 100 km. In the canyons of the Copper Canyon, I did the Salkantay Trek in Peru and went to explore the Natural Reserves and jungles of Chiapas.
I also made trips to the beaches of Mexico, the Pacific, and the Caribbean, where it was possible to relax and make bonfires, having the best bohemian nights by the sea.
I recently had the experience of doing a 20-day road trip along the Pacific coast, from the tip of Mexico in Los Cabos, to San Francisco in California, sleeping for 19 nights in a van, watching the best sunsets and sunrises, surfing and walking in the mountains along the coast almost every day.
