in the summer 2014
my team and I embarked on a journey for
14,000 miles our goal was to ride our
bicycles from Alaska to Argentina from
the top of the world to the bottom of
the world over the course of 21 months
through 14 countries pedal South was a
project where for storytellers including
myself set out to make a documentary
that will give a perspective for the
people and places of the Americas as
long as I can remember my dream has been
to be an explorer and share stories
about the world and I believe that the
more we understand the world the more we
understand ourselves and the deep
connection that there is between all of
us I believe that the more we understand
each other the more compassionate we can
be with one another we can we need a lot
more compassion in this world petal saw
was that for me as soon as we arrived to
Alaska we got to where the world starts
and we took on bicycles to the Arctic
Ocean and dunked them representing the
beginning of our journey then we started
cycling south right away we encounter
our first obstacle the Dalton Highway
it’s the stretch ways from the top of
the world to Fairbanks it’s 500 miles
but there is nothing but gravel and mud
there’s no people there’s no stores
there’s no food so in order to prepare
for that we carry two weeks worth of
food mainly dry we set out to their
journey in five days into our journey we
ran out of fuel we miscalculated how
much we needed to cook that dry food so
suddenly we were stuck in the middle of
nowhere Alaska with not enough to eat
and just to give you a perspective but
week before we were living in Austin
sleeping in a bed working out maybe one
hour a day and eating sufficient food a
week later
we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere
Alaska sleeping in the tent cycling
eight to ten hour days and eating
nothing more but dry ramen and two PB&J
sandwiches a day and on top of that it
was the summer in Alaska the Sun does
not set for weeks
it looks like it’s 2 p.m. all the time
so we were hungry we were exhausted and
everything seemed like a really long
nightmare
after a couple days of struggling we saw
a sign that said Happy Valley camp yeah
we look to the left and there was a
building we rushed to the building open
the door there was a cafeteria and
inside we bed Marcy could you please
give us something to eat we were
starving for the last couple days
without hesitation she gave us food she
gave us something to drink and then
later she share with us her life story
which was fascinating she was kind she
was loving she was giving but there was
something else that really stood out to
me there was something else that really
caught my attention and that is that she
seemed really happy she seemed really
content and I know at least in my life I
haven’t meant too many people that
seemed happy with their lives
today for me that has been my biggest
problem I always feel like I’m chasing
happiness like happiness is one step
ahead like I’ll be happy once I
accomplish something once I get
something so I go to Marcia and Telemar
see this is my problem and it seems that
you have the solution to my problem
would you mind tell me what it is and
she looks at me with that beautiful
smile and says you need to learn to love
the pain you need to learn to love the
ugly you need to learn to love the pain
because that is where your love is
needed the most now to be honest I
didn’t know what she meant at the time
as time passed by and as I had to
overcome my obstacles along the way I
kept thinking about what she said every
time that I was cold every time that I
was hungry every time that I was
exhausted every single time that I
thought I was going to have a mental
breakdown I told myself that I needed to
learn to love that moment like the time
that almost got attacked by a bear in
Alaska or the many times that I slept in
the dural across the Americas for the
time that I got robbed in an abandoned
Hospital Nicaragua or when we had to
ride our bicycles through a sandstorm in
Peru it’s one of those moments I kept
telling myself that I needed to learn to
love that moment but it was not until we
got to Argentina where I really
understood what Marcy meant by that when
we got there there we encountered
massive wind currents
luckily for us the first couple days he
was in our back so we were flying down
the highway slowly the highway started
turning and so then the wind Western our
size was constantly pushing us off the
bike we almost had to ride on a 45
degree angle so we can stay on top of it
a couple days later their highway
started turning again and then the wind
was straight against us and it was this
massive powerful invisible force against
us we encountered we’ve battled that for
five hours you know was the windiest day
of the season it was an 80 mile-per-hour
wind against us and this is how it
looked
haha yeah thank you
so after a while after that I kept
getting so so so frustrated that the
only thing that I could find that make
me feel better was to scream as loud as
I could
oh but then stopped working for after a
while then I got terrified because I’ve
never ever experienced anything like
that before then I got hopeless and I
started asking God to stop please God
make a stop
please God make a stop but he didn’t and
neither did I lastly I started thinking
that I was not there I started thinking
that I was somewhere else where I was
not cold where I was not hungry where I
was not exhausted and as I was thinking
about that I remember about what Marcy
said and so at that moment I decided to
be present to take charge and to embrace
where I was and just for a little bit I
felt at peace just for a second I felt
closer to God because just for a little
bit I accepted his will a couple hours
later we got to the destination and a
week after we finally got to the end of
the world we I thought about that day
for years I thought that was going to be
media I thought it was going to be
friends and family holding signs and
other words going to be a big party but
that was nothing like that it was only
the four of us and our bicycles we took
our bicycles to where the wall ends we
dunked him into the Antarctic Ocean
representing the end of our journey we
did a group hug sit down and look at the
sunset and it was one of the most
beautiful moments in my life because
that moment I realized that it was never
about getting to the end of the world it
was never about the destination but it
was about everything that happened in
between Alaska and Argentina all the
amazing landscapes that we glad to see
only incredible people that we got to
meet but mainly it was about all the
obstacles that we had to overcome and
that is when I understood what Marci
Marci said because within those
obstacles
I had the potential for change growth
and more compassion because those house
obstacles helped me get to know myself
better and conquer myself because I got
to decide whether those obstacles we’re
going to push me down and push me
forward so I think what a Marci meant to
say is you need to learn to love the
process of growth thank you
[Applause]
my team and I embarked on a journey for
14,000 miles our goal was to ride our
bicycles from Alaska to Argentina from
the top of the world to the bottom of
the world over the course of 21 months
through 14 countries pedal South was a
project where for storytellers including
myself set out to make a documentary
that will give a perspective for the
people and places of the Americas as
long as I can remember my dream has been
to be an explorer and share stories
about the world and I believe that the
more we understand the world the more we
understand ourselves and the deep
connection that there is between all of
us I believe that the more we understand
each other the more compassionate we can
be with one another we can we need a lot
more compassion in this world petal saw
was that for me as soon as we arrived to
Alaska we got to where the world starts
and we took on bicycles to the Arctic
Ocean and dunked them representing the
beginning of our journey then we started
cycling south right away we encounter
our first obstacle the Dalton Highway
it’s the stretch ways from the top of
the world to Fairbanks it’s 500 miles
but there is nothing but gravel and mud
there’s no people there’s no stores
there’s no food so in order to prepare
for that we carry two weeks worth of
food mainly dry we set out to their
journey in five days into our journey we
ran out of fuel we miscalculated how
much we needed to cook that dry food so
suddenly we were stuck in the middle of
nowhere Alaska with not enough to eat
and just to give you a perspective but
week before we were living in Austin
sleeping in a bed working out maybe one
hour a day and eating sufficient food a
week later
we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere
Alaska sleeping in the tent cycling
eight to ten hour days and eating
nothing more but dry ramen and two PB&J
sandwiches a day and on top of that it
was the summer in Alaska the Sun does
not set for weeks
it looks like it’s 2 p.m. all the time
so we were hungry we were exhausted and
everything seemed like a really long
nightmare
after a couple days of struggling we saw
a sign that said Happy Valley camp yeah
we look to the left and there was a
building we rushed to the building open
the door there was a cafeteria and
inside we bed Marcy could you please
give us something to eat we were
starving for the last couple days
without hesitation she gave us food she
gave us something to drink and then
later she share with us her life story
which was fascinating she was kind she
was loving she was giving but there was
something else that really stood out to
me there was something else that really
caught my attention and that is that she
seemed really happy she seemed really
content and I know at least in my life I
haven’t meant too many people that
seemed happy with their lives
today for me that has been my biggest
problem I always feel like I’m chasing
happiness like happiness is one step
ahead like I’ll be happy once I
accomplish something once I get
something so I go to Marcia and Telemar
see this is my problem and it seems that
you have the solution to my problem
would you mind tell me what it is and
she looks at me with that beautiful
smile and says you need to learn to love
the pain you need to learn to love the
ugly you need to learn to love the pain
because that is where your love is
needed the most now to be honest I
didn’t know what she meant at the time
as time passed by and as I had to
overcome my obstacles along the way I
kept thinking about what she said every
time that I was cold every time that I
was hungry every time that I was
exhausted every single time that I
thought I was going to have a mental
breakdown I told myself that I needed to
learn to love that moment like the time
that almost got attacked by a bear in
Alaska or the many times that I slept in
the dural across the Americas for the
time that I got robbed in an abandoned
Hospital Nicaragua or when we had to
ride our bicycles through a sandstorm in
Peru it’s one of those moments I kept
telling myself that I needed to learn to
love that moment but it was not until we
got to Argentina where I really
understood what Marcy meant by that when
we got there there we encountered
massive wind currents
luckily for us the first couple days he
was in our back so we were flying down
the highway slowly the highway started
turning and so then the wind Western our
size was constantly pushing us off the
bike we almost had to ride on a 45
degree angle so we can stay on top of it
a couple days later their highway
started turning again and then the wind
was straight against us and it was this
massive powerful invisible force against
us we encountered we’ve battled that for
five hours you know was the windiest day
of the season it was an 80 mile-per-hour
wind against us and this is how it
looked
haha yeah thank you
so after a while after that I kept
getting so so so frustrated that the
only thing that I could find that make
me feel better was to scream as loud as
I could
oh but then stopped working for after a
while then I got terrified because I’ve
never ever experienced anything like
that before then I got hopeless and I
started asking God to stop please God
make a stop
please God make a stop but he didn’t and
neither did I lastly I started thinking
that I was not there I started thinking
that I was somewhere else where I was
not cold where I was not hungry where I
was not exhausted and as I was thinking
about that I remember about what Marcy
said and so at that moment I decided to
be present to take charge and to embrace
where I was and just for a little bit I
felt at peace just for a second I felt
closer to God because just for a little
bit I accepted his will a couple hours
later we got to the destination and a
week after we finally got to the end of
the world we I thought about that day
for years I thought that was going to be
media I thought it was going to be
friends and family holding signs and
other words going to be a big party but
that was nothing like that it was only
the four of us and our bicycles we took
our bicycles to where the wall ends we
dunked him into the Antarctic Ocean
representing the end of our journey we
did a group hug sit down and look at the
sunset and it was one of the most
beautiful moments in my life because
that moment I realized that it was never
about getting to the end of the world it
was never about the destination but it
was about everything that happened in
between Alaska and Argentina all the
amazing landscapes that we glad to see
only incredible people that we got to
meet but mainly it was about all the
obstacles that we had to overcome and
that is when I understood what Marci
Marci said because within those
obstacles
I had the potential for change growth
and more compassion because those house
obstacles helped me get to know myself
better and conquer myself because I got
to decide whether those obstacles we’re
going to push me down and push me
forward so I think what a Marci meant to
say is you need to learn to love the
process of growth thank you
[Applause]
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