All night ride to Mexico City
My alarm goes off. My eyes burn as I try to locate my phone. Using all of the strength in my body I manage to drag myself out of bed. It’s 1:30 am. Time to ride to the largest city in the America’s.
“This is going to be crazy,” my dad says to me as we tack up the ponies in the darkness of the night.
After 3 month in Mexico, our last ride together could be nothing less than an adventure. We will arrive in Mexico City with the rising sun on a Sunday to prevent problems with the overwhelming traffic. I have mentioned how difficult it can be riding through cities, imagine this one. With 21.2 million residents, Mexico City is the third largest metropolis in the world. Only losing to Tokyo and Delhi.
At 2:20 am we are riding through Tepotzotlan’s empty streets. As we make our way out of the city, riders join us from the shadows. By the time we leave the city of Tepotzotlan we are 9 riders. Without these men and women, my father and I would have never been able to make this difficult ride.
“Don’t worry we walked to the Basilica of Guadalupe from here a few years ago as a pilgrimage, we know the best route,” one of the Vaqueros told me.
Every year millions of people from Mexico and around the world visit the Basilica which is home to Mexico’s patron saint. My father is very religious so this is where we will end our trip together.
“Never in my life did I imagine I would be riding into Mexico City on a horse,” my father said as the sun began to rise.
For the next 3 hours we made our way through large streets as people stared up at us in amazement. It was a really cool scene. At one point everything almost turned into tragedy as we were crossing a road and a car simply refused to stop. With half the riders on the road and the other half waiting to cross the car sped up. Luckily everyone was okay but it was a very scary experience.
At around 10:30 am, surrounded by a sea of people, we arrived at the Basilica of Guadalupe. It was a very emotional moment for me as I could see how important this accomplishment was for my father.
“Lets go thank the virgin for keeping us safe here in Mexico and ask her to protect you on the rest of your trip,” he said as we made our way to the church.
Still in his chaps he kneeled in front of the saint’s image and prayed for several minutes. I simply stood back and watched as our trip played through my head like a movie. I can’t even begin to explain how proud I am of my father. I will never forget what we have lived here in Mexico with our beautiful horses.
