adventures
We flew into Mexico on Saturday- the airport for Hermosillo looked more like a bus stop, which was weird but rather pleasant. And they got everyone on board the plane early, so we took off 10 minutes before scheduled. Flying to Monterray, I noticed that Mexico is either super-flat with the occasional weird hill, or all mountains. We got picked up at the airport by Rick, our guide, and someone else who I haven’t seen since. The place where we’re staying is nice, it’s a little 3-room house (kitchen, bedroom, bathroom) and it’s got showers, so Karen and I are happy. There’s a restaurant right in the campground (we’re surrounded by tents) and we ate a small dinner there the first night. It was good- delicious tortilla chips and salsa, some sort of gourd soup, and a giant beef brisket sandwich with avocado in it. I also tried a sip of the beer, since the legal drinking age in Mexico is 18. It was better than I thought it would be.
Potrero Chico, the national park we’re climbing in, is really fun to look at. There’s a road that runs right through the park, making the road a sort of valley surrounded by these GIANT FINS OF STONE. They’re really tall and really impressive. And we’re climbing them! :D Us and a ton of locals, other Americans, and French Canadians. We’re at the peak of the season right now, so everywhere you look there’s other climbers. I imagine this is what people at conventions feel like, kind of- the knowledge that everyone around you is here for the same reason, to do the same thing. Also Mexico is pretty laid-back- people drive slowly, there’s usually mariachi music audible from where you’re climbing, and people are friendly. It feels sort of like early summer in PA, weather-wise, and overall I’m reminded of playing with the Canterbury Drive kids in summer when I was little, when we didn’t have anything in particular to do and we’d play street hockey in somebody’s driveway.
Last night after dinner dad bought me a beer that I could have all to myself (he’s the only one with pesos right now; hopefully before tomorrow he’ll get more money exchanged, as he has promised to do so and sell it to us so we can have pocket money.) It was pretty good, and did not have much of an effect on me (probably because I was drinking it so slowly) but I might have gotten a bit flushed and become more exuberant than normal. No surprises there.
We’ve had two full days of rock-climbing so far, and tomorrow is a rest day- the local open-air market is open tomorrow, so we’re going to go check that out. :D It should be exciting. I’m going to brush up on my Spanish re:haggling, so as to increase my chances of a) buying stuff and b) buying stuff at a decent price. No doubt it will go hilariously wrong, like that time I tried to ask the Swiss waitress where the bathroom was, and she thought I was asking about dessert. Ah well. I have less confidence in my Spanish now than I did in my French then, so I should do better this time- the less I worry, the better I’ll probably be. I noticed that today while climbing; after I slip off the rock and hang out in midair a bit from the rope, I can usually get over the tricky bit on my second try, after I’ve gotten back on the wall. It’s because once I’ve fallen, I figure I’ve already botched it and thus am more willing to try weird stuff to get back on the wall. I use footholds I wouldn’t have trusted before but that actually do work, and those get me past the hard part I couldn’t do before.
That was how I managed the bit on one of our routes today that overhung a bit- it was exciting, I can’t remember doing something like that before, and I managed it on my second try. :D And we got to do some crack-climbing today, which I think is one of my favorite things- I like the weird body placement you have to do sometimes on cracks. I’m fairly decent at jamming cracks because of that- I put my hands and feet in weird positions so they stay in the rock and I can brace myself against them until I’m ready to move on.
We also did slabwork, which I like sometimes, once I trust my feet properly. That’s the big thing about climbing- feet are the most important thing and your hands are mostly for balance. I’m not as good about that as I could be, but I’m getting back into the swing of it. It helps knowing that the climbing shoes we wear are specially designed so that the more pressure you put on the rubber, the tighter it clings to the rock. Something having to do with thermodynamics, apparently.
But anyway, we’ve only managed to do 3 or 4 climbs a day, but the climbs are longer and possibly harder than the ones we were doing in California, so I think we’re moving at a good pace. And Rick, our guide (working for the same company we’ve been doing all the other rock-climbing stuff with, the Sierra Rock-Climbing School) has been awesome so far. All the guides we’ve had have been awesome, of course, so that’s no surprise.
(Now for the bit that was written today)
The market was more like a flea market and less like a farmer's market, but we got some fruit and stuff and I found a huge colorful drawstring bag/backpack for 20 pesos, which is about $1.50 US dollars. I have a feeling the straps will give way soon if I don't reinforce them myself, but it's still amazing value for $1.50. On the way back from the market, we hitched a ride with some climbers in the back of a pickup truck. There were like 12 people in the truck by the time we got back to our campsite, it was awesome. And we'd met two of the climbers in the truck yesterday, since they were climbing the route next to us, so it wasn't like we got into a car with complete strangers.
And I didn't speak any spanish at all, despite looking up the numbers from 11 to 100 and refreshing myself on basic phrases. *fail* Dad did all the buying, since he had the pesos. But at least I could understand how much he was paying each time he asked for the price- looking up the numbers this morning was useful in that respect.
It's a nice day today- dad and I are sitting in the tent-style restaurant here, where we get indirect sunshine and a strong wireless signal. We're not the only people with laptops hanging out in here, so I feel less conspicious. Tomorrow is a full day of climbing- hopefully my fingers will have had enough time to recover by then.
Potrero Chico, the national park we’re climbing in, is really fun to look at. There’s a road that runs right through the park, making the road a sort of valley surrounded by these GIANT FINS OF STONE. They’re really tall and really impressive. And we’re climbing them! :D Us and a ton of locals, other Americans, and French Canadians. We’re at the peak of the season right now, so everywhere you look there’s other climbers. I imagine this is what people at conventions feel like, kind of- the knowledge that everyone around you is here for the same reason, to do the same thing. Also Mexico is pretty laid-back- people drive slowly, there’s usually mariachi music audible from where you’re climbing, and people are friendly. It feels sort of like early summer in PA, weather-wise, and overall I’m reminded of playing with the Canterbury Drive kids in summer when I was little, when we didn’t have anything in particular to do and we’d play street hockey in somebody’s driveway.
Last night after dinner dad bought me a beer that I could have all to myself (he’s the only one with pesos right now; hopefully before tomorrow he’ll get more money exchanged, as he has promised to do so and sell it to us so we can have pocket money.) It was pretty good, and did not have much of an effect on me (probably because I was drinking it so slowly) but I might have gotten a bit flushed and become more exuberant than normal. No surprises there.
We’ve had two full days of rock-climbing so far, and tomorrow is a rest day- the local open-air market is open tomorrow, so we’re going to go check that out. :D It should be exciting. I’m going to brush up on my Spanish re:haggling, so as to increase my chances of a) buying stuff and b) buying stuff at a decent price. No doubt it will go hilariously wrong, like that time I tried to ask the Swiss waitress where the bathroom was, and she thought I was asking about dessert. Ah well. I have less confidence in my Spanish now than I did in my French then, so I should do better this time- the less I worry, the better I’ll probably be. I noticed that today while climbing; after I slip off the rock and hang out in midair a bit from the rope, I can usually get over the tricky bit on my second try, after I’ve gotten back on the wall. It’s because once I’ve fallen, I figure I’ve already botched it and thus am more willing to try weird stuff to get back on the wall. I use footholds I wouldn’t have trusted before but that actually do work, and those get me past the hard part I couldn’t do before.
That was how I managed the bit on one of our routes today that overhung a bit- it was exciting, I can’t remember doing something like that before, and I managed it on my second try. :D And we got to do some crack-climbing today, which I think is one of my favorite things- I like the weird body placement you have to do sometimes on cracks. I’m fairly decent at jamming cracks because of that- I put my hands and feet in weird positions so they stay in the rock and I can brace myself against them until I’m ready to move on.
We also did slabwork, which I like sometimes, once I trust my feet properly. That’s the big thing about climbing- feet are the most important thing and your hands are mostly for balance. I’m not as good about that as I could be, but I’m getting back into the swing of it. It helps knowing that the climbing shoes we wear are specially designed so that the more pressure you put on the rubber, the tighter it clings to the rock. Something having to do with thermodynamics, apparently.
But anyway, we’ve only managed to do 3 or 4 climbs a day, but the climbs are longer and possibly harder than the ones we were doing in California, so I think we’re moving at a good pace. And Rick, our guide (working for the same company we’ve been doing all the other rock-climbing stuff with, the Sierra Rock-Climbing School) has been awesome so far. All the guides we’ve had have been awesome, of course, so that’s no surprise.
(Now for the bit that was written today)
The market was more like a flea market and less like a farmer's market, but we got some fruit and stuff and I found a huge colorful drawstring bag/backpack for 20 pesos, which is about $1.50 US dollars. I have a feeling the straps will give way soon if I don't reinforce them myself, but it's still amazing value for $1.50. On the way back from the market, we hitched a ride with some climbers in the back of a pickup truck. There were like 12 people in the truck by the time we got back to our campsite, it was awesome. And we'd met two of the climbers in the truck yesterday, since they were climbing the route next to us, so it wasn't like we got into a car with complete strangers.
And I didn't speak any spanish at all, despite looking up the numbers from 11 to 100 and refreshing myself on basic phrases. *fail* Dad did all the buying, since he had the pesos. But at least I could understand how much he was paying each time he asked for the price- looking up the numbers this morning was useful in that respect.
It's a nice day today- dad and I are sitting in the tent-style restaurant here, where we get indirect sunshine and a strong wireless signal. We're not the only people with laptops hanging out in here, so I feel less conspicious. Tomorrow is a full day of climbing- hopefully my fingers will have had enough time to recover by then.