A gal who saved my life: Patricia Soto

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I was delighted to receive a visit from a gal I met in a cave in 2004. Does that sounds mysterious?
I was crossing the Yucatan on my bicycle - a hot, dusty and dehydrating affair. I met Patricia Soto in a cave somewhere in the middle. We walked and talked and ate. She also rides bikes, making her an anomaly among chicas en Mexico.

Sometime later did suffer from dehydration. I suspect is was not eating enough, rather than not enough water - food provides salts and eletrolytes the body needs in extreme heat.  I barely made it across to Tulum, and called her. She let me to recuperate in her house Cancun, drinking Pedialyte.

Visiting Patricia and her mother in her native Cancun

If you have ever gotten dehydrated, you'll know it's not fun. You ache from the middle of your brain to your big toe. Nor is it easy to fix just by drowning yourself in large vats of water or electrolyte solution. It takes time. Meanwhile you feel like utter crap. You can read about my experience of that here, Mexico by Friday (the photos have unfortunately dropped off, but you can look at them here). 

Above is a shot of Patricia last week in NY's Central Park. Below, she is bidding me farewell as I get on the bus back to Chiapis, where I started my 3 month Mexico journey.

True friendships start by first saying hello, and then giving a damn.
Thank you Patricia for doing both!

And here in NYC, thank you also to Charmin' for helping people in their moment of need


Comments

shawncorrigan said…
People do not like to hear this because we have been lied to about salt, there is zero proof salt is bad ,except fake processed poison salt of course. The truth is salt is extremely important and means life and death, it was used as money in the past, don't be fooled, many people I know run from salt because they have been fed bad information. Same with eggs, coffee and a list of other good things, coconut oil butter on and on it goes.
November 3, 2015 at 6:20 AM
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