No oasis

I rolled out to the paved road on the gas Santana gave me. The course crossed the pavement, and there we waited for Andrew and Tanner to pull up in the truck. This was mile 524, and it would be my goal in the race to get here before nightfall or within one hour after dark. We just blew through 130 miles at an average speed of 49 mph – a blistering pace for Baja. This gave us some daylight left to go 60 more miles to San Ignacio where we’d spend the night. First, we had to eat. 

I laid down on the dirt, the shadow of my bike giving me shelter from the Baja sun, which felt like a microwave during the day. Santana and Rick did the same. There was a little block building about 150 feet away alongside the road. The lone structure in sight. It was a store, but it looked abandoned and neglected. We were waiting and there was nothing else to do, so I got up and walked over to check it out. The 3-parts water 1-part Gatorade I had in my pack was warm and getting old. 

There was no door on the front of the building – just a dog guarding the place. An old weathered woman commanded the dog back down. I looked in and she motioned that it was ok to enter. It was a store, and it was open.

Concrete floor. Dusty. Sparse. Two window openings, but no windows in them. There was one upright drink cooler. I was surprised there was electricity. She was out of water, and only had sodas, sugary drinks, and beer. I didn’t want any of that. In the 12’ x 14’ retail establishment there was also junk food – chips, cookies and candy. It was like a typical gas station in the US – junk food. This woman didn’t have much inventory or selection.

It used to strike me how poor people could be overweight. But the reason is not that they can afford lots of food, but that they can afford cheap sugary junk food that has become readily available and, in many stores I saw in Mexico, nearly the only option. The world has been taken over by Frito-Lay and Coca-Cola-like companies, and we’re paying for it. 

Just then, as if on cue, a guy walks in with a case of cold water bottles. It was a delivery she was waiting for. Now I had one healthy option – water. I bought a big bottle and it disappeared into me in a couple minutes. I was grateful this woman kept her shop open, even if she had so little business. No cars stopped here in the hour we waited. But she helped me, and I helped her. That’s what free enterprise is all about. I tipped her to show my appreciation.

I think about poverty – the natural condition of man over our history on earth. And I think about prosperity and what causes it. If we could only help create those conditions in places where people are poor, they’d lift themselves out of poverty. Property rights, the rule of law, free markets and trade, and stable money.

I went back to laying in the dirt with my head on my pack. Just as I fell asleep, the truck pulled up, Andrew and Tanner had six tacos each for us. They were pretty good, but in the heat, I only choked three down. We refueled and checked the bikes over, and we were on our way again – into the bright Western sun with the heat radiating off the midafternoon sand.