What happened…

Andrew writes: I remember when I first saw Emilio Rama’s profile on Warmshowers I noticed that he had been a member for only about 1 week. He probably joined because of his upcoming Pacific Coast tour this summer, that he talks about in his profile, I thought to myself. I sent off my request to stay, and to be honest, didn’t expect much of a response. So when he said yes, I was happy as it meant one less thing to worry about in Puerto Vallarta. I fully expected that we would ride in the one day, and ride out the next, and that would be that. Emilio had other plans for us!

From the get-go, his attitude matches mine really well. He speaks English well enough not only to understand some of the subtleties of my humour, but he can hold his own in the arena of witticisms. Poor Amanda, having to put up with two of me for a few days. Emilio’s family is great too! Amanda and Paty seemed to get on well enough, and Amanda certainly ignored me in favour or their two children long enough to make me pouty and jealous. So what made this experience so “over the top”? Well, it’s the little things (and the big!): firstly, they gave us their bed to sleep in and shared a room with their children. Of course, it rained the first night causing a water leak directly over our heads, but we didn’t think that was on purpose. Actually, I had stayed up until 0100hrs or so talking with Paty and Emilio, which is rare for me because I was pretty tired having cycled from Sayulita that day. Ok, secondly, they wouldn’t let us pay for anything, or buy anything…or…anything. All of our desires were their command? It was weird, and it seemed like too much hospitality for us because how could we ever hope to repay it. Thirdly, when I had forgotten a few things back in Sayulita, Emilio loaded the whole family into the family vehicle and we all went in a big thunderstorm to get them. This was all done with some sort of excuse that we were going to San Poncho or something, but as soon as we got what we needed in Sayulita, we drove the 45mins back to Puerto Vallarta.

Now maybe, I thought, Emilio is just trying to build up karma for his upcoming tour, I thought. Or maybe he’s just a nice guy. Heck, of course he is! He’s so energetic and excited to talk with us and learn all of the intricacies of bike touring. I spent hours going over his route with him, and his equipment list, and he would ask Amanda and I questions about things that we consider simple now, or take for granted, but which I remember wanting to know the answer to myself, before we set out on our Pacific Coast adventure back in 2007. The truth though, as we tried to explain it to him, is that everyone is different, and even if you don’t have the best equipment, you’ll still have the best time.

So on the last day, when I woke up and said to Amanda, “Let’s ride bikes!”, and we packed up and were ready to leave, Emilio was right there with us. His bike was all loaded up as though he were going on his tour. “Training, I must train!” he explained. Thus we all set off towards El Tuito, about 50km away. It was really great having someone who knows the town take us through it by bike. The route that I had mapped out was on busy streets, but Emilio took us on the malecon instead. We all took turns trying to avoid hitting tourists, and failing miserably as there were so many. So when at lunchtime he asked if we were really leaving him and his family, and he learned that we were, he seemed a little sad, but he perked up, because that’s his way, and then he let us buy him lunch. And so we parted there, in Mismaloya, as cycle touring equals, just going in different directions; Emilio north, and us south. Hopefully our paths will cross somewhere down the road.

Amanda writes: Puerto Vallarta was nothing like we had envisioned. And we don’t even mean just the amazing hosts, but the city itself. We actually really liked the vibe and the intimacy of it. Mazatlan was nice but PV seemed to be smaller and more unique. Paty and Emilio gave us a personal tour of the different areas and we really enjoyed it. When we first came to PV we had talked about going on a few time-share presentations like we did in Mazatlan. Our approach is it’s sometimes nice to be reminded how we used to live, enjoy a nice meal and be rewarded with some tourist events (snorkelling tours, boat rides, city tours and cash) for our time. After being with Paty and Emilio however, I would trade in those things ten times over for the time we spent with them.

Andrew talks about the little things that make a difference and we each have our own perspective. I’m still amazed when hosts give us their bed and am humbled by their generosity. Emilio said it best when I asked him about it before we parted. He said that when he opens his home to someone he is opening his heart and with that comes everything. It was true; we were like family for the few days we visited. We slept in their bed and I can’t remember the last time I slept in a bed that had sheets that must have been 900 thread count and smelled like heaven. It may sound like an incredibly silly thing but as someone in her pre-cycle touring life enjoyed those luxuries; I was in heaven! The pillows were soft and I just buried my face in them like I was meant to live there forever. It’s little things like these that sometimes I really miss. Don’t get me wrong, our silk liners are comfortable and efficient for our purposes but every now and then, fresh cotton sheets brings me to tears.

So we are in their beautiful home with their super polite and cute children who are learning English and I could have spent a week with them. Paty was so easy to talk to and had we met under different circumstances I’m sure we’d be friends. She was a very easy going gal who was great with her kids and she even enjoyed drinking beer with me which is awesome as Andrew doesn’t often join me for a beer. We toured the city and she even took me to see the kids school. It was her daughters (Emilia) upcoming birthday party and we shopped for a piñata and they way her eyes lit up when she saw it was priceless. Add to that after our long drive to Sayulita she got to stuff it with goodies, she was so happy and tired all at the same time. Seeing these two kids reminded me how much I miss our nieces and nephews. I could go on and on … just know that Paty and Emilio are two very special people and I’m so glad we met them.

Hearing Andrew talk about all the dos and don’ts of bicycling touring was interesting. He’s usually the guy who says, just buy a bike and go; yet with Emilio he was being so thorough. It was actually nice to see how much interest and care he was taking with him. It reminded me of how much he likes to help others. Emilio’s enthusiasm was contagious. Sometimes I feel like we forget how special it is what we are doing. We have this amazing life and having the ability to share it with Emilio was wonderful. I’m so glad to have had the time with him and I’m so excited for his trip. He has reminded me that what we are doing is wonderful by way of showing us what he is doing is wonderful. Thanks Paty & Emilio!

Today’s Photographs