Pepe portrait
  • Expedition: Dec 2-8, 2001
  • Pepe
  • Berkeley High School
  • Yosemite National Park

The sad story about Pepe:

Jose or now formally known as Pepe is a very sad, idiotic soccer fan and a player too. A teenager where all of his life is about the best sport in the world--soccer.

Anything about my life is about soccer. For me, life is like a soccer game. You might ask yourself why is this dumb Mexican/Italian think his life is like a soccer game? Well, let me explain: for example, the goals are like the places I want to reach (like my goals). The goalie and/or the opposite team is like the obstacles that I have to put up [with], the referee can be like my elders (for instance my mother, teachers, family, etc.) that tell me when I have to put up my back and if I do something bad, they give me a red/yellow card. My teammates are like my friends and my goalie is my spirit. The offsides can be like when I commit errors in life, like bad grades, bad behavior, and all the bad stuff that is not as big as other personal things. Sometimes I can say that I am an existentialist: a person that believes in having a good time in life and enjoying it. [I am] a person that has doubts in God, but has some belief in him and a person that cannot afford to commit errors.

Letter to Self:

My Pita Life in Yosemite and WildLink

Wow! This is one of the many words that can describe [my trip]: joyful, fun, exciting, fantastic, amazing--and many more. I am not trying to sound very corny or preppy in any way but more like what a teen might think [after] experiencing what I--Pepe--have done.

A week is a short time to enjoy all of Yosemite, but enough to start learning about it. These few days [I] have experienced a lot of emotions. For instance, love--love for the wildness that surrounds me, anger to see people not enjoying/appreciating what Yosemite gives us, enjoyment for the air, snow, sun, trees...

Also the thing that made the trip a lot better was the group that I was in. There [were] many different backgrounds, behavior, [and] feelings that my wonderful group had. It's very hard to describe all that I feel in a few words...well, in any words because 'a picture is worth a thousand words'. And that's what I believe.

So to any one that reads this note or essay or anything that you want to call it, take the courage to come and experience the wonderful moments that I had.

P.S. The title "my pita life" comes from a food that we happened to have very often during my trip and now it's a part of me.

WildLink is a proud partner of the National Park Service, National Forest Service, and Nature Bridge.