After a successful mid-morning in the boot managerie that is León, we decided to continue on to the Cerro del Cubilete. Not only is the 9,000ft. Cubilete located in the geographic center of Mexico, but is also home to the massive 75ft. Cristo Rey statue. An hour out of León and we arrived the base of the cerro, thinking we´d be up the mountain in a matter of minutes. An hour later and the back of the giant Christ was getting clearer into view. We were carefully dodging the begging children, the peregrinos and the thousand foot drops on the hairpin turns when his face came into view. Now, I don´t consider myself an overly-religious person, but something: the aura or the sheer magnitude awestruck me. Another ten minutes and we were face to face with the Cristo Rey. Not only does the tip-top of the mountain house the gargantuan Christ, but at his feet a temple whos roof is accentuated by a crown of thorns as thick as an oak and as big as a swimming pool. Even if you can´t personally identify with the Cristo Rey, the sheer magnitude of everything strikes you. The road to the top is absolutly treacherous, and every inch is hand laid. The Christ itself is amazing, then to think it´s on the top of a mountain, miles away from anything. After an hour of reflection we decided to attempt the descent. We picked up a peregrino from the Valle de Santiago who, for the sake of his pint-sized pooch decided to hitchhike down the mountain. He was a very humble lawyer who had prayed for a safe operation for an aunt. If the aunt´s operation went as planed, he had promised to make the four hour trek to thank the Cristo Rey. The operation went off without a hitch and he had ascended as promised. I joked that it was a good thing that he hadn´t promise the walk down; he replied that some might say that he didn´t complete the whole peregrinación, but in his line of work there were no fuzzy lines, and he had promised to walk up to the Cubilete, and had said nothing of the walk down! We reached the base of the mountain with just enough gas to get to the closest Pemex, and we were on our way to Guanajuato.08 March 2009
Captain´s Log: On to Cubilete
After a successful mid-morning in the boot managerie that is León, we decided to continue on to the Cerro del Cubilete. Not only is the 9,000ft. Cubilete located in the geographic center of Mexico, but is also home to the massive 75ft. Cristo Rey statue. An hour out of León and we arrived the base of the cerro, thinking we´d be up the mountain in a matter of minutes. An hour later and the back of the giant Christ was getting clearer into view. We were carefully dodging the begging children, the peregrinos and the thousand foot drops on the hairpin turns when his face came into view. Now, I don´t consider myself an overly-religious person, but something: the aura or the sheer magnitude awestruck me. Another ten minutes and we were face to face with the Cristo Rey. Not only does the tip-top of the mountain house the gargantuan Christ, but at his feet a temple whos roof is accentuated by a crown of thorns as thick as an oak and as big as a swimming pool. Even if you can´t personally identify with the Cristo Rey, the sheer magnitude of everything strikes you. The road to the top is absolutly treacherous, and every inch is hand laid. The Christ itself is amazing, then to think it´s on the top of a mountain, miles away from anything. After an hour of reflection we decided to attempt the descent. We picked up a peregrino from the Valle de Santiago who, for the sake of his pint-sized pooch decided to hitchhike down the mountain. He was a very humble lawyer who had prayed for a safe operation for an aunt. If the aunt´s operation went as planed, he had promised to make the four hour trek to thank the Cristo Rey. The operation went off without a hitch and he had ascended as promised. I joked that it was a good thing that he hadn´t promise the walk down; he replied that some might say that he didn´t complete the whole peregrinación, but in his line of work there were no fuzzy lines, and he had promised to walk up to the Cubilete, and had said nothing of the walk down! We reached the base of the mountain with just enough gas to get to the closest Pemex, and we were on our way to Guanajuato.
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