Grounded

The thing I love about landscape photography is not the picturesque photo, but the moments I get to experience in the process of capturing the shot. This is one of my favorite pictures I have ever taken, mostly because of the memories that come along with this sunrise and weekend in the middle of the Sierra Norte mountains of Mexico. Looking back on it, this is one of those weekends that feel surreal to me. Thinking about it makes me laugh and feel so full of gratitude for the unique adventures I have been able to experience.

At this point my family and I had been in Oaxaca, Mexico for a week, it was December 29th, 2018. We started the day by hopping in the back of a pickup truck for a half hour ride to a tiny town in the Cuajimoloyas, over 10,000 feet above sea level. While we were checking into a 4-room hotel, a grandmother came over to my brother, Mikal, and I and started asking us questions in Spanish. Collectively we were able to piece together a conversation for a few minutes before my brother, Blake, came over to help out. Blake, this woman, and her twin daughters had about a 20-minute conversation with the rest of my family trying to pick up on a few words here and there. It ended with the grandmother inviting us to her home for lunch in a different town in two days. We were not sure it would fit into our itinerary but asked for the address anyway. She said to just get a taxi into her town and ask somebody in the street, that people will direct us to where she lived (this is for a different story). We say our goodbyes and check into our room, drop our bags, and go on a hike to check out the area. It is stunning, the mountains are completely covered in trees with massive agave plants lining the trails. We hike around for a few hours before heading back to grab a bite to eat and a beer or two. We had heard that the area was known for their river trout, so we make our way to a restaurant and all ordered the trout, having it cooked and seasoned in our own customizable ways. After placing the order our server comes back to us and asks if we want to go catch our own fish. Slightly confused as to what exactly that means we all just look at each other, as if to see who is going to respond with a confident answer. We say sure, and she grabs a net and motions for us to follow. We walk about two blocks away, stopping at a fairly small pool that contains the fish they had previously caught. She hands us the net and we each take our turn catching our own fish and putting it in a bucket of water, laughing about the process of picking out our own dinner. After the fishing process we headed back to the restaurant, had a beer, and enjoyed a lovely dinner. I have to say, that was probably the freshest fish I have ever had. After dinner we headed back to our room and put-on warmer clothes, it gets quite cold at this altitude at night. We were looking forward to the ‘massage’ that we were told about by the hotel. We did not really know what it was going to be, but it was a unique local massage that apparently had healing qualities about it. The directions to the massage place were a bit unclear, and we ended up splitting into two groups to find the fastest way. My brothers, Gage and Mikal, made it there first, and while Mikal got ready to get his massage, Gage headed back to find us and show us where to go. The place was about a 10-minute walk up a massive hill to a small house at the top of a side road. When the rest of us walked inside there was not anybody in the room. The room was pretty large, it had two cots with small barriers between them, a door off to the right, two different bathrooms (would later find out they were showers), and a weird opening about the size of a fireplace in the wall with a thick wool blanket over the hole. We sat there for a moment, waiting for somebody to come out and welcome us. Instead, from the hole with the blanket over it we hear Mikal’s voice, “umm guys, two of you can come in here with me. Just take off your clothes and come in.” I look at Blake, completely lost and having no idea what is going on. I respond to Mikal, “like all our clothes? So completely naked?” . . . “yeah.” Blake and I walked over to the opening, my parents and Gage were just arriving, stripped off all our clothes and crawled into the hole in the wall. We were met with a tiny black “room” that was blistering hot, the ceiling was too short for our bodies to sit upright. Not being able to make out much, we felt our way inside, we found Mikal laying on his back next to a furnace fire apparatus that was pumping out heat, to the left of him is a tiny old woman sitting on the ground, covered head to toe in clothes. Blake lays next to Mikal, I next to Blake. This is one of those moments where time seemed to stop for a moment, just leaving me to try and process what is going on and what is about to happen. I am in a tiny black room, sweltering heat like nothing I have ever felt before, butt-ass naked shoulder to shoulder with my brothers, and not being able to see a thing. Mikal talks and it snaps me back to reality, “Guys, cover up your crotch with your hand.” A moment after covering up she pumps the furnace and the heat washes over us, a heat so intense it is almost unbearable, clenching up your entire body to try and deal with it. The type of heat that makes you see colors behind closed eyelids, wanting it to stop immediately. Within seconds sweat is pouring off of me, I am completely soaked. Next thing I know I twitched hard as these branches appear out of nowhere, whacking my body; hit to the chest, hit to the stomach, hit to the legs, hit to the ankles. It stings a bit but given the wild circumstance it almost feels good. After she goes down the line, she tells us to turn on our side; we all rotate to the right. Another blast of heat comes as she pumps the furnace again, forcing me to squeeze my eyes shut and clench my body, counting the seconds before the initial blast dies down. With sweat pouring off of me the branches start whacking my body again, up and down my side. We lay there for a minute or two, each getting hit a few more times before we turn over to our other side where the process begins again. After we finish the cycle, she hands us our own branches and tells us that we can hit ourselves with them, then she crawls out the hole to the main room. We all chuckle a bit, still in shock of what we just went through. We spend a few more minutes laying in the darkness before deciding the heat was enough. I crawl out and quickly grab a towel to cover up. I look down at myself and realize I am covered in leaves, dirt, and a few minor welts. Everything was sticking to my sweaty skin. The shower does not get even remotely warm, but the ice-cold water feels incredible after getting out of what felt like a brick oven. After I towel off, I realize how clean and fresh I feel. My body feels invigorated. After we are all done with our “massage” Blake asks the woman a bit about the process behind it all. We found out she was hitting us with herbs, specific medicinal herbs. Her mother was the one who invented the process, and she has been doing it her entire life, just now training her daughter. The town does not have a hospital or any medical facility, if somebody is sick, they go to her and get this cleansing process. Apparently, it cures illness and can help with evil spirits as well; and to be honest I believe it, given how I felt after that. We say goodbye and head out, all laughing as what we just went through finally sinks in. Even though it is around 10:00 at night, we all feel wide awake and refreshed.

Here is a photo of the hole we crawled into. Notice the branches on the ground and how the wall black above it.

After getting back to our rooms we decompress a bit and head to bed. I slept wonderfully and woke up to my six o’clock alarm. I slowly get up, quietly getting dressed to not wake the rest of my family. Blake and I had planned to get up and catch sunrise, which was in about 30 minutes. I gently wake up Blake, but he says to give him a minute, that he will meet me up there. I head out with my camera and my tripod, stepping out into the cold morning mountain air. I walked to the top of the same hill the massage place was on. From the top you overlook the entire town, as well as the mountains surrounding it. I do not see anybody on my entire walk, finally seeing an old farmer tending to his cows. I set up my tripod and snap a few pictures of the sky awakening, starting as a light blue, but as time goes on more and more yellow seep into the horizon. There is something about sunrises that enchant me, making me feel alive on top of this hill, appreciating the serenity of the world’s beauty. Sometimes being alone in these moments makes it feel like a special gift that nobody else in the world is getting to experience but me. These moments have an energy to them that makes me feel so connected to the universe and everything around me. Always feeling so uplifted and excited about the day after it. As the sun comes over the horizon the world officially starts to wake up, the sky gets bright and people start their days. I personally think the sky before the sunset is the most gorgeous. The photo above was taken about 10 minutes before the sun officially breached the horizon. I used my telephoto lens to zoom up on the mountains, it was amazing to capture the layers and fog, still hanging low over a city far away. After feeling the sun start to warm up the day I catch up with Blake, and we grab our books and head to a small restaurant to get some breakfast and coffee. I feel beyond content as we sit in this chilly restaurant, sipping our coffee, and reading our novels. I look up from my book to peer out the window and smile, I do not have a worry in the world. Just thinking about the past week of experiences, appreciating the perfect morning, the insane night before, and all the unforgettable memories that traveling can bring. This world infatuates me with curiosity. I love this life.