Faster

There's so much dust in my eyes- the sun is blinding yet I don't dare close them. I don't want to miss one second of this view.

I'm on the back of a four wheeler, grasping tightly to the skinny waist of my friend Luis. My hair is tangling into dreadlocks and my helmet is loosely flapping in the air. We are bouncing wildly as we explore the bumpy dirt roads connecting the farms and hills of the countryside. Occasionally we tip a little when we round a corner too fast or smack into each other when we plow through a pit of mud. We're going incredibly fast and I can't stop smiling. I feel so alive.

We drive up onto the even-bumpier-dirt-road and up onto the ridge of the hill. We are surrounded by 360 degrees of beautiful farmland. This landscape has been carved by history. Thousands of years of civilization has left the hills geometrically painted with different shades of green. The ground below is a brown blur but the horizon is consistent and its incredible beauty remains unchanged. Occasionally we pass a small house in the middle of a farm- the dogs come out to bark at us as we dodge the chickens in our path. The sun is starting to set and everything is illuminated with the most perfect glow you have ever seen. It's the golden hour and it feels as though the flowers are releasing a pollen of pure happiness and joy. This is what it feels like to be alive. I feel so alive.

My mind is too preoccupied with this overwhelming happiness that it is incapable of processing any other emotion. 

Faster. I feel so alive.