Mexico: Sports and arts as a means of environmental protection

Mexico is a huge and diverse country, and up to now we only did the Baja California Peninsula! Our route, after crossing by ferry from Baja California to Mazatlán, continued like this: rest in the coastal town of Sayulita, meet a photographer and communicator in Puerto Vallarta, leave the coast to go to the city of Guadalajara – why did we do this? -, continue to the heart of the country to paraglide in Valle de Bravo, Temascaltepec, and return to the coast to spend a few days in Puerto Escondido. There was an enormous swell coming and we wanted to be there to film it, before continuing on to Guatemala. On these routes, with so many things that we have experienced, we ask ourselves, what would we like to highlight about this passage through Mexico? What would we like to share with you?

Let’s start with our days in Puerto Vallarta, where we met someone very special, Samuel Resendiz or Sam. He does not have a “sustainable project” per se, but his work has a great positive impact. Sam was born and raised in front of the sea in Vallarta, always fishing and playing in the ocean. One day he discovered photography, specifically marine photography. His curious eye, his patience, his respect, and his knowledge of the sea allow him to free-dive, take incredible photographs and share them with the people in Vallarta. What impact does this simple act of sharing a photograph of the bottom of the sea has? It is way more than being “a pretty picture” to adorn a hotel, nature becomes “more familiar” to local people, and they discover things that they did not know were there on their shores, on their beaches! They get surprised. They start to know and understand what was previously totally unknown.

His first collection was called “Ventana al mar” (Window to the sea) because it was like opening a window to that unknown world for many people in Vallarta. Through art and visual communication, Sam teaches and promotes marine conservation.

Like Sam, we believe in the power of images and art to create change. You, who are an artist, who like to paint, act, take photos… What impact is your art having? What message are you conveying? It is important to understand that to take care of the planet it is not necessary to be a biologist, a scientist, a geographer… All jobs can have an environmental side to them.

Saying goodbye to Vallarta, its delicious food and the warmth of its people was not easy, but it was time to continue and leave the coast to go to the big cities. Why did we do this? Fixing a Tesla car is not easy and it is still something very new. Either in Guadalajara or Mexico City we could do the last Official Tesla service of the trip. We still have more than 18 thousand km of the route left. The wise thing was to go into Mexico to check the cars and for a few days pause the adventure. Also, if you are interested in these things, going to a tesla workshop is like going to an amusement park, a crazy almost magical place.

A key element of this expedition is to share experiences of adventure and sports in nature. We protect what we love and love what we know.

It may sound cliché, but it is very real. That is why we want to share experiences in contact with nature. Some require training and perseverance, like kitesurfing, but others do not, like hang gliding or paragliding and flying like a bird if there is someone who can take you! This is what our friends at Hangar 5 do, give you the opportunity to fly, as well as be able to stay in a natural and magical environment: in front of Temascaltepec Rock (“El Peñon”). We arrived in the area with our cars already revised and fixed, and we never thought we would be able to get to Temascaltepec Rock with electric cars as it is quite remote. We thought we were going to have to stay in the nearest town and that the team from Hangar 5 would pick us up to go do paraglide. How wrong were we!  Imagine our joy when we discovered that the range of the cars was enough to all the way to Hangar 5, sleep there in their tree house in front of the Rock and the next day go flying!

Electric Cars have allowed us to reach very remote places, far from urban life, surrounded by nature. An electric future is possible TODAY.

Tito Alvarado took Tuti to hang glide! He is a local from the area who has been flying since he was 14 years old, pure magic! The passenger only has to embrace the experience, surrender, trust the pilot and enjoy. Poor Tito ended up deaf from Tuti’s screams. Martin, on the other hand, made a couple of flights on his paraglider, flying quite close to the Rock and landing wherever he could. Luckily he didn’t destroy anyone’s corn crops – these things can happen! And Oli, this time he had to film, thanks Oli! 

Happy, but with time pressing us, we realize that we have been in Mexico for more than a month, and we still want to make an important stop before continuing to Guatemala: go to the Mexican pipeline, the famous Zicatela wave in Puerto Escondido. The problem? Mexico is huge and it is not so quick and easy to get from one place to another. Road challenges are coming. Read our next blog soon coming!

Note: At the time we decided to go to the Baja California peninsula, we knew that this would mean taking a ferry at the end, from La Paz to Mazatlán, to continue touring Mexico, and this means burning fossil fuels! We will offset our carbon footprint once we finish this trip. We calculated that by crossing a distance of 429km by ferry our footprint was 0.12Mt of CO2e, this is approximately the carbon footprint of a Uruguayan in half a year. We are saving all this data to calculate our footprint at the end of the expedition and compensate for it. Did you know that you as an individual or as a company can do this every year?