From The Editor: Out Of The House, Still In Your Comfort Zone

I’m writing this column from an Airbnb in Mexico City. I know, not the Midwest. We’ll get there, I promise.

A great friend of mine, after a youth spent lifting heavy weights and damaging his spine, has taken up mountain climbing. Less stressful on his back than lifting weights? Sure. Less stressful overall? Definitely not, at least according to either of our mothers.

After conquering Mts. Kilimanjaro and Rainier, my friend had his eyes set on Pico de Orizaba, North America’s third-tallest peak in southern Mexico. He asked me, his long-time friend and training partner, to join him.

One problem: I have never in my life climbed a mountain. However, I’ve always wanted to visit Mexico City, I had plenty of time to train between when he asked and when we were going to climb, and my friend could use my workable but far from fluent Spanish (compared to his Spanish experience, absolutamente nada). So, here we are.

I’m writing this on a Monday. We climb the mountain Friday or Saturday. If the next issue is missing a From the Editor column, welp, you know what happened.

My first couple of days in Mexico have been wonderful, filled with lovely weather, delicious food and fascinating cultural experiences. Not a lot of 900-year-old temples in Minneapolis.

However, and this is where we get back to the Midwest: it has also been stressful. Trying to find food and a way home on unfamiliar streets in a language I’ve been describing my abilities in as “more or less okay” is exciting, but does put a noticeable stress on an already-anxious brain.

Thankfully, it is not necessary to leave your comfort zone and the country, or even our little corner of it, to find beautiful scenery, delicious food and fascinating cultural experiences. Notice how I swapped “lovely weather” for “beautiful scenery” — it is February (at time of writing), and I’m not going to lie to you.

We have several exciting, not-at-all stressful getaways in this issue, and I hope you check at least one of them out. ¡Buen provecho!