Earth Day

Despite the very long drive and gallons of gasoline used to get there & get home, we really appreciated the beauty of God's earth this weekend. Of course, PV is all about the beach. There weren't many people there, due to flu, which was bad for the town, but good for us.

The tourists were all baking in the sun and burning their feet on the sand and fighting the big waves. But the locals were all swimming in a freshwater pool under a bridge with lots of shade and calmer water. So we did, too!



A beach vacation is all about swimming on the beach, but we aren't all about the sunburn ;) so we also went to the PV botanical gardens, which employs local mexicans in preserving the environment and protecting endangered species (rather than subsistence farming, which destroys the ecosystem).



On our last full day Dave took me horseback riding. I've been wanting to do this for a while, but renting a horse for an afternoon is time-intensive and also kind of an expensive date. But I figured riding a horse would be like riding a bike - you never forget. Even though I've forgotten how to ride a bike, I was still convinced I could ride a horse. Which I could. Unfortunately, my butt did not remember the saddle being so hard, nor did my back remember the ride being so jostling. Hmmm.



As we rode our horses up a narrow, winding, rocky mountain path, the sound of their hooves sliding on the rocks, the feeling of falling headfirst under the horse, and the sight of the very steep mountain made me fear for my life.
I had to remind myself of two things:
1. These horses had done this dozens, maybe hundreds of times, and they weren't scared.
2. It was really hot & dusty, and I was thankful that I was riding and not walking up the mountain.

Then, as we left the super expensive condos full of North Americans and Canadians, surrounded by Ice Cream shops and delis and seafood restaurants, we rode the horses through the small town of "real" PV on the mountain: chickens and puppies running through the street, tin roofs and sheets for doors and windows, children wearing only diapers waving at the horses, narrow roads with motorbikes and horses and people crowded on it. I started thinking about how our money could have been "better" spent during our week. But by the end of the tour, I had asuaged myself of guilt. We could have spread our few hundred dollars to the members of that small town, but even then, they would still be living in abject poverty. Or, we could choose to come to a tourist city and spend our money in local restaurants and local hotels and local shops on a weekend when almost no one else was doing that.
There's always more than can be done. For the earth, and the people who live on it.