The Story Of "The Honda From Hell" And How It Surprisingly Left Me More Enlightened

Kind people are out there, we just have to remember to look for them

My first trip to Mexico was in 2015. I traveled down from Los Angeles to Ensenada with a friend to explore new surroundings and take a light vacation. I imagined this trip would be full of good food, beaches, and interesting conversation. It was all of that, but what I didn’t expect was the life lesson that I would take with me which still lights me up with gratitude when I think about it to this day.

Driving into Ensenada was a bit shocking in itself. The vastness of sand dunes taking up space on all sides of our car, and the quiet absence of dopamine, at least the dopamine that we are most familiar with..

Vanessa and I were on a journey to see her friend David, whom I had never met. Apparently David had been a longtime resident of California but decided to move to the Ensenada area to live a more peaceful life, outside of the hustle and bustle of the busy cities in the US. She told me that David wanted quiet and simplicity, where he could focus on his passions that included developing modern housing in areas that didn’t have it yet and cryptocurrency projects that focused on a more futuristic way of growth. “David was always ahead of his time” - She said.

As we pulled up to David’s shack of a residence, I noticed an older model Honda Civic, that looked like it had been taken to hell and back. I immediately nicknamed it “The Honda From Hell”. Its metallic gray shell had become an even darker grey with permanent damage from sand and wind storms. A lot of the paint was chipped off and parts of the back bumper were hanging off.

“How could anyone be ok with driving a car like that?” I wondered..

The Honda From Hell When It Was In Its Prime

As David opened the front door we were immediately greeted with the utmost of hospitality and warmth. Drinks were handed out and the only chairs David had available were offered to us.

I immediately noticed that David had not prepared for our arrival at all. He barely had any lights turned on, and had not cleaned or prepped his place one bit. It wasn’t filthy by any means but noticeable that this was his authentic space, completely unedited, and he was proud of it. It made me think of all the times I had guests over and was scrambling at the last minute to clean the fingerprints off a flower vase that no one would ever notice. The level of stress that I would put myself through to “show others that I had my life together” was definitely being questioned now.

After hours of inspiring, outside the box conversation, David said he wanted to show us the town. We got into his beat up Honda Civic, which smelled about as bad as it looked and headed for a dinner spot.

The traffic was bumper to bumper, which was surprising for a small town— although it was rush-hour after all and the sun was just beginning to set. Even though I wasn’t driving, I felt a sense of irritability come over me which reminded me that I had become conditioned to hate traffic and therefore, must react accordingly with frustration.

However, I noticed that David and the other drivers were not experiencing the same frustration that was churning in my gut. Even though we were barely moving, I couldn’t help but notice that not one horn went off. And this was a LONG line of cars traveling from A to B. Even though you would think that people would want to get home from work and that stresses would be at an all time high, everyone seemed to have a sense of relaxation and tranquility about them that was just foreign energy to me.

The road conditions were absolutely awful. We were lucky if half the roads we traveled on were paved, and the level of boulders to avoid in the road and bumps we hit as we traveled made me wonder how much this car could actually take.

And then it happened..

Suddenly the car took a massive dip, and I felt the back sink in— almost like the floor was being pulled out from under us. One of the tires had hit a giant hole in the sand, which pretty much gobbled up the entire wheel almost instantly. The car jolted to an immediate halt.

Was this the end of the Honda From Hell?

I looked around and realized this was not a main road — we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere and clearly needed assistance. The sun was almost completely down at this point and we were a few miles away from any shop that was still open to offer assistance. This road was also pretty desolate and had very few other cars traveling on it.

In fact, in the next hour that went by, only 5 cars passed us.

But you know what?

To my surprise, all 5 cars stopped voluntarily and tried to help us get out of that hole! I truly couldn’t believe that. Had I been traveling home from a job on a Friday and saw someone pulled over on the side of the road, there isn’t a chance in hell I would have stopped. And yet, here ALL 5 cars stopped to check in on us at dusk on a Friday. Unfortunately the first 4 cars just didn’t have the tools to get us out, but then a pick-up truck showed up as lucky #5.

A man in his 30s got out and just happened to have a rope strong enough to pull us out, although it did take a good hour to get everything set up.

I noticed a case of beer in the back of his truck.

“Looks like you have a fun night ahead”, I said.

“It’s my wife’s birthday today, I’m on my way home right now to make dinner and celebrate with her and a few friends” he replied with a smile.

I couldn’t believe it…

This man was on his way home to make a birthday dinner for his wife, and he stopped voluntarily to help us get out of a ditch, which delayed him for over an hour.

(Below is an 8 second video of the Honda From Hell being “resurrected”)

I was absolutely stunned. I can’t say I ever would have done that given the circumstances. It really made me think on why I felt that way..

The people here have such a simple way about them, yet seem fulfilled in life.

Throughout the rest of the trip I reflected more on what I had seen.

Why do we have access to so much more in America, yet feel more stress and constantly fight for fulfillment?

Why do we watch YouTube videos on 2x speed to try to cram more in less time?

I had a friend bring up a comment regarding that recently. He said:

“It’s 2024, ain’t nobody got time anymore for 1x”

I even heard recently that some people watch Netflix shows on 2x speed.

It really puts into perspective the direction the world is going in.

The insatiable desire to get more, faster…

We’re told that it will bring about satisfaction and fulfillment

But what if it instead does the opposite?

What if less is in fact more, and the real joy of life hides in the small moments and what you do within them?

The people in Mexico showed me that you can live a FULL life with very little, and that there is no shame in taking your time.

Each moment is in fact precious, we will never get it back

I noticed that when you allow yourself to slow down and live more within these lines, life actually seems to go by slower, and experiences are more enriching.

Why is that?

Because instead of rushing from one thing to the next, with the impression that we are “getting more done”, we come to realize that with this type of “cramming mentality” we are actually only taking in a small amount of those experiences.

Those videos that are watched on 2x may finish sooner, but how much of that info will you actually retain?

Wouldn’t it be better to slow down that experience and live through it more fully? The reward will most surely be an experience you will have a much stronger memory of

So what was the takeaway from this trip?

We don’t have to climb aboard the dopamine express, even if the rest of the world is trying to bribe us with FOMO and the added stress of “everyone is doing it and if you don’t jump on, you’ll get left behind”.

Nothing is more fulfilling than making the time and space to express kindness to another. It’s not a waste of time and there really are no “better” things to do. Your mind will make up excuses and try to tell you this so you can keep “getting ahead”.

But what if all that is really just a distraction for our mind?

What are we trying to get ahead of exactly?

Isn’t life about relishing in experiences and enjoying them? Rather than trying to check one more thing off our list in a hurry so we can give ourselves a higher feeling of importance.

Life is not a race, it’s a journey.

Learn from those who are living it well.