After three off-days I am leaving Popayán early in the morning. Signs are telling me the distance to the border crossing to Ecuador and I quickly know, that this won't be a walk in the park.
By eight a.m. it's already 30°C and the sun is baking me. I am working my way up never ending mountains, doing five km/H. But the suffering is worth the breathtaking views. Mother nature is showing its best side.
I am listening to Podcast after Podcast, think, reflect and try not to loose my mind. Eight hours of non-stop uphill, doing five to seven Km/H can really be nerve wrecking.
But it's the small moments, that set off an explosion of motivation inside of me.
Moments like the kids of a small village, that come running towards me, screaming, reaching out their little hands, for me to give them high fives. Or the truck driver I am talking to at a pull-in, who tells me he will look out for me, on his way back, who really honks at me the next day, hanging out of his truck, yelling "HOLA CHICA!". Or the old man, with the dark, wrinkly skin and a huge hat, who just nods at me, giving me a thumbs up.
Those moments just fill up my heart with so much happiness, because during those moments it feels like we aren't strangers. For a short moment, that I am passing them, there is some kind of connection. And this happiness makes me forget, that my legs are tired and my backside is burning. And at some point you always reach the top. (to go down and then go up again)
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