Travel Reference
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stuck here until I finish this journey; I have to serve my time. People
say, 'Pat, you're being dramatic. You can stop running and go home
any time you like.' But I can't. Apart from having burned personal
bridges, to give up would be burning the bridges of all those without
clean water who will have it only if I finish what I've started. Robert
Tickner, chief of Red Cross Australia, has told me that there's a well
ready to be built in Timor, but no funds to build it. I told him I'd raise
the funds. I will, too.
august 9
Today, I ran down out of the mountains in the state of Veracruz, the
second Mexican state I've traversed, and hit the Mexican Gulf, on the
east coast, 170 kilometres north of the city of Veracruz. I halted by the
wide blue sea, stood on the black sand and let the waves wash gently
over my legs. It was wonderfully invigorating. Whether in reality or just
wishful thinking, for the short time I stood there the water seemed to
take away the pain. I closed my eyes and imagined I was back home at
Bronte Beach with Brooke and Dillon, and it made me cry. God, this is
a hard road I've chosen.
Now it's time for my regular roadkill report! What I'm seeing on
the road here are the flattened shells of enormous crabs. The car-
casses cook on the blisteringly hot asphalt. Even before they tangled
with whatever truck or car ran them over and squashed them to twice
their size, they were big fellas, easily the size of dinner plates. There
are plenty of live crabs, too, scuttling along the sand and pathways.
Today, I saw a dead monkey on the road. It was sad. I was told by a local
yesterday that police have locked in a cell a spider monkey that was
terrorising villages around these parts, because monkeys can carry
rabies.
The terrain here is tropical, with an abundance of banana trees
on the hills; it reminds me of Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales
north coast. There are little cafes and
cantinas
everywhere, some
simple lean-tos under sheltering palms, and this reminds me of Bali,
where my family has had happy holidays.
The guards remain with me. The eight-vehicle escort has been
downgraded to four, and comprises only federal police. My guards,
however, are still packing machineguns; that hasn't changed, because
