Installment number two of the Mexico In Photos. Now you know what the area looks like and what lives here, it’s time to put some colour into the Why of being here.

This is it, the sharp end of the work. The ground is bone dry as just as tough. No clay nor peat, just solid mineral and dust. Each day we strike the earth with our picks, chipping away at the rock and stone. Breaking it up and making it crumble enough that we can take out rakes and drag it to a flat riding surface. Often we are faced with having to carve out a bench into the hillside. A surface that was once almost straight up vertical but after hours and hours, maybe days, we turn out a rideable trail. Thsi bench took eight of us about six hours of stubborn picking, smashing, crushing and cutting. 

We have access to two kinds of vehicles. We have four Rokons and a couple of Kubotas. The Rokons are the worse kind of motorcycles imaginable. They are fully rigid, are two-wheel drive, and break down all the time. The Kubotas are like off-road golf carts. Despite all the faults of these two types of vehicles they are actually quite useful.

The other type of vehicle we have is our bicycles which we use for commuting to the work site. At the end of another day of hard work and once we have carved out a section of new trail it is very rewarding to ride it home. Then  each morning our commute to work gets longer and longer. Here is two odd things about this photo. Firstly that I’m still riding the big wheeled SantaCruz Tallboy. I am still in love with this bike and I’m looking forward to spending the rest of 2010 aboard it as I have ALOT of traveling and exploring planned. Secondly, I’m wearing a button shirt to work. 

It’s not all hard work, snakes, dust and cactus. Life should be all about fun and games, even work.