This past July, I was asked to tag along on a dove hunting trip to the farm in Yucatan. I practically jumped at the opportunity, my passport begging to be stamped with a big ‘MX,’ another notch to add on my adventure belt.
We landed at the Merida International Airport around lunch on a Thursday, loaded up and hit the road. The drive from the Merida airport to the farm is about two and a half hours, and the first 30 minutes is pretty much just getting out of the city. We passed modern businesses, beautiful homes, and quite a few McDonalds. After that there was — and I can’t stress this enough — nothing. Let me mention that I grew up ten minutes from the Georgia farm, so I would say I’m quite familiar with back roads and ‘middle of nowhere.’ I’ve driven many miles all over this region and seen what seemed like nothing for miles. Boy was I wrong!
Dirt roads. Trees. A cluster of thatch-roof homes. More trees. More bumpy dirt roads. Another cluster of homes. Oh, what’s that – is that another car?! You mean we’re not the only ones with enough gall to come this far out into the nothingness?
In the time between passing what seemed like the last ounce of civilization and the time we arrived at the farm, I couldn’t fathom how in the world two country boys from Norman Park, Georgia had the guts to do it. Why did they choose to come here in the middle of nothingness? How did they know it would turn into a major farming operation? Why did they say yes to this area?
Then finally after hours of nothing, there it was and here we were. I stepped off the bus and felt the mud, slick as snot, under my boots. I felt the warm breeze and inhaled the smell of fresh earth. I looked up past the row of palm trees over acres and acres of open fields to where the sky met the mountains in the distance. And then I began to understand.
There’s something about being that far away from mass human existence, surrounded by rugged open fields practically hand placed for us by God in the middle of a mountainous jungle, that just makes you feel at peace. And maybe that’s the same way that Kent and Jon felt when they came across this little slice of heaven in 2002. Maybe they felt that same peace wash over them that told them this is where they were supposed to be.
And now as we are knee deep in another winter season in Yucatan, we are extra thankful for just a couple of country boys from Norman Park who somehow had the guts to say yes.