Through 3,700 miles, new adventures

Isaí Madriz, 26, set off on Sept. 11 from his home in Montgomery and has biked nearly 3,700 miles to Chetumal, Mexico, where he arrived Feb. 9.

Along the way, he's had more adventures. He swam with a manatee and met new friends.

He plans to bike along the coast of Latin America to Caracas, Venezuela, about 22,500 miles, according to his calculations.

The trip is intended to raise money for the Jesus Guadalupe Foundation, in St. Charles, which gave him scholarship money that helped him graduate from college last May.

Here is the edited version of Madriz's first-person account of the most recent leg of his trip.

Getting support

On Jan, 25, I went to the Horacio Zuniga Pedagogical Institute, which has students from kindergarten through high school. I went from classroom to classroom to talk to the children and see if they would like to support my trip by buying bracelets to pay my expenses.

The children see me as a successful person who wants to help others, and because of the way I have put myself at risk, some called me their hero. This had a profound impact on me, because I don't want the recognition. My goal is for everyone to know what the Jesus Guadalupe Foundation does.

I left Mexico City with a new companion, David Lopez, whom I met when one of my tires was punctured outside of his work. He decided to accompany me and brought a support car driven by his brothers Ageo and Joel Lopez.

The first day we arrived in Puebla for an interview to spread the word about the foundation's mission. Two days later, in Orizaba, Veracruz, we were welcomed by Mauricio Romero, a broadcaster doing another interview.

The next day, we left Orizaba in the morning and I headed toward the bay of Chetumal to collaborate on some research.

Beauty at the ruins

A few days later, we went through the state of Chiapas to the ruins at Palenque. I couldn't stop admiring the beauty of the ruins.

They are open to the public, but you can only see 2 percent of them since the rest are being excavated.

After four hours, we decided to leave because we wanted to see the blue waterfalls, which were 26 km from Palenque. Along the route you can only see mountains, all of them covered in green.

At the waterfalls, my jaw dropped. They were a shade of blue I had never seen before. It was so bright it looked artificial, but after you get in the water, you realize that there are very few places like this on the planet.

On Feb. 9, we arrived in Chetumal and decided to go camp at Laguna Guerrero, one of the most beautiful places in the area. I spent the next week collaborating on research in the bay of Chetumal by Nataly Castelblanco, a doctoral student who is part of Project Manatee, directed by Dr. Benjamin Morales. My job, and that of Gerardo Rodriguez, consisted of going down to the bottom of the bay to identify the type of vegetation there. This was all while I was holding my breath, since the diving equipment would get in our way more than it would help us. The bay was from 30 cm to 7 m deep.

After a week, the job sadly ended. Then I was sent to Laguna Guerrero to collaborate on the research at the observation laboratory there.

Swim with 'Daniel'

This lab has a monitoring tower in the water. There is a little enclosure in the water with a door, and when I asked what was in there, a sound made me jump. It was a small, 2-meter-long manatee whose name is "Daniel the manatee."

This little manatee is 4 years old and was found on the shore of the lagoon by some children who were fishing. When the biologists arrived, they realized the animal was at most 7 days old, and was half the size it should be.

For 8 months they took care of it. It was then that they brought Daniel to get used to his new home, from which he would later be freed. Despite their efforts, care, and measures to rehabilitate Daniel to be freed, the poor animal returned two times.

Eladio, who cared for Daniel, told me the story. He had to brush Daniel so that visitors saw him clean. Without thinking twice about it, I got in the water, stepping down some stairs that went 3 meters deep. I sat on one of the steps, letting the water cover me up to my shoulders.

Daniel approached cautiously to investigate. After a few minutes, Daniel got confident and let me touch him. I couldn't believe how close Daniel let me be. While I was seated on the step, Daniel brought his whole body close and put his stomach on my knees while I brushed his back with one hand and with the other petted one of his flanks. He moved away and came close as he pleased, and often stayed motionless as I hugged him.

Daniel began to make sudden movements, which Eladio told me was the signal Daniel made when he wanted people to swim with him. I set the brush down, moved away from the stairs, and began to swim. Suddenly Daniel was swimming next to me and I grabbed him where I could.

Latched onto Daniel like a tick, I could feel each one of the powerful tail thrashes he made to move forward as he pulled me around. When I let go of Daniel, I returned to the stairs to sit and continue brushing him. He came closer to me and put his head on my shoulder several times, surrounding me with his fins like he was hugging me.

After half an hour, I decided to leave, since the little animal was clean, but when I stood up to turn around, Daniel lay on his side and hugged my leg while looking at me the same way a small child grabs hold of his dad's leg when he's leaving. I didn't have the heart to go and I sat down again. It was an unforgettable and incredible experience.

More company

On Feb, 18, as I was traveling toward the city, I met two cyclists. We talked a little bit, and it turned out that the couple was going toward Tierra del Fuego, just like me. Their names are David Gibas and Lea Stewart.

We talked and they decided to go with me to Laguna Guerrero. When we arrived with Eladio, the couple was impressed and excited at how close they could get to feed Daniel.

During the next few days we stayed with Eladio in a house that had been hit by a hurricane. Dave, Lea and I helped Eladio with improvements to the monitoring station. At night, we slept on the kitchen floor.

Lea and Dave invited me to combine our trips and I happily accepted. Even though we haven't been on the road together yet, I think we'll get along very well.