My Worst Day Yet.... [Vlog 51] Volcan Conchagua, El Salvador

Good morning and welcome to vlog number 51. I woke up here at this beautiful beach called El Cuco on the incredible shores of El Salvador. I have big plans for today but little do I know that it would become one of my worst days yet. As I packed up my things and began to head out suddenly a lot of people began to roll in including a big group of boys having an office party who ever so sweetly asked to take photos with me. I'm here packed up and ready to head out. I'm going to a volcano. I'm going to go at the top of a volcano and I'm excited about that. From the viewpoint you can see Nicaragua and Honduras on the bay so it's going to be cool. All right we're off to the volcano. I think the timing was good. So the volcano is called Vulcan Conchagua and it's a really special one because at the very southeast tip of El Salvador it sits on the Gulf of Fonseca overlooking the islands on the bay and the views are said to be absolutely spectacular. However there was just one problem. To get up there they say the road is really really rough but I had an idea that could perhaps help me out. I want to go to Vulcan. The spirit of the mountains. Yes. But I heard that the road is very ugly and my motorcycle has too many things and it's very heavy and my idea is that maybe how to leave a heavy backpack and go up with the motorcycle. Leave the things here? Yes, is it possible? Yes, no problem. For one night? No problem. Okay, okay. To pay, apparently, yes. Okay, and what is your opinion of the street? Yes, really, it's going up a lot of stones. The road is made of stones and it's a bit inclined with the stones. It's ugly. Yes. It's very difficult. A bit. Do you think it's a good idea with the motorcycle or not? Recently there were some on the motorcycle but it was smaller than this one. It's smaller? It was smaller than this one. I think with this one there wouldn't be so many problems. I imagine. With this motorcycle? There wouldn't be so many problems. It's an adventure. Yes, it is. The thing is difficult for me, the weight. Yes, I imagine. All right, leaving the moto there for a minute. I'll tell you why in a second but going to get some juice and fruit. I'm so thirsty for some reason and I've had nothing to eat today. Basically a bunch of oranges, some water and a little bit of chocolate. Thank you for the Rambutan. So I've heard lots of things about the road up to this volcano being very very ugly they say. Very just not a good road and what I decided is the city that's close by, La Union, there's a hostel here. I decided to ask if I could just leave some of my luggage here just to lighten my load. Why not? It's like so easy to do, to just unload some stuff here and then go out for the night and come back and get it. So I think yeah, that'll make my life a lot easier. One day I'll have less stuff and a lighter bike. Right now I have a heavy bike and a little too many, a little more than I so I'll just kind of unpack and repack. All righty, ready to take off. Oh by the way, just a little side note. The guy at the hostel mentioned a couple had recently gone up the volcano on a small bike but I had happened to meet that very couple just days later only to find out that they had left the bike at the entrance and got a ride up which is pretty irrelevant except that my thinking that others had recently gone up on a motorcycle plays a little into my mental space which you'll see in a little bit. In the meantime, speaking of mental space it is really really truly what it is all about and actually I'm talking about in life itself. Our mental space dictates the experiences we have and on the motorcycle not only is it also true but it becomes extremely evident. So life and motorcycling is really a mental game and it's very easy for me to intellectually understand the rules of the game. However, if I want to master the game, I gotta play the game and sometimes like today I suffer some losses. Yeah. Oh my god. It's the first part and I'm already the thing is is the feeling of almost dropping the bike many times already. This happened another time. We're right at the beginning. It was just felt so hard. There's gonna be a lot of sharp turns and now at the decision point it's like do I turn around here? I don't know. I don't know. Now I feel indecisive. Okay, can I do it? Come on. I mean obviously this part doesn't look but it's like oh my god the big rocks and then the steep turns. I haven't even done any steep turns yet. Okay, now this talk is not good. I wish someone could like help me decide. Whether to go or not. Honestly, I'm really torn. I think I can make it. I think I can do it at this point. I don't know what's harder turning around or just going up. Part of me it's like being alone. I just I guess I have a hard time making these decisions for myself. Now I hate that I'm contemplating it too much because that's not good. Okay, I can do it. Oh, there's a big truck. Oh, I'm debating whether I should go up or not. In the truck we will put your back. Yeah, okay. Are you guys with the torque? Yeah. But I'm wondering if I can make it up at all. Where are you going? To the top. Okay. I know but I'm wondering if I can make the bike itself is very heavy. Thank you so much. Are you want to put the bike down? Yes. Where are you trying to go? Take this Oh, those. Okay, maybe put the bike down. Maybe it's going to be weird for me without, without hold on the So I was doing pretty well at the beginning until I got myself stuck. I am stuck. Okay, I'm going to try and back slowly down a little bit so I can get my front tire not stuck in the rocks. So I'm basically backing down the bike very steep and rocky. So let's see how this goes. Also, this broke, which is why I'm not able to film anymore. So I'm like really low on filming devices. All my batteries are dead. And my extra batteries are in my luggage with the folks. Okay, truly unsuccessful trying to back it down because it's just stuck on the rocks. So I think the next best is just power it up. Which I know the camera makes this look easy. But oh, I hear noise. Maybe that's good. But I think if I just Thankfully, the truck did arrive behind me and this guy helped me out again. But things were about to get worse for me, both physically, but mostly emotionally. Are you sure? Yeah, just go. Okay. Oh, wait, because when I have to slow down, it's worse. Here we go. Just so the wheel is on the pavement, just so the front wheel is there. You can't crank it. What? You can't crank it. Go. Yeah. Right here is easy. Well, I think, hold on, I think this is Sometimes when people try to help hold the motorcycle, they actually end up pushing you off balance. And this can be hard to explain. Don't run. Huh? Don't run. It's better you don't hold it right now. I'll hold it. No, no, don't hold it. Okay. No, no. What did you say? Don't hold it. Because it pushes me. You want to push it? No, no. Yeah, just stay. Okay. Because when you do that, I fall. Oh, I don't do that. No, no, I know how your help is. I'm so thankful. Thank you. No, please stop and just go. Stop. Where are you going? I know. I just want to balance. What? Yeah. If we can. It's heavy. Too heavy. It's too heavy. Look, let me tell you something. You guys stay here. I'm gonna tell the guy to come help you. Okay. Because you gotta go. Yeah. You need to go. Okay. Tell him the guy coming here to help you. They told me to wait there because somebody else was going to come and help me. And by then, I just felt completely wasted. Hard thing is like, I don't know, I just think mentally, emotionally exhausted. And then I feel like my ego is hurt. Because these people have to come save me. It's so embarrassing. I know I can do it. I know I can make the rest of my way up. But at this point, it's like... They sent this sweet guy who knew how to ride motorcycles and was very tall to ride my bike the rest of the way up while I got into a truck for a ride. I felt so crushed. Because I didn't make it to the top. And I wanted to keep trying. But I got to the point where I felt like such a burden. But I had to let it go. And I just appreciated the help. Cross my fingers, all would be okay with the bike. And even though it overheated twice on the way up, eventually we made it. Okay, we're here at the truck. This is the second time in the vlog I have just... Hola! What a day. The truth is, this was not my worst day at all. And far from it. Sure, I definitely fell to the ground both physically and emotionally. But in order to master this game, I have to be able to pick myself up out of the emotional pitfalls. And to do that, I must first have the experience of the pitfall. So it's all intertwined. No bad days. And how could it be with a view like this?