Ciao amigos! On my own again, just can't wait to be on my own again... makin' music in my head again, just can't wait to be on my own.. Can you believe my fingers now actually jump to the right keys on this thing! Progress indeed. Oh how the lonely babble. Just jokes... I'm not lonely just alone.. well, now that was a plain lie.
I said Aurevoir to the Wolff's this morning around 9 am and headed on the handy metro to the hostel I had lined up for my cozy first night alone... found it no problem and got a room no problem.. just 20 bucks a night for a room with two bunk beds, a sink, a closet and a snobby ex-patriot around my age who is studying at the Sir Bonne and therefore is my intellectual superior. Not a good way to make friends, Rai. Well, a truth is a truth. I don't need a friend who makes me feel like a mouse. (no offense mousey)
Lucky for me I met a guy in line from Pennysylvania and through him a fella from Colorado who are both totally sound guys. We went to the Musee d'Orsay and took in as many paintings by Degas, Renoir, Monet, Manet, Dhumer, Damier?? and so many more whose names I never studied.. oh yeah.. VanGogh. It was again really cool to see these paintings jump from one slot in my memory, in which they sat on postcards to my current image of them where they belong, surrounded by like images among other works by some masterful creators. I will say there was a lot of it that didn't do it for me, like most of Renoir.. but I guess that's how art is. To each his own. After that (3 hours of that) we went to the carnival and rode the ferris wheel, overlooking all of Paris and then on this adrenalin eride that sent my gut in every direction and had me laughing until the tears were drenching the entire city! It was great, and a nice change from all the kid stuff I've been doing? hmmm. ;)
I'm staying in Paris another day to see Notre Dame, the stain glass windows of the chappel and this art show called "chillida" that is only in town til the 19th of the month.. clued into that one by monsieur Jon Webb of UT! Should be a great visit to modern sculpture... I really want to learn to sculpt and meet Michaelangelo... who has two sculptures in the Louvre which I will also seek out tomorrow. Well, the boys and Paris await.. We're going to the top of the Empire... Eiffel Tower tonight to see the lights of the city that is known for just that. Thanks for all the messages. I will respond.. promise. love and more love. -rai.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Italy - France 2001 (3)
Bon soir! I just walked for ages to find this place, a 24 hr. internet spot just up a bit from the Louvre. It's 11pm and the kids are sleeping so here I am...Unfortunately I won't be the Gertrude Stein that I would so like to be because I only have the option of using these blasted funky keyboards::: in a place as big as this and with so many nationalities here using it, you'd think::::: notice that the colon is in the place of my comma:: sorry.
Well, where did I leave off.. oh yeah; a rushed account of Normandy.. well, that was basically it. The coolest part was the big holes in the ground that looked to me like the wounds of the air raids fromabove.. but as Ted suggested, it could have been where they hid.. I enjoyed the idea that I may actually be standing where they were blowing up the earth at random.
Where we are staying, the Intercontinental on Rue Rivoli...under Wolff... hint hint.. just kidding, but anyway, the majority of the guests are loud; demanding americans.. it's kind of a drag. It's no wonder the concierge is normally ticked off.
Back to the beach... the question is this... the barracks that I saw at Omaha Beach were extensive tos ay the least... but these barracks sat atop huge cliffs... why the Americans' success at surmounting such cliffs and domintating is such a heroic feat in the history of the war... ahem, history buff?.. oh my question: Why did they have such a big chillin' spot, a place they didn't expect to be hit, so decked out with the right equipment with which to battle the enemy? Precautionary? Well then, smart thinking Germs! But, why? In their barracks by the way, I climbed around in their underground portals and checked out their living situation. A little damp for my liking.
Well, the letter M key is really throwing me for a backspace!
We went from d-day to Paris. An unpleasant change. I was quite liking the foggy beaches and the horse hotel... and the horse hotel's server. Eye Candy. ;) Don't get me wrong, Paris is great but the Wolff's have been here 5 times prior, each, and so their day consists soley of shopping. I go along gladly and help out with the kids... of course. It's fun to carry baby Charlotte in the baby bjorn in front of me and get all these pitiful looks from people who think I'm too young. And it's fun taking compliments on her too! But, the shopping thing just ain't me. I am itching to be a subtle tourist and I know that when they leave, I'll be on the next train cause I can't afford or tolerate being here too much longer, especially on my own. I see so many girls and guys livin' and laughin' it up with each other; goin to bars at 10p when I'm goin to bed and I think to myself... where the hell are my friends and why have they not taken me up on the invite to come play for awhile. You just have to budget for a trip like this... and it's ok to do it after the trip has already happened! Oh well. I know you all have work, bills, other trips.. I'm just trying to make the idea of it seem super feasible, cause it really is! Look at me. Broke and livin' it down in Paris. What's my point again? Oh yeah, shoppin'... well, what's worse than the shoppin in lieu of site seeing is that they are quite unimpressed with much of the art all about.. sculptures don't even turn their heads... not that there is anything really wrong with that but I never want to be unimpressed. I always want my eyes to be as wide as they have been here in Europe and I always want my head to turn at mock speed when I pass random art in a window or plaza.
While I'm flailing along about appreciating art, I should mention that I went to the Picasso museum today... while the others waited in a nearby park. It was great! That dude was creative in so many ways. He tried it all... sculpture in bronze and wood, painting, multimedia, photos, sketching, and more, plus in this museum were some of his own private collection from friends: Cezanne, Matisse, and other names I forget. I want to come home (wherever that is) and try some of the stuff he did with random pieces of material pasted about to create his own version of a cool guitar (common image in his works)or a figure in the nude, of course. Books are my absolute weakness! I have the heaviest pack in the world and that's after sending some stuff home with the Wolfe's and yet what do I do::: buybooks. I bought a book on Picasso by Gertrude Stein, the Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller and an anthology by Anais Ninn. Those two go hand in hand of course. And only three pages in and I know why Tropic ofCancer was banned in the US and UK for some time.
The book I'm reading right now is The Agony and the Ecstacy by Irving Stone... the fictional biography of Michaelangelo that was highly recommended to me by Tim and Susan Wolfe and I do definitely know why! It is the best book I've read in a long time and I'm only on the 250th page or so of 800. I further recommend it to all of you, especially those who have been to Italy or plan to go! I feel intimate with Michaelangelo now, and especially because when it describes him crossing the Ponte Santa Trinita to get to the Piazza Santo Spirito I can imagine every step he took as I took those exact steps at least twice when I was there. I am overly anxious for the rewarding part of the book when Stone talks about my Michaelangelo releasing David.
Well, we still have two days here before the fam strands me all alone in the city of light! Then I'll see the stuff I so want to see before bailing for good to climb in Fontainbleu and then do whatever. I think I changed my mind about where to go next. Climbing is for me too, Doug H, something I do because I love to be with friends, doing something that feels good to my body, mind, spirit. If I have to take a break from it because to do otherwise would take the fun from it then so be it.. I am, not giving up on climbing all together, in fact, I plan to contact an older Italian that bought Susan and I beers after a climb in the Dolomites and see if he'll meet me in Finale, Italy...and then I'll still meet Doug in Nice if he's down with it... but the in between plan is to go from Fontainbleu to Interlakin in Switzerland to Finale to the Verdon to Madrid to Lagos (S. Portugal) and backto Nice to meet Doug and go to Sardegna. I'm sure any of that will change and due to the time left, I will not stay long in each place. Just enough to taste them all and know I didn't leave without knowing where to return.
I am only asking once more... who is coming to travel with me?
Well, where did I leave off.. oh yeah; a rushed account of Normandy.. well, that was basically it. The coolest part was the big holes in the ground that looked to me like the wounds of the air raids fromabove.. but as Ted suggested, it could have been where they hid.. I enjoyed the idea that I may actually be standing where they were blowing up the earth at random.
Where we are staying, the Intercontinental on Rue Rivoli...under Wolff... hint hint.. just kidding, but anyway, the majority of the guests are loud; demanding americans.. it's kind of a drag. It's no wonder the concierge is normally ticked off.
Back to the beach... the question is this... the barracks that I saw at Omaha Beach were extensive tos ay the least... but these barracks sat atop huge cliffs... why the Americans' success at surmounting such cliffs and domintating is such a heroic feat in the history of the war... ahem, history buff?.. oh my question: Why did they have such a big chillin' spot, a place they didn't expect to be hit, so decked out with the right equipment with which to battle the enemy? Precautionary? Well then, smart thinking Germs! But, why? In their barracks by the way, I climbed around in their underground portals and checked out their living situation. A little damp for my liking.
Well, the letter M key is really throwing me for a backspace!
We went from d-day to Paris. An unpleasant change. I was quite liking the foggy beaches and the horse hotel... and the horse hotel's server. Eye Candy. ;) Don't get me wrong, Paris is great but the Wolff's have been here 5 times prior, each, and so their day consists soley of shopping. I go along gladly and help out with the kids... of course. It's fun to carry baby Charlotte in the baby bjorn in front of me and get all these pitiful looks from people who think I'm too young. And it's fun taking compliments on her too! But, the shopping thing just ain't me. I am itching to be a subtle tourist and I know that when they leave, I'll be on the next train cause I can't afford or tolerate being here too much longer, especially on my own. I see so many girls and guys livin' and laughin' it up with each other; goin to bars at 10p when I'm goin to bed and I think to myself... where the hell are my friends and why have they not taken me up on the invite to come play for awhile. You just have to budget for a trip like this... and it's ok to do it after the trip has already happened! Oh well. I know you all have work, bills, other trips.. I'm just trying to make the idea of it seem super feasible, cause it really is! Look at me. Broke and livin' it down in Paris. What's my point again? Oh yeah, shoppin'... well, what's worse than the shoppin in lieu of site seeing is that they are quite unimpressed with much of the art all about.. sculptures don't even turn their heads... not that there is anything really wrong with that but I never want to be unimpressed. I always want my eyes to be as wide as they have been here in Europe and I always want my head to turn at mock speed when I pass random art in a window or plaza.
While I'm flailing along about appreciating art, I should mention that I went to the Picasso museum today... while the others waited in a nearby park. It was great! That dude was creative in so many ways. He tried it all... sculpture in bronze and wood, painting, multimedia, photos, sketching, and more, plus in this museum were some of his own private collection from friends: Cezanne, Matisse, and other names I forget. I want to come home (wherever that is) and try some of the stuff he did with random pieces of material pasted about to create his own version of a cool guitar (common image in his works)or a figure in the nude, of course. Books are my absolute weakness! I have the heaviest pack in the world and that's after sending some stuff home with the Wolfe's and yet what do I do::: buybooks. I bought a book on Picasso by Gertrude Stein, the Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller and an anthology by Anais Ninn. Those two go hand in hand of course. And only three pages in and I know why Tropic ofCancer was banned in the US and UK for some time.
The book I'm reading right now is The Agony and the Ecstacy by Irving Stone... the fictional biography of Michaelangelo that was highly recommended to me by Tim and Susan Wolfe and I do definitely know why! It is the best book I've read in a long time and I'm only on the 250th page or so of 800. I further recommend it to all of you, especially those who have been to Italy or plan to go! I feel intimate with Michaelangelo now, and especially because when it describes him crossing the Ponte Santa Trinita to get to the Piazza Santo Spirito I can imagine every step he took as I took those exact steps at least twice when I was there. I am overly anxious for the rewarding part of the book when Stone talks about my Michaelangelo releasing David.
Well, we still have two days here before the fam strands me all alone in the city of light! Then I'll see the stuff I so want to see before bailing for good to climb in Fontainbleu and then do whatever. I think I changed my mind about where to go next. Climbing is for me too, Doug H, something I do because I love to be with friends, doing something that feels good to my body, mind, spirit. If I have to take a break from it because to do otherwise would take the fun from it then so be it.. I am, not giving up on climbing all together, in fact, I plan to contact an older Italian that bought Susan and I beers after a climb in the Dolomites and see if he'll meet me in Finale, Italy...and then I'll still meet Doug in Nice if he's down with it... but the in between plan is to go from Fontainbleu to Interlakin in Switzerland to Finale to the Verdon to Madrid to Lagos (S. Portugal) and backto Nice to meet Doug and go to Sardegna. I'm sure any of that will change and due to the time left, I will not stay long in each place. Just enough to taste them all and know I didn't leave without knowing where to return.
I am only asking once more... who is coming to travel with me?
Italy - France 2001 (2)
Look! I'm back in your lives, just when you thought you were rid of me!! I am so excited that I can't spell! My cheeks are rosy and my toes are numb! It's so great to have a good internet cafe, let alone the fact that it lies peacefully in a side street of Paris! Yup. I made it to Paris. But let's go back,go back, go back to where we were... Who can tell me what that's from..?? Yup, Blue's Clues. I've become a fan, due to the fact that I read a Blue's Clues book to Graham every day, at least thrice and I hear Blue's Treasure CD at least twice.. We're all lookin' for Blue's Clues, We're all looking for Blue's Clues...
Going back to the irritating internet cafe.. sorry. I was in Apt at that time which is a little town (compared to Paris, but big compared to its neighbors)in Provence, which is the region of southern France which includes Avignon, Aix-en-Provence, etc. I may have mentioned that the town we were in was so small, that the only amenities were the post office and the bar, so we got out of there every day to explore the surrounding towns. All of the towns in this area sit hgh on hill tops, ususally with the Church holding the highest spot of land on the hill/mountain. From the church, the roads spiral downward, usually only big enough for one small car at a time and often not allowing any cars. The climate was a bit oppressive with intolerable heat and very dry air. There was little green to be seen but somehow tons of olive, grape, pear and apple orchards. We just barely missed the harvest of the lavendar which is one thing that the whole area is know for. From what I saw in the postcards all over town, the lavendar just fills the fields in rows of living moving purples! On top of that they have tons of Sunflower fields too, but again, we missed that season so the only sunflowers we saw were drying. If anyone decides to come, do it just a tad sooner than I did... maybe late July. The great thing was the pool at our little house. We swam each afternoon. They didn't use chlorine in the pool, but rather salt water so it was like swimming in the ocean... uh, kinda? I had my own room there too which is a far cry from what I have now.. fill ya in later. But anyway.. one last thing about our place, we were visited twice by scorpions! I almost stepped right on one by accident.. Of course he backed into me with his tail in my face ready to pounce. I got out unscathed which is more than I can say for him after Ted got hold of him. He was about an inch long.. you were picturing a monster, weren't you? Well, if you want an adventurous monster story, stay tuned..
So there I was... jogging! God, it hurt. I thought for sure the hiking shape I was in from the Dolomites would transfer to some good running shape.. Uh, I was really wrong. I started running around 9am but the sun was already killing me! The road was mostly flat and I was barey above sea level... but my lungs were not working. Then I remembered that I had been ignoring a cough that tried to move in for the last few days, so I was just sick, right? Whatever. I've never been able to run like my dad, how come!! Anyway, I ran for a while, cursing the damn chore of it then started to do a walk run walk run thing cause I remember my friend Jason Sterner saying that was the way to get farther in your running shape without getting burned out on it all together nor killing yourself in the process. So, I'm cruising, not really, along and I decide to take a detour on a cute little street to take in the scenery while I'm flailing. Somehow over the thunderous sound of my rapid footsteps I hear something in the forest next to me and I pause for a minute.. then I hear it again. It sounds like it's some kind of large animal and I'm thinking what could it possibly be in these parts.. so I venture into the long dry grass and walk right up to the border of the woods, grasshoppers sticking to my sweaty arms, legs and face... I felt like I was going back in time to some bible story... Then I heard itagin.. it moved a step for every one of my steps, so I started to think I was the one being watched. I really felt like the crocodile hunter... I wanted so badly to see it so I could say, "esn't shay uh beeootay." I went for one last scuffle with my foot to stir up the critter and get it to move into my scant view through the scrub oak... and just as Idid... out of nowhere came this thing running at mock speed from under my feet! It was green and speedy, chubby like a gunnea pig and without a tail but it wasn't furry! I ran the other way just as fast and took off for the house! I bet you thought I was going to get attacked by some big beast of Provence, eh? Well, not so interesting, but my heart was beating a hole in my chest when I saw that green thing!
Well, you take climbing out of my adventure and may be my life isn't that exciting anymore...?? No. It's still kickin' bootay! From Provence we took a speedy double decker train to Paris. Unfortunately, there was no room for me to sit with the family, so I had to go sit all by my lonesome on another train with no way to go from my car to theirs... ok, I was elated! I got to dive into my book for a whole two hours uninterupted. Graham usually doesn't let that happen, not even at three in the morning! When we got to Paris, we hopped right into a rental car and drove most of the way to the beaches of Normandy, stopping short at our hotel to settle in for the night. The hotel was amazing. It was called the Chevotel and is both a fancy fancy hotel and a place for people to breed horses with the best of the best. I guess they called it a stud farm... and yes, our server for the dinners and breakfasts was a stud! Oh, yeah.. the hotel. So, in one pasture were ten female horses each with their little babies right by their sides. I only saw one male horse and he was indeed a beauty. The hotel was so classy. It had this great big yard with a pond, swans and some rare duckies, a playground (thank god) and of course tons of horse corrals. Breakfast each morning was spent on the patio with a classy buffet of good foods.
So, from the hotel the next day we headed for the beaches of Normandy. On the way we stopped at a museum to educate ourselves a bit on the whole WWII thing.. yes, confirmed.. WWII. The museum was an overall historical collection from all the various battles, relics from the days, imagesof the holocaust to old videos of air raids and much more. This trip from Italy to here is definitely making me a history buff which is just too ironic considering my fifteen year old mind could do nothing but chastise my hostory teachers, making fun of Mrs. Smalls for always scratching her nappy head with a pencil, etc... Now I'm craving asylum in a library for several years to catch up and learn everything I can! After the museum, we went to the American Cemetary at Omaha beach. It was very reminicent of Arlington.. Way too many white limestone crosses placed perfectly symmetrically in rows... mostly crosses with several stars of David scattered throughout.. the only names I saw that belonged to any of you were... Webb, Kraus and Smith...
Well, the family is waiting for me, having finished their lunch nearby so I have to run and I will contintue later... Basically we went to Omaha beach, saw the old barracks, the bombed earth..or were they hiding bunkers...?? looked more like bombs to me.. Then we came to Paris where we aren ow, staying in the Intercontinental, around the bend from the Ritz where Princess Di spent her last night..and right on the other side of the block from that fancy shopping street! ok.. au revoir.. or somethinglike that. Ciao is so much sleeker. love, loyaltyand friendship.. -rai
Going back to the irritating internet cafe.. sorry. I was in Apt at that time which is a little town (compared to Paris, but big compared to its neighbors)in Provence, which is the region of southern France which includes Avignon, Aix-en-Provence, etc. I may have mentioned that the town we were in was so small, that the only amenities were the post office and the bar, so we got out of there every day to explore the surrounding towns. All of the towns in this area sit hgh on hill tops, ususally with the Church holding the highest spot of land on the hill/mountain. From the church, the roads spiral downward, usually only big enough for one small car at a time and often not allowing any cars. The climate was a bit oppressive with intolerable heat and very dry air. There was little green to be seen but somehow tons of olive, grape, pear and apple orchards. We just barely missed the harvest of the lavendar which is one thing that the whole area is know for. From what I saw in the postcards all over town, the lavendar just fills the fields in rows of living moving purples! On top of that they have tons of Sunflower fields too, but again, we missed that season so the only sunflowers we saw were drying. If anyone decides to come, do it just a tad sooner than I did... maybe late July. The great thing was the pool at our little house. We swam each afternoon. They didn't use chlorine in the pool, but rather salt water so it was like swimming in the ocean... uh, kinda? I had my own room there too which is a far cry from what I have now.. fill ya in later. But anyway.. one last thing about our place, we were visited twice by scorpions! I almost stepped right on one by accident.. Of course he backed into me with his tail in my face ready to pounce. I got out unscathed which is more than I can say for him after Ted got hold of him. He was about an inch long.. you were picturing a monster, weren't you? Well, if you want an adventurous monster story, stay tuned..
So there I was... jogging! God, it hurt. I thought for sure the hiking shape I was in from the Dolomites would transfer to some good running shape.. Uh, I was really wrong. I started running around 9am but the sun was already killing me! The road was mostly flat and I was barey above sea level... but my lungs were not working. Then I remembered that I had been ignoring a cough that tried to move in for the last few days, so I was just sick, right? Whatever. I've never been able to run like my dad, how come!! Anyway, I ran for a while, cursing the damn chore of it then started to do a walk run walk run thing cause I remember my friend Jason Sterner saying that was the way to get farther in your running shape without getting burned out on it all together nor killing yourself in the process. So, I'm cruising, not really, along and I decide to take a detour on a cute little street to take in the scenery while I'm flailing. Somehow over the thunderous sound of my rapid footsteps I hear something in the forest next to me and I pause for a minute.. then I hear it again. It sounds like it's some kind of large animal and I'm thinking what could it possibly be in these parts.. so I venture into the long dry grass and walk right up to the border of the woods, grasshoppers sticking to my sweaty arms, legs and face... I felt like I was going back in time to some bible story... Then I heard itagin.. it moved a step for every one of my steps, so I started to think I was the one being watched. I really felt like the crocodile hunter... I wanted so badly to see it so I could say, "esn't shay uh beeootay." I went for one last scuffle with my foot to stir up the critter and get it to move into my scant view through the scrub oak... and just as Idid... out of nowhere came this thing running at mock speed from under my feet! It was green and speedy, chubby like a gunnea pig and without a tail but it wasn't furry! I ran the other way just as fast and took off for the house! I bet you thought I was going to get attacked by some big beast of Provence, eh? Well, not so interesting, but my heart was beating a hole in my chest when I saw that green thing!
Well, you take climbing out of my adventure and may be my life isn't that exciting anymore...?? No. It's still kickin' bootay! From Provence we took a speedy double decker train to Paris. Unfortunately, there was no room for me to sit with the family, so I had to go sit all by my lonesome on another train with no way to go from my car to theirs... ok, I was elated! I got to dive into my book for a whole two hours uninterupted. Graham usually doesn't let that happen, not even at three in the morning! When we got to Paris, we hopped right into a rental car and drove most of the way to the beaches of Normandy, stopping short at our hotel to settle in for the night. The hotel was amazing. It was called the Chevotel and is both a fancy fancy hotel and a place for people to breed horses with the best of the best. I guess they called it a stud farm... and yes, our server for the dinners and breakfasts was a stud! Oh, yeah.. the hotel. So, in one pasture were ten female horses each with their little babies right by their sides. I only saw one male horse and he was indeed a beauty. The hotel was so classy. It had this great big yard with a pond, swans and some rare duckies, a playground (thank god) and of course tons of horse corrals. Breakfast each morning was spent on the patio with a classy buffet of good foods.
So, from the hotel the next day we headed for the beaches of Normandy. On the way we stopped at a museum to educate ourselves a bit on the whole WWII thing.. yes, confirmed.. WWII. The museum was an overall historical collection from all the various battles, relics from the days, imagesof the holocaust to old videos of air raids and much more. This trip from Italy to here is definitely making me a history buff which is just too ironic considering my fifteen year old mind could do nothing but chastise my hostory teachers, making fun of Mrs. Smalls for always scratching her nappy head with a pencil, etc... Now I'm craving asylum in a library for several years to catch up and learn everything I can! After the museum, we went to the American Cemetary at Omaha beach. It was very reminicent of Arlington.. Way too many white limestone crosses placed perfectly symmetrically in rows... mostly crosses with several stars of David scattered throughout.. the only names I saw that belonged to any of you were... Webb, Kraus and Smith...
Well, the family is waiting for me, having finished their lunch nearby so I have to run and I will contintue later... Basically we went to Omaha beach, saw the old barracks, the bombed earth..or were they hiding bunkers...?? looked more like bombs to me.. Then we came to Paris where we aren ow, staying in the Intercontinental, around the bend from the Ritz where Princess Di spent her last night..and right on the other side of the block from that fancy shopping street! ok.. au revoir.. or somethinglike that. Ciao is so much sleeker. love, loyaltyand friendship.. -rai
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Italy - France 2001 (1)
Hey look... I got connected, but I'm a little heavy hearted cause this keyboard is nothing like what I'm used to and so I can just not possibly keep up with my thoughts and I think I'm about to cry. It took me 5 minutes to get this far... qghh:: If I wrote a sentence using my standard keyboard knowledge, this is what it would look like.. [I q, very frustrated by ;this keyboard qnd I reqlly zqnt to use on thqt I q, ,ore co,fortqble zith]1::::::::this is the period key:::::::: translation::: I am very frustrated with this keyboard and would really like to use one that I am comfortable with. Another 5 minutes gone. I don't know guys...Shit, here goes.... exuse the occasionql overlooked nonsense. In the event of an error, here is the key-q=a z=w ,=m &=! that should do you for now. So, I am in Provence, France with the Wolff's, not to be mistaken for the Wolfe's with whom I was in Italy. lsjfdlki;mhkfdnjgqoegfihedsfoisj34àç"è(_'(à'_è-oijlkjsflklkjdflknglknglkqfùlkdngkdflkjslkdnflkjngoràçç SORRY!!!! Shit!!! you'd think i could pick this up!
Provence is nice, but it is so arid and soo hot! We have spent our days driving from our base spot in St. Martin de Castillon to all of the surrounding towns, such as fukin' Rousillon, Gordes; Bonnieux; Boux, St.Remy, et. al. They all boast to be the capital of something or at least have the world's coolest something:: It doesn't matter. I'm sorry. I don't think I can finish... I'll ;just ;try ;spell ;check when Iù, done: NO thqt didn't zork: BYE!!
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okay... this is my 4th attempt. I keep giving up and then I find another vote of confidence in my inbox...thanks Matt and Jon W... but I'm close to tears. I did check all the other keyboards by the way... good thinking. I'll make this quick before I chop off my ear and drive up the road to St. Remy for a little down time. The Wolff family that I am with is very nice. The gig is, we all sight see during the day and swim in the pool in the later afternoon. Then we consistently and stylishly down a bottle of red wine while eating fine cheeses with French bread. I told you, vegan was out for the time being. Then twice they left me to mind the kids while they went out to dinner and twice we all cooked at home. I have discovered that it is not recommended to climb in Boux right now as the south facing walls bake... and it's a scorcher! Don't worry Susan! I will come back this way, but for now, I've decided to make another quick buck... this saturday, I am going to Paris with the Wolff's to nanny there for three days and on the beaches of Normandy for two days. I will probably boulder in Fontainbleu after that and try to find a climber to head south with. I am seriously thinking of doing anything in my power to go climbing in Spain cause this whole communicating in French thing has me feeling a little stifled. I want so much to tell you all about the lavender and ocres here in Provence, but it will have to wait until Paris. These guys clearly got the reject keyboards from some black market!
Provence is nice, but it is so arid and soo hot! We have spent our days driving from our base spot in St. Martin de Castillon to all of the surrounding towns, such as fukin' Rousillon, Gordes; Bonnieux; Boux, St.Remy, et. al. They all boast to be the capital of something or at least have the world's coolest something:: It doesn't matter. I'm sorry. I don't think I can finish... I'll ;just ;try ;spell ;check when Iù, done: NO thqt didn't zork: BYE!!
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okay... this is my 4th attempt. I keep giving up and then I find another vote of confidence in my inbox...thanks Matt and Jon W... but I'm close to tears. I did check all the other keyboards by the way... good thinking. I'll make this quick before I chop off my ear and drive up the road to St. Remy for a little down time. The Wolff family that I am with is very nice. The gig is, we all sight see during the day and swim in the pool in the later afternoon. Then we consistently and stylishly down a bottle of red wine while eating fine cheeses with French bread. I told you, vegan was out for the time being. Then twice they left me to mind the kids while they went out to dinner and twice we all cooked at home. I have discovered that it is not recommended to climb in Boux right now as the south facing walls bake... and it's a scorcher! Don't worry Susan! I will come back this way, but for now, I've decided to make another quick buck... this saturday, I am going to Paris with the Wolff's to nanny there for three days and on the beaches of Normandy for two days. I will probably boulder in Fontainbleu after that and try to find a climber to head south with. I am seriously thinking of doing anything in my power to go climbing in Spain cause this whole communicating in French thing has me feeling a little stifled. I want so much to tell you all about the lavender and ocres here in Provence, but it will have to wait until Paris. These guys clearly got the reject keyboards from some black market!
Utah - Italy 2001 (12)
Ok, Ok. I totally admit it! I'm a junkie. Tighten the turnicate and log me on! I just stumbled across the internet point in Pisa, Italy and had to pop in for a quick fix. Well, the journey from Florence to Pisa was quick and painless, although, I still fumble a little with the whole train schedule thing. Just wait though. I'll be a fountain of information for anyone who has plans to train around Europe. Just give me a couple of months. Traveling is really all too easy these days to be honest. I mean, can you imagine trying to get around back in the day before phones, on-line ticket purchasing, styley, comphy packs, good walking shoes, and the simple things we take for granted... like the handy lockers at the station which so graciously took a load off my back in a BIG way while I cruised around Pisa.. (and I continue to cruise).
I just finished taking in all the splendor of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. That tower is whacky looking and so close to falling... Although, they claim its not- yeah, whatever and watch out! They did all kinds of work on it to get it to stay in place. Since the beginning of its construction in the 1100's, it's taken three efforts to finish, ending I think, in the 1400's with the bell tower on top..risky manouver..sp? The whole reason it took 3 efforts was to stop and see if the sinking effect would back off. Some of the modern things done to hold it in place are 1) piling tons of weight on the north side, which is the non-sinking side 2) attaching it to a steel cable on the north side to keep it standing 3) building a steel girdle around the 4th floor balconies on the north side 5) and finally, in 1993 until now, digging soil out from under the north side so that they could gain the crucial 40cm that they needed! Apparently,they just removed the cable and other tacky obstructions in June of 2001 so I just barely made the window of seeing the tower without all the distractions.
From here, I am going out to dinner alone. :( I'll probably splurge and buy a $5 beer and just read my book at some cafe until it closes and then head back to the train station where my train doesn't leave until 2:45am! I would have left from Florence and avoided this delay, but I had to see the Leaning Tower, right!? It was worth it. I sat on the grass and looked at the tower, which lies next to the Duomo, which is a splendid church, similar to the Duomo in Florence. Interesting bit of Etymology for you (word origin)... Duomo means house, hence the churches which are called Il Duomo... house of God. I thought for sure that duomo meant dome because the first church I came across that was called the Duomo, in Florence, also happened to be the first structure (in the world, presumably) to use a dome in its architecture. Bit of trivia for you to research cause I'll just stick to my own speculation until further confirmation by an etymologist... Which came first... the dome or the duomo? Did this unprecedented structure, round in design, become known as the Dome because it went on top of the Duomo??? Or is it mere coincidence...???
Anyway, now I'll be walking the streets singing...'She's miss California.. hottest thing in LA...Hollywood's her favorite scene...loves to be surrounded.' - you really have to be careful what songs you let penetrate your subconscious.. But, is that an oxymoron cause if it's sneaking into your subconscious, then you do really have any control? It's a tricky thing, but for example there was that one day when I was singing, 'Day-oh, daaaay-oh, daylight come and I wanna go home... etc.' Well, it wasn't for a whole week before I realized that we were driving a Daewoo rental car and before setting off to climb one day, I must have just caught a glimpse of the hatch back with the Daewoo emblem before heading on the trail, not talking much with my partner, just head down and pluggin' away on the hike... and next thing you know, Daewoo has gotten in and transformed itself into a terribly annoying song. Ya know what song I do like, though barely know??.... Is this Robbie Williams guy in the States? I forget if he is familiar to me from Christmas in Ireland or from summer in Myrtle, but I know it sure as hell ain't SLC.... anyway, that song 'you were there for summer dreaming..' I like it and I saw the video in the hotel the other day. So now I have this nice song and this great vision of this happy-in-love couple to go with me through my last days in Italy.
It was hard to say good bye to the kids. I love them to death and can't wait to get back to SLC and see what they remember. On our last day together, I took out my wacky voice recorder and recorded them talking to me about random things. That'll be cute to look back on. But, I am ready to be able to eat a whole meal in peace and travel without screeches. I bought them each a hand carved Italian yo'yo and a cute spinning top to keep 'em busy in the airports on the way home... hopefully it serves its purpose instead of causing more rowes... Well, I won't make any promises about not bugging you guys at work, cause obviously, you never know... Please, by the way, if anyone is annoyed at seeing my name in their Inbox so much, just let me know and I'll take your blood out of my mixture for a while. I'm sure the high from everyone else will serve its function. :) Just want to take you with me on every step, ya know? Ciao. Love from Italy to SC, UT, NY, NC, MA, Ireland, OR, CO, WY and where else??? oh well. Bye.
I just finished taking in all the splendor of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. That tower is whacky looking and so close to falling... Although, they claim its not- yeah, whatever and watch out! They did all kinds of work on it to get it to stay in place. Since the beginning of its construction in the 1100's, it's taken three efforts to finish, ending I think, in the 1400's with the bell tower on top..risky manouver..sp? The whole reason it took 3 efforts was to stop and see if the sinking effect would back off. Some of the modern things done to hold it in place are 1) piling tons of weight on the north side, which is the non-sinking side 2) attaching it to a steel cable on the north side to keep it standing 3) building a steel girdle around the 4th floor balconies on the north side 5) and finally, in 1993 until now, digging soil out from under the north side so that they could gain the crucial 40cm that they needed! Apparently,they just removed the cable and other tacky obstructions in June of 2001 so I just barely made the window of seeing the tower without all the distractions.
From here, I am going out to dinner alone. :( I'll probably splurge and buy a $5 beer and just read my book at some cafe until it closes and then head back to the train station where my train doesn't leave until 2:45am! I would have left from Florence and avoided this delay, but I had to see the Leaning Tower, right!? It was worth it. I sat on the grass and looked at the tower, which lies next to the Duomo, which is a splendid church, similar to the Duomo in Florence. Interesting bit of Etymology for you (word origin)... Duomo means house, hence the churches which are called Il Duomo... house of God. I thought for sure that duomo meant dome because the first church I came across that was called the Duomo, in Florence, also happened to be the first structure (in the world, presumably) to use a dome in its architecture. Bit of trivia for you to research cause I'll just stick to my own speculation until further confirmation by an etymologist... Which came first... the dome or the duomo? Did this unprecedented structure, round in design, become known as the Dome because it went on top of the Duomo??? Or is it mere coincidence...???
Anyway, now I'll be walking the streets singing...'She's miss California.. hottest thing in LA...Hollywood's her favorite scene...loves to be surrounded.' - you really have to be careful what songs you let penetrate your subconscious.. But, is that an oxymoron cause if it's sneaking into your subconscious, then you do really have any control? It's a tricky thing, but for example there was that one day when I was singing, 'Day-oh, daaaay-oh, daylight come and I wanna go home... etc.' Well, it wasn't for a whole week before I realized that we were driving a Daewoo rental car and before setting off to climb one day, I must have just caught a glimpse of the hatch back with the Daewoo emblem before heading on the trail, not talking much with my partner, just head down and pluggin' away on the hike... and next thing you know, Daewoo has gotten in and transformed itself into a terribly annoying song. Ya know what song I do like, though barely know??.... Is this Robbie Williams guy in the States? I forget if he is familiar to me from Christmas in Ireland or from summer in Myrtle, but I know it sure as hell ain't SLC.... anyway, that song 'you were there for summer dreaming..' I like it and I saw the video in the hotel the other day. So now I have this nice song and this great vision of this happy-in-love couple to go with me through my last days in Italy.
It was hard to say good bye to the kids. I love them to death and can't wait to get back to SLC and see what they remember. On our last day together, I took out my wacky voice recorder and recorded them talking to me about random things. That'll be cute to look back on. But, I am ready to be able to eat a whole meal in peace and travel without screeches. I bought them each a hand carved Italian yo'yo and a cute spinning top to keep 'em busy in the airports on the way home... hopefully it serves its purpose instead of causing more rowes... Well, I won't make any promises about not bugging you guys at work, cause obviously, you never know... Please, by the way, if anyone is annoyed at seeing my name in their Inbox so much, just let me know and I'll take your blood out of my mixture for a while. I'm sure the high from everyone else will serve its function. :) Just want to take you with me on every step, ya know? Ciao. Love from Italy to SC, UT, NY, NC, MA, Ireland, OR, CO, WY and where else??? oh well. Bye.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Utah - Italy 2001 (11)
Oh, how sweet. I touched some of you with my love of a gorgeous sculpture. I don't care how many times you've seen that sculpture in an art book, postcard, or in replication.. I bet the same feelings will rush over each of you when you see him in all his true grandeur under a beautiful bright white dome, standing all alone in this huge open space at the intersection of two wings in the Instituto d'Academia. Wow!
Well, Florence is a great city! I love the history and the vivacity, the fashion, the food the tall buildings, the presence of so many young university types, the river with its fish and otters.. yes, I spotted an otter. Hilary, I thought it was a beaver, but its tail was narrow.. definitely an otter. I actually saw three. Nice to see them outside of the zoo, ya know. But, now I leave Florence. I arranged my tickets so that I leave today around 2pm and stop in Pisa for the day to see the leaning tower, have a quick cappaccino and then hang out in a bar or train station until my 2:40am! departure to Nice. From Nice I change quickly onto a train for Marseille and then directly on to Aix en Provence where I will hopefully be greeted by the family for which I am babysitting this week. Then, on the following Sunday or Monday, I will have them drop me off in Apt, which is the central location for climbers who are cragging in Boux. I'll be camped there for at least two weeks, hitting the Verdon Gorge and Ceuse at some point. I don't know when I'll find another computer, so hang in there. I will be back in touch! Oh, another new twist in my plan is that I will probably be going to Germany from France to climb with Swen Schultz in Eichenstein...or something like that in Eastern Germany.. Now, it's not set, but I would love to see Germany and this guy is a great guy, a friend of Tim and Susan Wolfe. And he is a bold leader, which you have to be to climb in this area... so I've been told. You tie knotts and shove them into cracks and things. It's very traditional and only the strictest of climbing ethics prevail. Anyway, have a wonderful few weeks if I don't write until Germany...though, come on. I really doubt that will be the case, don't you. Gawd, I'm gonna miss you guys!! Bye.
Well, Florence is a great city! I love the history and the vivacity, the fashion, the food the tall buildings, the presence of so many young university types, the river with its fish and otters.. yes, I spotted an otter. Hilary, I thought it was a beaver, but its tail was narrow.. definitely an otter. I actually saw three. Nice to see them outside of the zoo, ya know. But, now I leave Florence. I arranged my tickets so that I leave today around 2pm and stop in Pisa for the day to see the leaning tower, have a quick cappaccino and then hang out in a bar or train station until my 2:40am! departure to Nice. From Nice I change quickly onto a train for Marseille and then directly on to Aix en Provence where I will hopefully be greeted by the family for which I am babysitting this week. Then, on the following Sunday or Monday, I will have them drop me off in Apt, which is the central location for climbers who are cragging in Boux. I'll be camped there for at least two weeks, hitting the Verdon Gorge and Ceuse at some point. I don't know when I'll find another computer, so hang in there. I will be back in touch! Oh, another new twist in my plan is that I will probably be going to Germany from France to climb with Swen Schultz in Eichenstein...or something like that in Eastern Germany.. Now, it's not set, but I would love to see Germany and this guy is a great guy, a friend of Tim and Susan Wolfe. And he is a bold leader, which you have to be to climb in this area... so I've been told. You tie knotts and shove them into cracks and things. It's very traditional and only the strictest of climbing ethics prevail. Anyway, have a wonderful few weeks if I don't write until Germany...though, come on. I really doubt that will be the case, don't you. Gawd, I'm gonna miss you guys!! Bye.
Utah - Italy 2001 (10)
Love at first sight... I always said I thought I believed in it, but now I know I definitely do! My heart is heavy as I leave Florence tomorrow with my first real "love at first sight" staying behind. It was such a simple encounter. I was just wandering through a museum, listening intently to the audio guide while the Britsh accent in my ears explained some of Michealangelo's earlier works. Then I turned one major corner in the museum and there he was, standing out above all the tourists, not looking at me, but I do think he knew I was there. His skin was soft and pale, untouched by the sun (or so I thought). His body was perfect as if it were sculpted. Every detail was proportionately correct! The splendid veins of life ran horizontally accross his right hand, dancing with the delicate bones ... continuing up his arm and standing out in that wonderful spot on a man's arm, up the center of his bicep, below the shoulder. His brow was furrowed, wrinkled in deep thought. I figured he must have been studying this painting of the Madonna that he was staring right at. He was so intent in his gaze that my stares went unoticed. I wasn't the only one looking. His hair was lying perfectly on his head in loads of individual locks of splendid curls, each owning its respective place above his demanding eyes. His legs were also strong and appeared perfect in every way. His ass was tight, had to notice, and again... Perfect! I imagine to the touch as well as to the eye. His torso and shoulders joined together in a slight tilt over his wonderful hips as he stared off into the distance. Over his left shoulder, he had slung something.. maybe his jacket and his left arm was bent gracefully while his left hand held the item confidently in place next to his neck. I got up the courage to walk closer. I circled around him like a shark and so oblivious was he that I could take in every detail without shame. I again noticed that I wasn't the only one. Others were walking around him, making comments similar to my thoughts. I became jealous. And then I learned his name. The name of the man with the perfect nose and subtly smiling lips. The man whose hands could hold me safely for the rest of my life. The man whose anatomy I knew as well as my own after staring for so long. The man that I would have to pull myself away from because my legs would not go willingly.... The man. The man who was never more than a boy.....................................................................................................
Utah - Italy 2001 (9)
-song-
The Hills don't exist in the sounds of Florence!! Such a terrible thing... mopeds every wheeeeerrrree!!
-endsong-
No, not that bad. Florence is very alive and gorgeous and for you History buffs...it's got lots of old shit too. Oh - I was gonna tone down the language a bit. Sorry. Well. We arrived safely and sadly from Cortina. The train ride sucked as it fell right during the nap of the kids and they were a cranky lot! But, when all was said and done and everyone was done being aggro on everyone else, we were happy to be inFlorence. In fact, we even went out after all that travelling. We threw down a couple of beers, a pizza, some pasta, some brushetta (without Mozzarella??) ThePub would be shocked! We didn't really even know where we were eating and it ended being right next to that Ufizi Museum. We're going there tomorrow. That's where the real David Sculpture is and a few other rad sculptures that have been plucked from the city and relocated there for preservation, leaving nothing but frauds around the city. It's amazing how many things they replicated and substituted within the city to save the art of the old ages.
Did I mention how old this city is? Today we went on a three hour walking tour of the city. Let's see if I can muster some memory of the historical journey and give you the highlights...Well, as you're walking around in Florence, all about you see this big metal rings on the walls of the buildings, most of which were palaces..these are all still in place from the days of tying your horse up outside while you went in for a beer with your bro's. Rumor has it, horse alarms weren't a big seller in those days. The architecture of the palaces is interesting. On the first floor they used cyclopse stones that are super buldgey (bul.jee) and act as a protection or fortress for the first floor of the palaces. I thought they would make for some great bouldering! The second floors are a little less obtrusive, though not yet super smooth and finally the refined smooth stones of the top floors, where the family spent their 'quality' time together. Also, in many of the palace walls there is a tiny door... like, tiny...about 3/4 foot high with bars around it. These little doors are for charity work. When the rich would have big feasts, they would always have much left over. A servant on the inside would open the door and ration out the left-overs to the peasants in the street. The other way that the rich could ease their conscience about their wretched lives would be to donate sculptures and money to the churches... but the first mode of donation was just more simple and still made them feel all warm and fuzzy all over.
A river runs through Florence and all but one bridge on the river is an original. All of the others were ruined in World War...uh oh...1?...yeah. WWI. On that one bridge that still stands, they used to slaughter animals for sale and throw the carcasses into the river... yeah, real nice... but then the Medicci family came in with all their grandeur ideas about the Rennaicance.. Rennasance.. Rebirth.. and they decided to make Firenze (Florence) a much betterplace, including more sanitary, so the butchering on the bridge was tossed out and instead, shops for selling gold lined the bridge from one end to the other.. Guess what. They still do. Yeah. I bought me a nugget on a rope chain.. uh, nope.
So, we checked out the Duomo.. The big church where the first dome was placed. That church actually sat without a top on it and the weather gods shat inside for years, until a dude whose name I forget, swore he was worthy of a shot at building a dome and did so. His dome was all rad and stuff and everyone was happy, but this guy was very into simplicity and forbade any artwork being placed on his dome... which for the times, I mean come on, dude! So, as soon as he died, they painted the hell out of it with mass frescos. Actually, funny thing about those frescos. One of the two artists who did the frescos has rarely been heard of when talking Rennaisance cause he did a silly thing. Let me tell you what he did. He painted this wonderful fresco filling the dome. It depicted all kinds of people being judged and half going to hell and the other half rejoicing in heaven. Well, this fresco dude chose people in town as his subjects. He put all of his friends in Heaven and all of his enemies in Hell. Someone in the hell scene sued him, however, that happened back then, I don't know.. He ended up not ever being comissioned to do any work again, which is a true shame cause he was really really talented! Shame I don't remember his name.. Something likeGenicci, Micheavelli, Donatelli, Davinci, none of which are right! So, in that dome, there are two huge cracks right down the sides. The dome builder was alive to see that happen and he was devastated, but later on.... much later... architects learned that without those cracks, that dome would no longer be, so thank god the dome cracked, right?
We also spotted a bunch of Mideivil towers that have since been wedged between more modern buildings. Story goes that the feuding families would build islands of towers to see who could go the highest. Friends living side by side in these towers had to lay planks from third story windows to go see their friends cause it was far too dangerous to just go to the front door. Man, times were tough back then.
Speaking of tough times, the life and times of sculptors was rough. The competition and the discoveries were at their highest point at this time. Like...Donatelli...I think, who was pioneering that whole perspective thing. No one was ever able to figure out how to make things look real in sculptures or in art. He also figured out that sculptures that would sit ten feet off the ground had to be done a little differently than those which would sit at eye level... such as bigger heads, hands, smaller torsos, etc.
OK!! Enough history! Damn, I can't believe I remembered as much as I did. Let's move ahead a millenium or two! Suddenly, it's not fashionable to walk about in BD Alpine pants with a frumpy downjacket. I feel like a pickle among roses. Everywhere I turn there is a woman clad in Armani, sequin bras with an open, short satin jacket, cheeks glossy like those in a Calvin Klein ad, hair straight as nails with jagged ends and hips that are not really there but trying to exist via hip huggin' tight leather pants decorated delicately with a chain belt and met at the bottom by sexy platform sandals. Tres Sheik. When you think of me here among the ex-runway walkers, just picture in your mind - red-headed orphan Annie standing next to Elle McPherson. That do it for ya? Ha Ha. That's ok. I know they'd be crushed under my backpack... now that's cool. Picture me, a small, white, blonde sherpa. Cause that's what I look like with my pack on! It's huge! It towers over my head and it weighs sooo much... 75 pounds at this point. I even sent a load of shit home with the Wolfes and I still have so much.. When you throw in a climbing rope, climbing shoes, stove, tent, sleeping bag, therma rest and down jacket... suddenly, your a walking Bulk Hogan. If I were only staying in hostels, not climbing and not cooking my own food.. I would have a book bag!
Maps are great things aren't they!? It never ceases to amaze me, how amazed I get at the realization that the street I thought I was on according to the map, actually does match the sign on the wall of the corner building.... I know. It's a little whacko. But there is just something wonderful about the confirmation you recieve when you finally see a sign on a building telling you where you are and low and behold, you are on the right street. I guess I've been let down before by my own inadequacies with following maps.. or those inadequacies of people into whose hands I placed my trust and my walking feet. Did I just shroom causeI don't know what I just wrote. I mean, I do, but it seems like you may have a hard time understanding it..?? I think maybe that all stems from following topos of routes I'm climbing which are often times a challenge to the imagination cause different symbols represent different features on the rock.. ya know, for a fake example.. /// this symbol on a topo may be a diagonalling crack system.. Well, I must say that we all definitely have our own notion of what a crack actually is. I think of Sasquatch in LCC or Exasperator in Squamish, while these Germans who made the guide to the Dolomites look at a slight weakness in the vertical system of limestone and say... By George.. I do believe we have Crack! Uh, nooouh.
So, ya know how in Latin America, India and Venice...you just don't trust the water. Not from the taps, not in restaurants, no way. You always buy bottled. It seems to be the case in many cities. But in Italy, in so many unexpected places they have public fountains that are constantly spewing water into drains or bird bath type wells. Everyone can wash their hands, wash their fruit, wash their faces, fillup their water bottles and even drink straight from it. Now that is a wonderful thing. I did all 5 of those on my way to this computer. I washed my grapes! I had to share the fountain with a pigeon but niether of us minded!
Animals in Italy. I've seen many. But here's a quick list. Chamois, Marmot, Red Fox, Viper, Squirrel, Cat, Dog, Fish, Tadpole, Minnow, Crow, Other birds, Cows (oh, the lovely cows!!), sheep (with their oh-so-cute baby lambs!), goats (with hair I swear!), elephant...oh, that was in Todd's little book that I've read twenty-five hundred times.. just kidding, bunnies, and maybe that's it!? Oh - I forgot to tell you about this..
We all went up to Cinque Torri, a group of 5 rock towers atop a mountain.. for a big celebration of the 100 year anniversary of the first ascent of Cinque Torre. There was singing and a BBQ... The singing was the Cortina Choir. We were there with some older Italian friends from the campsite and they were all singing. It was great! There were plates all over the place with little lambs' legs sitting on them, surrounded by left over mush of something... I had to have it all cleaned off our table before I could even sit down cause it was too reminicent of the Holocaust as it lives in my imagination.. I just don't need to look at the bones of my dead friends while I'm celebrating something so great as a 100 year old ascent of a tower with no gear like we have now.. Nothing close to the gear and shoes and ropes that we have now.. Amazing. We got to the event via chair lift, as it sits atop a ski mountain, but Italy law prevents use of lifts after dark, so the kids, Tim and Susan rode down on an access road in an old army truck with some seniors andI walked down with the Italian possee... In myJapanese shoes, as they called them..(flip flops) They all thought I was nuts, but I had no idea I would be walking down a mountain at 10pm in the freezing air with a meteor shower overhead.. I was glad I came the way I did, cause it made a memory! Caio.
The Hills don't exist in the sounds of Florence!! Such a terrible thing... mopeds every wheeeeerrrree!!
-endsong-
No, not that bad. Florence is very alive and gorgeous and for you History buffs...it's got lots of old shit too. Oh - I was gonna tone down the language a bit. Sorry. Well. We arrived safely and sadly from Cortina. The train ride sucked as it fell right during the nap of the kids and they were a cranky lot! But, when all was said and done and everyone was done being aggro on everyone else, we were happy to be inFlorence. In fact, we even went out after all that travelling. We threw down a couple of beers, a pizza, some pasta, some brushetta (without Mozzarella??) ThePub would be shocked! We didn't really even know where we were eating and it ended being right next to that Ufizi Museum. We're going there tomorrow. That's where the real David Sculpture is and a few other rad sculptures that have been plucked from the city and relocated there for preservation, leaving nothing but frauds around the city. It's amazing how many things they replicated and substituted within the city to save the art of the old ages.
Did I mention how old this city is? Today we went on a three hour walking tour of the city. Let's see if I can muster some memory of the historical journey and give you the highlights...Well, as you're walking around in Florence, all about you see this big metal rings on the walls of the buildings, most of which were palaces..these are all still in place from the days of tying your horse up outside while you went in for a beer with your bro's. Rumor has it, horse alarms weren't a big seller in those days. The architecture of the palaces is interesting. On the first floor they used cyclopse stones that are super buldgey (bul.jee) and act as a protection or fortress for the first floor of the palaces. I thought they would make for some great bouldering! The second floors are a little less obtrusive, though not yet super smooth and finally the refined smooth stones of the top floors, where the family spent their 'quality' time together. Also, in many of the palace walls there is a tiny door... like, tiny...about 3/4 foot high with bars around it. These little doors are for charity work. When the rich would have big feasts, they would always have much left over. A servant on the inside would open the door and ration out the left-overs to the peasants in the street. The other way that the rich could ease their conscience about their wretched lives would be to donate sculptures and money to the churches... but the first mode of donation was just more simple and still made them feel all warm and fuzzy all over.
A river runs through Florence and all but one bridge on the river is an original. All of the others were ruined in World War...uh oh...1?...yeah. WWI. On that one bridge that still stands, they used to slaughter animals for sale and throw the carcasses into the river... yeah, real nice... but then the Medicci family came in with all their grandeur ideas about the Rennaicance.. Rennasance.. Rebirth.. and they decided to make Firenze (Florence) a much betterplace, including more sanitary, so the butchering on the bridge was tossed out and instead, shops for selling gold lined the bridge from one end to the other.. Guess what. They still do. Yeah. I bought me a nugget on a rope chain.. uh, nope.
So, we checked out the Duomo.. The big church where the first dome was placed. That church actually sat without a top on it and the weather gods shat inside for years, until a dude whose name I forget, swore he was worthy of a shot at building a dome and did so. His dome was all rad and stuff and everyone was happy, but this guy was very into simplicity and forbade any artwork being placed on his dome... which for the times, I mean come on, dude! So, as soon as he died, they painted the hell out of it with mass frescos. Actually, funny thing about those frescos. One of the two artists who did the frescos has rarely been heard of when talking Rennaisance cause he did a silly thing. Let me tell you what he did. He painted this wonderful fresco filling the dome. It depicted all kinds of people being judged and half going to hell and the other half rejoicing in heaven. Well, this fresco dude chose people in town as his subjects. He put all of his friends in Heaven and all of his enemies in Hell. Someone in the hell scene sued him, however, that happened back then, I don't know.. He ended up not ever being comissioned to do any work again, which is a true shame cause he was really really talented! Shame I don't remember his name.. Something likeGenicci, Micheavelli, Donatelli, Davinci, none of which are right! So, in that dome, there are two huge cracks right down the sides. The dome builder was alive to see that happen and he was devastated, but later on.... much later... architects learned that without those cracks, that dome would no longer be, so thank god the dome cracked, right?
We also spotted a bunch of Mideivil towers that have since been wedged between more modern buildings. Story goes that the feuding families would build islands of towers to see who could go the highest. Friends living side by side in these towers had to lay planks from third story windows to go see their friends cause it was far too dangerous to just go to the front door. Man, times were tough back then.
Speaking of tough times, the life and times of sculptors was rough. The competition and the discoveries were at their highest point at this time. Like...Donatelli...I think, who was pioneering that whole perspective thing. No one was ever able to figure out how to make things look real in sculptures or in art. He also figured out that sculptures that would sit ten feet off the ground had to be done a little differently than those which would sit at eye level... such as bigger heads, hands, smaller torsos, etc.
OK!! Enough history! Damn, I can't believe I remembered as much as I did. Let's move ahead a millenium or two! Suddenly, it's not fashionable to walk about in BD Alpine pants with a frumpy downjacket. I feel like a pickle among roses. Everywhere I turn there is a woman clad in Armani, sequin bras with an open, short satin jacket, cheeks glossy like those in a Calvin Klein ad, hair straight as nails with jagged ends and hips that are not really there but trying to exist via hip huggin' tight leather pants decorated delicately with a chain belt and met at the bottom by sexy platform sandals. Tres Sheik. When you think of me here among the ex-runway walkers, just picture in your mind - red-headed orphan Annie standing next to Elle McPherson. That do it for ya? Ha Ha. That's ok. I know they'd be crushed under my backpack... now that's cool. Picture me, a small, white, blonde sherpa. Cause that's what I look like with my pack on! It's huge! It towers over my head and it weighs sooo much... 75 pounds at this point. I even sent a load of shit home with the Wolfes and I still have so much.. When you throw in a climbing rope, climbing shoes, stove, tent, sleeping bag, therma rest and down jacket... suddenly, your a walking Bulk Hogan. If I were only staying in hostels, not climbing and not cooking my own food.. I would have a book bag!
Maps are great things aren't they!? It never ceases to amaze me, how amazed I get at the realization that the street I thought I was on according to the map, actually does match the sign on the wall of the corner building.... I know. It's a little whacko. But there is just something wonderful about the confirmation you recieve when you finally see a sign on a building telling you where you are and low and behold, you are on the right street. I guess I've been let down before by my own inadequacies with following maps.. or those inadequacies of people into whose hands I placed my trust and my walking feet. Did I just shroom causeI don't know what I just wrote. I mean, I do, but it seems like you may have a hard time understanding it..?? I think maybe that all stems from following topos of routes I'm climbing which are often times a challenge to the imagination cause different symbols represent different features on the rock.. ya know, for a fake example.. /// this symbol on a topo may be a diagonalling crack system.. Well, I must say that we all definitely have our own notion of what a crack actually is. I think of Sasquatch in LCC or Exasperator in Squamish, while these Germans who made the guide to the Dolomites look at a slight weakness in the vertical system of limestone and say... By George.. I do believe we have Crack! Uh, nooouh.
So, ya know how in Latin America, India and Venice...you just don't trust the water. Not from the taps, not in restaurants, no way. You always buy bottled. It seems to be the case in many cities. But in Italy, in so many unexpected places they have public fountains that are constantly spewing water into drains or bird bath type wells. Everyone can wash their hands, wash their fruit, wash their faces, fillup their water bottles and even drink straight from it. Now that is a wonderful thing. I did all 5 of those on my way to this computer. I washed my grapes! I had to share the fountain with a pigeon but niether of us minded!
Animals in Italy. I've seen many. But here's a quick list. Chamois, Marmot, Red Fox, Viper, Squirrel, Cat, Dog, Fish, Tadpole, Minnow, Crow, Other birds, Cows (oh, the lovely cows!!), sheep (with their oh-so-cute baby lambs!), goats (with hair I swear!), elephant...oh, that was in Todd's little book that I've read twenty-five hundred times.. just kidding, bunnies, and maybe that's it!? Oh - I forgot to tell you about this..
We all went up to Cinque Torri, a group of 5 rock towers atop a mountain.. for a big celebration of the 100 year anniversary of the first ascent of Cinque Torre. There was singing and a BBQ... The singing was the Cortina Choir. We were there with some older Italian friends from the campsite and they were all singing. It was great! There were plates all over the place with little lambs' legs sitting on them, surrounded by left over mush of something... I had to have it all cleaned off our table before I could even sit down cause it was too reminicent of the Holocaust as it lives in my imagination.. I just don't need to look at the bones of my dead friends while I'm celebrating something so great as a 100 year old ascent of a tower with no gear like we have now.. Nothing close to the gear and shoes and ropes that we have now.. Amazing. We got to the event via chair lift, as it sits atop a ski mountain, but Italy law prevents use of lifts after dark, so the kids, Tim and Susan rode down on an access road in an old army truck with some seniors andI walked down with the Italian possee... In myJapanese shoes, as they called them..(flip flops) They all thought I was nuts, but I had no idea I would be walking down a mountain at 10pm in the freezing air with a meteor shower overhead.. I was glad I came the way I did, cause it made a memory! Caio.
Utah - Italy 2001 (8)
Well, today is Tuesday the 14th of August and tomorrow we depart Cortina and go to Florence for a few days of sight seeing. I am very sad to say Ciao to gli Dolomiti! They are so damn beautiful and special to me. I recommend all of you pay a visit.. and unlike was done to me, I will not shun Cortina. Even though it is more expensive and touristy, it is beautiful and the amenities are awesome! The access to the climbing is unbeatable and the camping is deluxe... maybe spendy, but deluxe and worth it. Well, I did get to sqeeze in one last day of climbing that really made the whole trip.
Susan and I set out yesterday morning around 8:30am to catch the lift to the top of Lagazuoi, a mountain pass. (We could have taken on an hour and a half approach, gotten up at 5:30 and been on the summit by noon, but why rush our last day??) So, we take the lift. The only other climbers on the lift with us (2 sets of 2) are sure enough, going to the same damn route as us. One group, well, it was a given that they would go before us as one of the two was a famous Italian mountain guide, Bruno, who is just a rocket. The other group assured us that they were fast... theyprobably felt like they could cause we were just a couple of girls...well, they LIED!!! majorly!! But, that's ok. We didn't want to rush anyway, right? Speaking of the female long route contigency....we only saw one other woman besides ourselves climbing on the long routes in the Dolomites.. it was that one tough chic that wiggled her invisible willy in my face and pinned me against the wall with her rope until I was singing country songs.. 'sometimes your the windsheild, sometimes your the bug...' I was the bug! So, Susan and I have decided we rock! ;)
Anyway, we get to the base and get rolling, third in line. The sky is blue and clear and we ditched our rain gear in the car to cut down on weight. This route is ONLY 9 pitches. A baby compared to the other big daddies we've climbed and a cynch! We should be at the top no later than 2pm! Right??? Well, thank god we weren't in any kind of HURRY!! Bruno did take off with client in tow. Twice on the route, his poor unknowing client pulled on the wrong rock and went for a sail through the skies. One time it was on a poorly protected traverse pitch and when he fell, it was way off sideways and down, flipping around in the air and colliding into the wall with his back.. luckily, he was wearing a back pack. They pulled the next little lip and we never saw them again. Meanwhile, grandpa was ahead of us leading his young friend up every pitch. This guy was really nice, in his 60's, and spoke a little English. Still, he should have let us pass! Unfortunately, everytime we got to the bealy, he was just leaving it and didn't leave us much of an option for passage. This route was great though! I ended up accidentally leading two of the hardest pitches! Susan accidentally went off route once and led a super hard straight in hand crack on bullet proof black rock! Super exposed and scary! We had to rap that pitch down and to the left to get back on route.. so we both had our wits about us on this one, cause we had to! I had to do these crazy ass face climbing moves on small orange flakes about 15 feet above a shitty piton on the 8th pitch.. it made my legs wobbley for the entirity of the pitch, which didn't ease up but rather took me into an overhanging dihedral with a fingers lieback! It was great and once at the belay, I was so proud of myself for not aiding the pitch on fixed gear like gramps did. Once at the top, and out of water, we still had two hours to get down which included an exposed ridge walk, scree skiiing and an uphill grunt followed by a knee jarring downhill trail.. I was soooooo thirsty, I thought I was going to keel over. I passed up four piles of dirty snow, wishing so bad that snow was always safe to eat... but in lieu of the fact that I watched a heard of Chamois walk all over it all day long... better not.. Until, the fifth patch of snow...I'm sorry! I was desperate! I scraped all the dirt off and dug deep into the three foot tall pile.. And man, did that snow taste like the freshest, best italian ice in the whole damn world. Suddenly the forlorn look on my face that resembles Yosemite Sam in the desert was replaced by a smile of great relief!! Once down, we bumped into gramps again, whose name is actually Colorado - no lie and no bad interpretation.. He and his partner bought us beers in the bar at the top of the pass and then we parted.. But one good thing did come out of that encounter.. Oh, he just happens to own a house in FINALE!! which is one of my up and coming destinations.. sea side climbing on cliffs in N. Italy, remember? So, we exchanged e-mail and turns out that he'll be there in Sept., same as me!
Now, let me just tell you all about this crazy turn of events!! My friend Dani, who lives in the Big Apple and works for a law firm hooked me up big time!! A partner in her firm and his wife are going to Provence, France from the 18th to the 25th of August and they desperately needed a babysitter for their 3-yr old and 6-mo. old! Well, she e-mailed me and it's gonna happen. Straight from Florence, I take a train to Provence and meet this family! They are basically going to be paying for my whole european trip with the wages they'll be giving me... Plus, no camping! I get my own bedroom and my days are free to me and the nights are spent with the kids! What in the world is my deal! How does this stuff happen to me!? What are the chances, I mean really? Well, I will miss out on yet another week of solo time, and a week of climbing, and I'll be looking at a mountain of diapers still, but...it is so worth it!! Thanks again Dani!! :) Well, I must be running along!! I don't know what it will be like, finding internets fast and easy from here on out, so keep in touch and don't be bummed if my messages take a hiatus! I don't know what to expect either!! Yikes... Sing it 'On my own, pretending he's besiiiide me, all alone, ..something, something, something... without him, I feel my something, something.... ' Les Mis, can't ya tell... Ciao.
Susan and I set out yesterday morning around 8:30am to catch the lift to the top of Lagazuoi, a mountain pass. (We could have taken on an hour and a half approach, gotten up at 5:30 and been on the summit by noon, but why rush our last day??) So, we take the lift. The only other climbers on the lift with us (2 sets of 2) are sure enough, going to the same damn route as us. One group, well, it was a given that they would go before us as one of the two was a famous Italian mountain guide, Bruno, who is just a rocket. The other group assured us that they were fast... theyprobably felt like they could cause we were just a couple of girls...well, they LIED!!! majorly!! But, that's ok. We didn't want to rush anyway, right? Speaking of the female long route contigency....we only saw one other woman besides ourselves climbing on the long routes in the Dolomites.. it was that one tough chic that wiggled her invisible willy in my face and pinned me against the wall with her rope until I was singing country songs.. 'sometimes your the windsheild, sometimes your the bug...' I was the bug! So, Susan and I have decided we rock! ;)
Anyway, we get to the base and get rolling, third in line. The sky is blue and clear and we ditched our rain gear in the car to cut down on weight. This route is ONLY 9 pitches. A baby compared to the other big daddies we've climbed and a cynch! We should be at the top no later than 2pm! Right??? Well, thank god we weren't in any kind of HURRY!! Bruno did take off with client in tow. Twice on the route, his poor unknowing client pulled on the wrong rock and went for a sail through the skies. One time it was on a poorly protected traverse pitch and when he fell, it was way off sideways and down, flipping around in the air and colliding into the wall with his back.. luckily, he was wearing a back pack. They pulled the next little lip and we never saw them again. Meanwhile, grandpa was ahead of us leading his young friend up every pitch. This guy was really nice, in his 60's, and spoke a little English. Still, he should have let us pass! Unfortunately, everytime we got to the bealy, he was just leaving it and didn't leave us much of an option for passage. This route was great though! I ended up accidentally leading two of the hardest pitches! Susan accidentally went off route once and led a super hard straight in hand crack on bullet proof black rock! Super exposed and scary! We had to rap that pitch down and to the left to get back on route.. so we both had our wits about us on this one, cause we had to! I had to do these crazy ass face climbing moves on small orange flakes about 15 feet above a shitty piton on the 8th pitch.. it made my legs wobbley for the entirity of the pitch, which didn't ease up but rather took me into an overhanging dihedral with a fingers lieback! It was great and once at the belay, I was so proud of myself for not aiding the pitch on fixed gear like gramps did. Once at the top, and out of water, we still had two hours to get down which included an exposed ridge walk, scree skiiing and an uphill grunt followed by a knee jarring downhill trail.. I was soooooo thirsty, I thought I was going to keel over. I passed up four piles of dirty snow, wishing so bad that snow was always safe to eat... but in lieu of the fact that I watched a heard of Chamois walk all over it all day long... better not.. Until, the fifth patch of snow...I'm sorry! I was desperate! I scraped all the dirt off and dug deep into the three foot tall pile.. And man, did that snow taste like the freshest, best italian ice in the whole damn world. Suddenly the forlorn look on my face that resembles Yosemite Sam in the desert was replaced by a smile of great relief!! Once down, we bumped into gramps again, whose name is actually Colorado - no lie and no bad interpretation.. He and his partner bought us beers in the bar at the top of the pass and then we parted.. But one good thing did come out of that encounter.. Oh, he just happens to own a house in FINALE!! which is one of my up and coming destinations.. sea side climbing on cliffs in N. Italy, remember? So, we exchanged e-mail and turns out that he'll be there in Sept., same as me!
Now, let me just tell you all about this crazy turn of events!! My friend Dani, who lives in the Big Apple and works for a law firm hooked me up big time!! A partner in her firm and his wife are going to Provence, France from the 18th to the 25th of August and they desperately needed a babysitter for their 3-yr old and 6-mo. old! Well, she e-mailed me and it's gonna happen. Straight from Florence, I take a train to Provence and meet this family! They are basically going to be paying for my whole european trip with the wages they'll be giving me... Plus, no camping! I get my own bedroom and my days are free to me and the nights are spent with the kids! What in the world is my deal! How does this stuff happen to me!? What are the chances, I mean really? Well, I will miss out on yet another week of solo time, and a week of climbing, and I'll be looking at a mountain of diapers still, but...it is so worth it!! Thanks again Dani!! :) Well, I must be running along!! I don't know what it will be like, finding internets fast and easy from here on out, so keep in touch and don't be bummed if my messages take a hiatus! I don't know what to expect either!! Yikes... Sing it 'On my own, pretending he's besiiiide me, all alone, ..something, something, something... without him, I feel my something, something.... ' Les Mis, can't ya tell... Ciao.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Utah-Italy 2001 (7)
I have some good stories.. so many in fact that I'm screwed cause I only have 15 minutes left before this place closes for the day and I just want to get it all in... I have to write so often or I'll forget the details and thanks to these letters, I don't have to write so much in my journal...This is my journal... and you are my parchment! (isn't that the word?)
Let's see. Well, on a personal note, I noticed in the shower the other day that after all this hiking I've been doing, Baby Got Back is no longer my theme song! yay.. I know, disappointing for some.. you can't sing and dance on my bootie anymore - Bambi. Ha ha!! Just kidding! That was high school right.. and it was Sarah that liked to shake her booty with me.. at the Magic Attic!! Whew! What a crack! Speaking of hiking. Here's a song that comes to mind.. 'Ain't nooo stoppin' me noooow' That's all I know.
I used to peruse the guide book and talk options with Susan and Tim and think, oh mamamia, hour and a half approach.. Of course, I'd play tough and keep that to myself.. now I say, bring it on. Let's do it. Oh, is that all... Why not 2 hours, 3 hours... Come on baby! So, all those trail blazers that used to leave me in the dust, watch out. It still hurts though, just not as badly.
Ok' here's a story. Yesterday, Tim and I ...well, let's start a day earlier. Thursday night, Tim and I have a plan.... Punta Fiames...15 pitches... fairly easy climbing up this knife edge arete that overlooks Cortina and faces South. The approach is an hour and a half (yeah!) and the climbing is supposed to be classic. So the pack is loaded, the food for munching on the summit and the halfway ledge is packed, we have our water, we have our enthusiasm...and ten minutes later as the kids are going to bed, we also have RAIN!! Damn it!! But, the plan is still in place, exept this time, we'll get up at 5:30, check the weather and then decide... Denied. Until later. We get up at 8am, eat a casual breakfast with the daily coffee dosage and then decide to punch it! We reach the trail head at 9:08... start marching.. The guide says to leave the main trail just as it leaves the forest and head up and right toward the route... Just as it leaves the forest, right? Not just before it leaves the forest... Well, hello Tim!! Boyz. I swear. When they think they are right, there ain't no changin' that mind.. It went from being probably the right way to definitely the right way! So, I bit my tongue and followed. His choice of trail took us through some major bushes, in humid, post-rain conditions that left our pants wetter than if we had been caught in a rain storm. I was sweating so bad that I tied a shirt around my head. I looked just like a GI Joe figure, only I had two 70m ropes strapped to my back. I figured while I was at it, ya know, playing combat-the-juniper-tree, I better be prepared.. so I took my index, middle and ring finger on each hand, dug them into the ground and pulled three stripes of dirt across my cheeks. Now I was ready for anything that would possibly sneak attack me, like that 8 legger just ahead... Thank god I'm not aracnaphobic cause I walked through ten or so webs with spiders lingering dead center.. Their webs now exist in my armpits at this point. My pants and shirt became filled with pine'ish needles from the Juniper-like tree that I was battling on my upward journey toward the route.. all the while thinking to myself..'If only he had listened to me.. if we had only gone twenty more feet on the main trail..' Well, at approximately 10am we bumped into the main trail and had another 40ish minutes to the base of the route...which was a luxurious 1500 feet off the deck. The route's an odd one in that way. You start at this wonderfully exposed height with still 15 pitches and loads of meters to gain. Well, just barely up the first pitch and what should fall upon our little helmets... RAIN!! Claro que si!! We kept motoring, knowing we would probably be screwed but not having much of a choice. The first 6 pitches wander through some marge rock, with lots of loosies and little gear. Most of the belays were half ass, slinging boulders and stuff, so evacuation was not an option. Finally, on the 7th pitch, we get a good solid glue in anchor, resembling what other routes had to rappell from, but the rock just got great!! No turning back.. The rain had subsided so we just kept going up... Mind you, the clouds were still looming and looking ominous in the west...which, I must mention now, is where most of the storms have been coming from so far... make a mental note of that detail for later! :) So, 10 pitches up the route and the clouds from the west are beginning to leak on our heads. Then they begin to vomit all over us. Tim is half way up a pitch and SisterLightning joins the party with her bro, Thunder.. Since the next belay is on top of a huge pillar, we decide Tim should wait right where he is until the heat passes. So, I sit in a small ball on the belay ledge below, hiding in my rain coat and holding onto the rope so tightly, for some sense of relief. Tim is meanwhile clipped into a piton and crunched into a ball about 50 feet above me on a small exposed ledge. The rain turns to that heavier stuff before snow and after sleet.. Then it subsides. So, he finishes the pitch on wet run-out rock and I run up behind him. Our company on this climb are two French dudes that were supposed to go left a couple of pitches ago to do an easier line, and now they lie in our hands, following us pitch for pitch to the top, less prepared for the rain than us too!
Well, let me put you in some similar shoes for a second... Imagine you've been hiking for hours and you're just butt tired and can barely move your legs anymore, then all of a sudden your most feared enemy comes out of nowhere and starts chasing you...Suddenly, you can run faster than ever in your life.. What is that? Adrenaline, right? Well, on this climb, we weren't quite that wasted, but we are cold, wet, hungry and a little tired... Then, the monster showed its ugly face. More HUGE than I can even describe in words, the darkest blue I've seen(outside of a Crayola box) and so full of fury I almost peed my pants! It was a torrential sky monster, a storm with the potential to kill us with one breath of its fire! And it was racing in from the SOUTH!! What the hell. As we looked down on Cortina from the route, it became engulfed in this maddness. Tim's eyes popped right out of his head, like the truck driver in Pee Wee's Big Adventure... I swear! My eyes just filled with tears, not really. :) But man, did that fire get lit under our tails and we set off running. Of course at this point the pitches are at their hardest and Tim took over, leading like a madman, racing up every pitch, me in tow with the pack on my back.. We would barely talk at the belays, just clip in and go, go, go!! It was pure insanity, but we were being safe. The storm held off but it was ever-present... 85 meters to go and the lightning is decorating the sky for a celebration of some great victory of the stars. The thunder was loud as hell and lasted for seconds at a time. 40 meters to go and we were starting to smile again.... Then I hear a glorious YEEHAW echo down the gully by my side and I know the summit is just waiting for me! We made it! We got all the metal right off our bodies, shoved the packs with gear and our mouths with chocolate.. I scribbled some illegible nonsense in the summit registry to prove our slight presence and then we booked it down the trail, leaving the French in our dust...they were safe. So, we skipped along the trail, taking our time and rejoicing that on such a marginal day, we stole a great climb from the weather gods!! Against all odds. That storm just sat back and laughed as we climbed so fast.... so fast that I don't even really remember much other than pulling on holds that were shaking under my grip and on any other day would have come right out and sent me flying!
The trail down was another historical journey throughthe old barracks of Austrian War dudes...their stone walls barely in tact, but present enough to remind us of the hell they went through as they sat in the snow guarding their piece of Italy from a very defendable spot in the hills, unfortunately, they didn't plan well to get their provisions and while they starved in the mountains, 8 Italians took over Cortina and stuffed themselves with all the bread in the area.. comphy and warm. On the way down, I was so thrilled, I started to think back on the climb and sang along with John and Olivia to this tune...'I got chills, they're multiplyin'....ANd I'm loooosin' controool, cause the power that you're supplyin' is eLECtrifyin'...Better shape up, up,up...etc..... Home dry, mostly and safe! And within a half hour of reaching the car, we got dumped on like no other...sorry, our tents did. We were all cozily taking refuge in a Pizzeria, looking out as the thin crust of famous Italian pizzas left this world!!
Today, Susan and I were meant to take on some brute wall, but the weather sucked and we figured those weather gods would only be so kind, so we went sport climbing close to camp. The ratings were sandbagged and we found ourselves feeling very inadequate for sport climbing, which is a bummer for me considering that the rest of my trip in Europe will be mostly focused around sport climbing. My game plan right now is to head up to Northern Italy for some climbing in Finale... Then over to the south of France to climb inthe Verdon Gorge, Beaux and Ceuse. Weather permitting on all accounts. Then, on October 1st?? I'm still planning to meet Doug H. for some more sport climbing in Sardinia. Then, it's off to the east coast of the Carolinas again. Spain is still in there somewhere, but I want quality not quantity so I'm not going to rush from country to country... Well, I have more juice, but we'll let that suffice for now. Our very blessed time here in Cortina is coming to an end on Wednesday when the Wolfe's and I head to Florence for a few days of sight seeing...then they go their way and I, mine. I'll have to wake up via alarm clock instead of my already made coffee at 5am (by Tim) and the screaming kids at 8am on my babysitting days (3 siblings in one tent.. ouch... get'em dressed, get 'em out!) love and kisses and monster energy to you all!!
Let's see. Well, on a personal note, I noticed in the shower the other day that after all this hiking I've been doing, Baby Got Back is no longer my theme song! yay.. I know, disappointing for some.. you can't sing and dance on my bootie anymore - Bambi. Ha ha!! Just kidding! That was high school right.. and it was Sarah that liked to shake her booty with me.. at the Magic Attic!! Whew! What a crack! Speaking of hiking. Here's a song that comes to mind.. 'Ain't nooo stoppin' me noooow' That's all I know.
I used to peruse the guide book and talk options with Susan and Tim and think, oh mamamia, hour and a half approach.. Of course, I'd play tough and keep that to myself.. now I say, bring it on. Let's do it. Oh, is that all... Why not 2 hours, 3 hours... Come on baby! So, all those trail blazers that used to leave me in the dust, watch out. It still hurts though, just not as badly.
Ok' here's a story. Yesterday, Tim and I ...well, let's start a day earlier. Thursday night, Tim and I have a plan.... Punta Fiames...15 pitches... fairly easy climbing up this knife edge arete that overlooks Cortina and faces South. The approach is an hour and a half (yeah!) and the climbing is supposed to be classic. So the pack is loaded, the food for munching on the summit and the halfway ledge is packed, we have our water, we have our enthusiasm...and ten minutes later as the kids are going to bed, we also have RAIN!! Damn it!! But, the plan is still in place, exept this time, we'll get up at 5:30, check the weather and then decide... Denied. Until later. We get up at 8am, eat a casual breakfast with the daily coffee dosage and then decide to punch it! We reach the trail head at 9:08... start marching.. The guide says to leave the main trail just as it leaves the forest and head up and right toward the route... Just as it leaves the forest, right? Not just before it leaves the forest... Well, hello Tim!! Boyz. I swear. When they think they are right, there ain't no changin' that mind.. It went from being probably the right way to definitely the right way! So, I bit my tongue and followed. His choice of trail took us through some major bushes, in humid, post-rain conditions that left our pants wetter than if we had been caught in a rain storm. I was sweating so bad that I tied a shirt around my head. I looked just like a GI Joe figure, only I had two 70m ropes strapped to my back. I figured while I was at it, ya know, playing combat-the-juniper-tree, I better be prepared.. so I took my index, middle and ring finger on each hand, dug them into the ground and pulled three stripes of dirt across my cheeks. Now I was ready for anything that would possibly sneak attack me, like that 8 legger just ahead... Thank god I'm not aracnaphobic cause I walked through ten or so webs with spiders lingering dead center.. Their webs now exist in my armpits at this point. My pants and shirt became filled with pine'ish needles from the Juniper-like tree that I was battling on my upward journey toward the route.. all the while thinking to myself..'If only he had listened to me.. if we had only gone twenty more feet on the main trail..' Well, at approximately 10am we bumped into the main trail and had another 40ish minutes to the base of the route...which was a luxurious 1500 feet off the deck. The route's an odd one in that way. You start at this wonderfully exposed height with still 15 pitches and loads of meters to gain. Well, just barely up the first pitch and what should fall upon our little helmets... RAIN!! Claro que si!! We kept motoring, knowing we would probably be screwed but not having much of a choice. The first 6 pitches wander through some marge rock, with lots of loosies and little gear. Most of the belays were half ass, slinging boulders and stuff, so evacuation was not an option. Finally, on the 7th pitch, we get a good solid glue in anchor, resembling what other routes had to rappell from, but the rock just got great!! No turning back.. The rain had subsided so we just kept going up... Mind you, the clouds were still looming and looking ominous in the west...which, I must mention now, is where most of the storms have been coming from so far... make a mental note of that detail for later! :) So, 10 pitches up the route and the clouds from the west are beginning to leak on our heads. Then they begin to vomit all over us. Tim is half way up a pitch and SisterLightning joins the party with her bro, Thunder.. Since the next belay is on top of a huge pillar, we decide Tim should wait right where he is until the heat passes. So, I sit in a small ball on the belay ledge below, hiding in my rain coat and holding onto the rope so tightly, for some sense of relief. Tim is meanwhile clipped into a piton and crunched into a ball about 50 feet above me on a small exposed ledge. The rain turns to that heavier stuff before snow and after sleet.. Then it subsides. So, he finishes the pitch on wet run-out rock and I run up behind him. Our company on this climb are two French dudes that were supposed to go left a couple of pitches ago to do an easier line, and now they lie in our hands, following us pitch for pitch to the top, less prepared for the rain than us too!
Well, let me put you in some similar shoes for a second... Imagine you've been hiking for hours and you're just butt tired and can barely move your legs anymore, then all of a sudden your most feared enemy comes out of nowhere and starts chasing you...Suddenly, you can run faster than ever in your life.. What is that? Adrenaline, right? Well, on this climb, we weren't quite that wasted, but we are cold, wet, hungry and a little tired... Then, the monster showed its ugly face. More HUGE than I can even describe in words, the darkest blue I've seen(outside of a Crayola box) and so full of fury I almost peed my pants! It was a torrential sky monster, a storm with the potential to kill us with one breath of its fire! And it was racing in from the SOUTH!! What the hell. As we looked down on Cortina from the route, it became engulfed in this maddness. Tim's eyes popped right out of his head, like the truck driver in Pee Wee's Big Adventure... I swear! My eyes just filled with tears, not really. :) But man, did that fire get lit under our tails and we set off running. Of course at this point the pitches are at their hardest and Tim took over, leading like a madman, racing up every pitch, me in tow with the pack on my back.. We would barely talk at the belays, just clip in and go, go, go!! It was pure insanity, but we were being safe. The storm held off but it was ever-present... 85 meters to go and the lightning is decorating the sky for a celebration of some great victory of the stars. The thunder was loud as hell and lasted for seconds at a time. 40 meters to go and we were starting to smile again.... Then I hear a glorious YEEHAW echo down the gully by my side and I know the summit is just waiting for me! We made it! We got all the metal right off our bodies, shoved the packs with gear and our mouths with chocolate.. I scribbled some illegible nonsense in the summit registry to prove our slight presence and then we booked it down the trail, leaving the French in our dust...they were safe. So, we skipped along the trail, taking our time and rejoicing that on such a marginal day, we stole a great climb from the weather gods!! Against all odds. That storm just sat back and laughed as we climbed so fast.... so fast that I don't even really remember much other than pulling on holds that were shaking under my grip and on any other day would have come right out and sent me flying!
The trail down was another historical journey throughthe old barracks of Austrian War dudes...their stone walls barely in tact, but present enough to remind us of the hell they went through as they sat in the snow guarding their piece of Italy from a very defendable spot in the hills, unfortunately, they didn't plan well to get their provisions and while they starved in the mountains, 8 Italians took over Cortina and stuffed themselves with all the bread in the area.. comphy and warm. On the way down, I was so thrilled, I started to think back on the climb and sang along with John and Olivia to this tune...'I got chills, they're multiplyin'....ANd I'm loooosin' controool, cause the power that you're supplyin' is eLECtrifyin'...Better shape up, up,up...etc..... Home dry, mostly and safe! And within a half hour of reaching the car, we got dumped on like no other...sorry, our tents did. We were all cozily taking refuge in a Pizzeria, looking out as the thin crust of famous Italian pizzas left this world!!
Today, Susan and I were meant to take on some brute wall, but the weather sucked and we figured those weather gods would only be so kind, so we went sport climbing close to camp. The ratings were sandbagged and we found ourselves feeling very inadequate for sport climbing, which is a bummer for me considering that the rest of my trip in Europe will be mostly focused around sport climbing. My game plan right now is to head up to Northern Italy for some climbing in Finale... Then over to the south of France to climb inthe Verdon Gorge, Beaux and Ceuse. Weather permitting on all accounts. Then, on October 1st?? I'm still planning to meet Doug H. for some more sport climbing in Sardinia. Then, it's off to the east coast of the Carolinas again. Spain is still in there somewhere, but I want quality not quantity so I'm not going to rush from country to country... Well, I have more juice, but we'll let that suffice for now. Our very blessed time here in Cortina is coming to an end on Wednesday when the Wolfe's and I head to Florence for a few days of sight seeing...then they go their way and I, mine. I'll have to wake up via alarm clock instead of my already made coffee at 5am (by Tim) and the screaming kids at 8am on my babysitting days (3 siblings in one tent.. ouch... get'em dressed, get 'em out!) love and kisses and monster energy to you all!!
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Utah-Italy 2001 (6)
Hello!! Let me take you on a quick tour of some other parts of Italy that don't involve such things as climbing... why? Well, cause I haven't been climbing!!!!!! Why? Well, cause it's raining!!!!!!! Bummer. I guess all those days when Susan and I were getting rained off from the 5th, 3rd and 4th pitches of routes, we were actually lucky, cause we could at least do that much.
At this juncture, the sun is splitting the clouds and we'll be back on the rock tomorrow, but the last few days have been rough. It's hard to find enough to do to keep one busy when no one nearby speaks your language, none of the shops are open from noon to 3:30pm and you have three small kids to entertain and the playground and pool are out of the question. Well, this is what we did...One day we went to Venice. When in Venice, hire a gondolier? Yup. Expensive though it may be, it's well worth it ... and what do I know of the costs anyway.. Venice by gondola was great. OH, what's a gondola? Well, those are the long boats that you cruise around in, with the dude on the back end holding a long, long oar. The gondoliers wear a shirt with black and white stripes, fancy enough not to resemble old school prison uniforms. They also usually wear a hat to keep the sun out. Some folks will hire an old Italian dude to serenade them while they get rowed around venice.. He'll usually have with him a woman or another partner, playing the accordian.The boats are crafted with pride and cared for by the men that steer them. They are all black and shiny. They have cool little seats in them and can take up to six or so people. But, let me not give you the wrong impression of Venice.. Along side of those romantic boats are speed boats, taxi boats and tourist sight seeing boats. Luckily, those big rigs can only ride in the Grand Canal and the gondolas can at least go through the small channels between the buildings. We got into a gondola traffic jam in a small alley way between the walls of sinking old buildings and we could see the rot that had taken place on the first floors of so many of the buildings. Apparently, most people live from the second or third floor up. It is way expensive to live in Venice and a lot of the gondoliers live back on the main land and come intoVenice to work every day. We floated past the house of Shakespear's family, Mozart, and Marco Polo. I think. Our gondolier guy said he spoke English, cause that was important for Susan to get a bunch of info on the creation and development of Venice... but he didn't speak enough English at all... so most of the tour was done in Spanish through me! We went by their Opera house which burned down five years ago and who's reconstruction will not come to an end for another five years or so. Very sad when you see how much theatre and opera mean to these people. Every shop window hosts many masks and wonderful styles of theatrical clothing... very expensive. I also saw in one shop window a real Pinocchio puppet! That was cool. I guess he is from Italy, eh? I've also been called Pinnocchio a couple of times for one reason or another. Our Italian camping neighbor, Gratziano, didn't think we should have heard about Pinnocchio in the states.. guess he hasn't heard of Disney. Back toVenice. The best part of our tour of Venice was when we got out of the gondola and walked around. We saw all the fancy shops ' Gucci, Armani, and whatever other names are big.. Like I would know.. But, the shops were super air conditioned and from what I could tell, few people shopped in them and those that did were bombarded by sales people the second they walked in the door. Meanwhile, on the outside, were the rats of society, me included, looking in with sweat dripping like butter from a hot bun...familiar?? Oh, yeah.. what's the name... oh, some music group.. AlleyCat... Io non so!
Anyway, you can walk all over Venice and you just have to cross the canal every block or so via an old bridge that gives a vista of the small canals with the gondola traffic jams. I bet it was a wonderful place to be back in the day before all the motors and tourists. Enough on Venice.. Just go!
So, one night in our boredom Susan and I went to the neighboring campsite to get some pizza. Well, we were greeted in high style by the four Italian men that worked in the bar/pizzeria. They sat us down even though we ordered to go and gave us some breadsticks. We decided to order a beer each.. Well, one beer later and still no Pizza. They asked how long, we said, give us another five minutes and another beer. We were all having a blast. Two were Italian and two were Moroccan, so between the four of us, the only exchange of language was my broken Italian and good Spanish, Susan's french and their broken English and decent French! Well, it was fun. Following the second beer, we were gifted a glass of chardonay each... following which we were given a glass of champaigne each, and then another... meanwhile, two hours have passed and Susan realized that Tim was back at camp, with the kids, starving... So, she left me in the bar and ran back with his pizza.. I sat and ate mine with a newcomer who is also from Cortina, but who spent several years with his wife and kids inWisconsin. He gladly showed me his version of the Wiz'can'sin accent. Then he told me about his divorce and how he misses his kids who are still in the states cause one of them needs special attention for Autism in Wisconsin.. Well, Susan came back and the lesson in languages continued with a little bit of pantamiming on the side.. FUN!! I love that kind of stuff!!
Finally, on our last rainey day, we dandered through a local graveyard that holds the remains of so many war casualties.. Cortina was a huge player in one of theWorld Wars... the one that happened in 1914 or something... I know!! Shush! I had shitty history teachers!! I'm sorry!!!! Anyway, this part of Italy used to be Austria until that war. We also cruised through a rad museum that had tons of war relics, fossils, old clothing and weaponry, lots of dead butterflies, beetles and moths? and a bunch of other old shit. It was cool. While walking through town in the rain this fine Sunday in Italy, it ocurred to me that ABSOLUTELY no one here neuters their dogs! Balls in my face left and right! But, to their credit, they were all on leashes and mostly well-behaved. People are weird with their dogs here. No one seemed even the least bit amused that I would walk by with a sparkle in my eye at the sight of their dogs. Not even my funny dog kiss noises could make them smile back or pause for me to pet their stinking mutts! I need dog interaction.. It's killing me!!!! Luckily, two days ago, a great dane moved in across the street from us. His name is Duka and I do get to touch him once or twice a day. His owner and his wife brought us some Grappa last night! Yuk! That shit tastes like Everclear! Me no like!!! But, when in Italy, try grappa! Ciao amicos!
At this juncture, the sun is splitting the clouds and we'll be back on the rock tomorrow, but the last few days have been rough. It's hard to find enough to do to keep one busy when no one nearby speaks your language, none of the shops are open from noon to 3:30pm and you have three small kids to entertain and the playground and pool are out of the question. Well, this is what we did...One day we went to Venice. When in Venice, hire a gondolier? Yup. Expensive though it may be, it's well worth it ... and what do I know of the costs anyway.. Venice by gondola was great. OH, what's a gondola? Well, those are the long boats that you cruise around in, with the dude on the back end holding a long, long oar. The gondoliers wear a shirt with black and white stripes, fancy enough not to resemble old school prison uniforms. They also usually wear a hat to keep the sun out. Some folks will hire an old Italian dude to serenade them while they get rowed around venice.. He'll usually have with him a woman or another partner, playing the accordian.The boats are crafted with pride and cared for by the men that steer them. They are all black and shiny. They have cool little seats in them and can take up to six or so people. But, let me not give you the wrong impression of Venice.. Along side of those romantic boats are speed boats, taxi boats and tourist sight seeing boats. Luckily, those big rigs can only ride in the Grand Canal and the gondolas can at least go through the small channels between the buildings. We got into a gondola traffic jam in a small alley way between the walls of sinking old buildings and we could see the rot that had taken place on the first floors of so many of the buildings. Apparently, most people live from the second or third floor up. It is way expensive to live in Venice and a lot of the gondoliers live back on the main land and come intoVenice to work every day. We floated past the house of Shakespear's family, Mozart, and Marco Polo. I think. Our gondolier guy said he spoke English, cause that was important for Susan to get a bunch of info on the creation and development of Venice... but he didn't speak enough English at all... so most of the tour was done in Spanish through me! We went by their Opera house which burned down five years ago and who's reconstruction will not come to an end for another five years or so. Very sad when you see how much theatre and opera mean to these people. Every shop window hosts many masks and wonderful styles of theatrical clothing... very expensive. I also saw in one shop window a real Pinocchio puppet! That was cool. I guess he is from Italy, eh? I've also been called Pinnocchio a couple of times for one reason or another. Our Italian camping neighbor, Gratziano, didn't think we should have heard about Pinnocchio in the states.. guess he hasn't heard of Disney. Back toVenice. The best part of our tour of Venice was when we got out of the gondola and walked around. We saw all the fancy shops ' Gucci, Armani, and whatever other names are big.. Like I would know.. But, the shops were super air conditioned and from what I could tell, few people shopped in them and those that did were bombarded by sales people the second they walked in the door. Meanwhile, on the outside, were the rats of society, me included, looking in with sweat dripping like butter from a hot bun...familiar?? Oh, yeah.. what's the name... oh, some music group.. AlleyCat... Io non so!
Anyway, you can walk all over Venice and you just have to cross the canal every block or so via an old bridge that gives a vista of the small canals with the gondola traffic jams. I bet it was a wonderful place to be back in the day before all the motors and tourists. Enough on Venice.. Just go!
So, one night in our boredom Susan and I went to the neighboring campsite to get some pizza. Well, we were greeted in high style by the four Italian men that worked in the bar/pizzeria. They sat us down even though we ordered to go and gave us some breadsticks. We decided to order a beer each.. Well, one beer later and still no Pizza. They asked how long, we said, give us another five minutes and another beer. We were all having a blast. Two were Italian and two were Moroccan, so between the four of us, the only exchange of language was my broken Italian and good Spanish, Susan's french and their broken English and decent French! Well, it was fun. Following the second beer, we were gifted a glass of chardonay each... following which we were given a glass of champaigne each, and then another... meanwhile, two hours have passed and Susan realized that Tim was back at camp, with the kids, starving... So, she left me in the bar and ran back with his pizza.. I sat and ate mine with a newcomer who is also from Cortina, but who spent several years with his wife and kids inWisconsin. He gladly showed me his version of the Wiz'can'sin accent. Then he told me about his divorce and how he misses his kids who are still in the states cause one of them needs special attention for Autism in Wisconsin.. Well, Susan came back and the lesson in languages continued with a little bit of pantamiming on the side.. FUN!! I love that kind of stuff!!
Finally, on our last rainey day, we dandered through a local graveyard that holds the remains of so many war casualties.. Cortina was a huge player in one of theWorld Wars... the one that happened in 1914 or something... I know!! Shush! I had shitty history teachers!! I'm sorry!!!! Anyway, this part of Italy used to be Austria until that war. We also cruised through a rad museum that had tons of war relics, fossils, old clothing and weaponry, lots of dead butterflies, beetles and moths? and a bunch of other old shit. It was cool. While walking through town in the rain this fine Sunday in Italy, it ocurred to me that ABSOLUTELY no one here neuters their dogs! Balls in my face left and right! But, to their credit, they were all on leashes and mostly well-behaved. People are weird with their dogs here. No one seemed even the least bit amused that I would walk by with a sparkle in my eye at the sight of their dogs. Not even my funny dog kiss noises could make them smile back or pause for me to pet their stinking mutts! I need dog interaction.. It's killing me!!!! Luckily, two days ago, a great dane moved in across the street from us. His name is Duka and I do get to touch him once or twice a day. His owner and his wife brought us some Grappa last night! Yuk! That shit tastes like Everclear! Me no like!!! But, when in Italy, try grappa! Ciao amicos!
Utah-Italy 2001 (5)
Hello! So, I heard from more than one of you that following my last e-mail I may have obtained status of a whacko! Yay! I achieved my ultimate goal in life. Do you just love me!!?? I'm crazy. Here we go again...My it's been so long.
I'm buzzing on a stein of a Pilsner type beer that I just slammed following the 18!!!!!! pitch route that Tim and I just ticked today in a matter of ocho (8) hours today... not counting the hour up and down hiking. Ouch, my knees! The climbing was great! Absolutely Grand! It was on a peak called Tofanna that is absolutely impossible to miss from anywhere around here. Every day we look up at it from camp and from every climb I've done so far, I see Tofanna! And today, I sumitted Tofanna! We did this casual route with only a few scary pitches. Questioning my mortality wasn't even an issue today. It was just plain fun. Well, besides that..I'm a mental Giant right now. This place is so good for me. I hung it out over some crazily exposed spots with gear dangling far in my past and I wasn't even fazed. In fact, the holds on this one pitch were so kick-ass that I could shape a line for Pusher or Franklin based soley on that pitch. The only shitter of the route was that as we began up the first pitch, this Italian woman and her Austrian lover came along with every intention of passing us, but without so much as a mention one way or the other. She actually started leading a pitch with her bum in my face while I began to second it..(sorry for all the climbing info).. So, then on the second pitch, I started out leading while she was belaying up her partner. Next thing I know, she's on my tail and on this traverse, she passes below me, pinning me to the wall with her rope-draggy rope and gets a cam tangled up in my line.... Tim was choked, so on the next pitch, he dogs her just for the fun of it and links two pitches to blow the bitch out of the water.. Well, we let her pass in the end cause she had ill energy and no desire to be pleasant about cramming herself in our faces on very pitch.. she proceeded to do the same thing to the Germans above us. When we caught up to them, they asked Tim where we were from, Italy?. NO, not Italy..Oh, good, then you won't be rude.... They have a bad rep here. It's not the first time that's happened to us. In Yosemite, they would have their rope cut!
I'll tell you what too, at the top of that route, I would've been a great body shot... I just learned about those from my friend, Bambi.. if you knew her, you'd see it as ironic! :) But it's kinda like when you lick the person's neck, do a shot of tequila from somewhere on their body and then lick some lime from their mouth...or something... I would have given enough salt to eliminate any tasting of the tequila or needing of the lime.. yuk, I know.. But, funny thought that ocurred to me as I licked my shoulder out of nervousness on this hairy traverse... I know, whacko..
The other day, Susan and I went out to climb. We got up at 4:30 am and charged... well, we had a two hour drive. We got to the base...well, we never got to the base, but we got to the area at 8:30. The guide book sucked and we couldn't find the route that went with the approach description, but we thought we saw the line. We hiked around for at least an hour and marked the territory like Bears and then found a clue that told us that the original line we saw, was the line!!Of course at this time there are clouds the size of Utah overhead and the way they have creamed Suze and I so far (3 for 3) we weren't going to take a chance...So, we bailed, back down the hour and a half trek and into a cute little town on a lake, Aleghe, and we had lunch.. and boy did we have lunch. These two littleAmericanas had one big pizza, one bowl of spaghetti, two mixed salads, one order of fries, and two cokes..oh, I'm eating so well in Italy! Like a champ. Thank god for all the early mornings and big approaches orI'd be a tank. Instead, I'm actually losing weight! Yowsah! But, on the way home, we were so overcome with guilt for not climbing and were too afraid of going back to camp and facing Tim who would look at the ground and shake his head and then say, well I'm sure you made a wise call.... FUCK THAT... we mustered up the energy to haul or lazy buns with our heavy packs up a trail and do this classic Arete that overlooks alot of the climbing around here. It was seven pitches of perfect, but polished climbing, with mostly threaded limestone rings for pro! It was a knife edge too so on either side, it just fell away to the ground below! Lovely! Yay! We did a route... to the top! I would love to be funnier and tell lots more, but didI mention I've been climbing all day!? I must run. I'll tell you about our day trip to Venice and whatever else comes to mind soon. Love yas! Thanks for the notes.
I'm buzzing on a stein of a Pilsner type beer that I just slammed following the 18!!!!!! pitch route that Tim and I just ticked today in a matter of ocho (8) hours today... not counting the hour up and down hiking. Ouch, my knees! The climbing was great! Absolutely Grand! It was on a peak called Tofanna that is absolutely impossible to miss from anywhere around here. Every day we look up at it from camp and from every climb I've done so far, I see Tofanna! And today, I sumitted Tofanna! We did this casual route with only a few scary pitches. Questioning my mortality wasn't even an issue today. It was just plain fun. Well, besides that..I'm a mental Giant right now. This place is so good for me. I hung it out over some crazily exposed spots with gear dangling far in my past and I wasn't even fazed. In fact, the holds on this one pitch were so kick-ass that I could shape a line for Pusher or Franklin based soley on that pitch. The only shitter of the route was that as we began up the first pitch, this Italian woman and her Austrian lover came along with every intention of passing us, but without so much as a mention one way or the other. She actually started leading a pitch with her bum in my face while I began to second it..(sorry for all the climbing info).. So, then on the second pitch, I started out leading while she was belaying up her partner. Next thing I know, she's on my tail and on this traverse, she passes below me, pinning me to the wall with her rope-draggy rope and gets a cam tangled up in my line.... Tim was choked, so on the next pitch, he dogs her just for the fun of it and links two pitches to blow the bitch out of the water.. Well, we let her pass in the end cause she had ill energy and no desire to be pleasant about cramming herself in our faces on very pitch.. she proceeded to do the same thing to the Germans above us. When we caught up to them, they asked Tim where we were from, Italy?. NO, not Italy..Oh, good, then you won't be rude.... They have a bad rep here. It's not the first time that's happened to us. In Yosemite, they would have their rope cut!
I'll tell you what too, at the top of that route, I would've been a great body shot... I just learned about those from my friend, Bambi.. if you knew her, you'd see it as ironic! :) But it's kinda like when you lick the person's neck, do a shot of tequila from somewhere on their body and then lick some lime from their mouth...or something... I would have given enough salt to eliminate any tasting of the tequila or needing of the lime.. yuk, I know.. But, funny thought that ocurred to me as I licked my shoulder out of nervousness on this hairy traverse... I know, whacko..
The other day, Susan and I went out to climb. We got up at 4:30 am and charged... well, we had a two hour drive. We got to the base...well, we never got to the base, but we got to the area at 8:30. The guide book sucked and we couldn't find the route that went with the approach description, but we thought we saw the line. We hiked around for at least an hour and marked the territory like Bears and then found a clue that told us that the original line we saw, was the line!!Of course at this time there are clouds the size of Utah overhead and the way they have creamed Suze and I so far (3 for 3) we weren't going to take a chance...So, we bailed, back down the hour and a half trek and into a cute little town on a lake, Aleghe, and we had lunch.. and boy did we have lunch. These two littleAmericanas had one big pizza, one bowl of spaghetti, two mixed salads, one order of fries, and two cokes..oh, I'm eating so well in Italy! Like a champ. Thank god for all the early mornings and big approaches orI'd be a tank. Instead, I'm actually losing weight! Yowsah! But, on the way home, we were so overcome with guilt for not climbing and were too afraid of going back to camp and facing Tim who would look at the ground and shake his head and then say, well I'm sure you made a wise call.... FUCK THAT... we mustered up the energy to haul or lazy buns with our heavy packs up a trail and do this classic Arete that overlooks alot of the climbing around here. It was seven pitches of perfect, but polished climbing, with mostly threaded limestone rings for pro! It was a knife edge too so on either side, it just fell away to the ground below! Lovely! Yay! We did a route... to the top! I would love to be funnier and tell lots more, but didI mention I've been climbing all day!? I must run. I'll tell you about our day trip to Venice and whatever else comes to mind soon. Love yas! Thanks for the notes.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Utah-Italy 2001 (4)
Ho Fame! That means I'm hungry, and I ain't lyin'. So, here's a quickie! Thank you thank you so much for all the messages! You guys are makin' my days and I'm not homesick at all!! Although, could you see the view I have, you'd know why! So.... the girls set out to do some rock climbin! We had originally planned to do the 11-pitcher, but the clouds moved in yesterday and started to thunder and make rain, so we changed plans and decided to do these towers. Several routes, 4 pitches long. Get this.. you take a ski lift to the top of the mountain and then take a 5 minute walk to the base! Ha Ha! What a life! So, we packed up and planned on sleeping in until 8am or so.. and did, cause the lift wouldn't run until 9am anyway... Well, somewhere after dark, we fell asleep after many trips to the big kids tent to make threats, promises, bribes, and deals of all types to get Todd, the toddler to settle down and sleep.... In the morning, oh the birds, they were a singin' and the sun was shining and everything was perfect, so us girls make a quick change of plans.. big climb, here we come. We only had to make one change... not one 60m rope, but 2 70m's instead. So, we slam back our coffees, shove a banana and some bread down our throats and into our empty stomachs and head out in the souped up auto we rented... (Guess who gets to drive! Me! Tim and I are the authorized drivers! I'm becoming a pro Euro driver. Zoom Zoom. Watch out Mario!) We get to the trail at 9am, the base at 9:45am and on the rock at 10am. Susan took the first pitch... Cruiser with barely any gear... just a few tie offs...threads. Then I come up with pack on back.. Oh, those shoes they do weigh somethin' fierce. We make the quick hand off, discuss the impending cloud action and I cruise ahead.. Bustin' out some real moves on vertical rock fifteen feet over a shitty thread with an inch of limestone as my pro! Susan takes the next pitch, an awesome chimney! Then, it's me on the crux. Fantabulous stemming on an overhanging dihedral, a bitch for Susan to follow with the pack! Thank god I got the lead! Hee Hee. Then at the next ledge, just as we're wetting our lips with acqua and sucking down some nectarine, what should come from behind our mountain.... Hail!! So much hail in our face, on our head, in our mouths, down our pants! Yikes! Luckily, we were at a ledge with a little overhang.. We take shelter and as soon as the ramp above us becomes a waterfall, we decide to rap. Luckily for us, that was an option. The day before, Susan and Tim were on a route that they couldn't have rapped cause of the wanderingness of it. So, we rapped off cemented bolts! Yeehaw. We were doused and cold, but with the 70m ropes (lucky) we were down in three raps and no ropes got stuck! Someone was watching over us... I'll say it was mother Venus, today. Once down, we ingested some Milk Chocolate...yes.. milk! Man, I tell you what. We've been on some crazy ass starvation diet in this country. Not really on purpose, but for some reasons, the meals are small and they come just in time.. probably cause we have to prep for the kids and by the time they're done eating, we are just starting. Seconds are not a big option. Someone (or all) is having to break up a quarrell or satiate another hunger of the kiddos! But- I tell you what friends. I love these kids more and more everyday! They are just little blessings. Megan loves me so much. She always takes my hand, my lap, my clothes. And the way she talks.. ouch, that's too cute! Hilary- she can't say her [k] or [g] sound. She only says [t] and [d]. So, when we talk about tyrannasaurus Rex.. their favorite monster, she says... I tit dum an I wuh tase dum in duh mount'n. Oh, god she kills me! (I kick them and I would chase them in the mountain) Well, more later. Must go eat some bread and drinksome water.. ;) love, loyalty and friendship to all.
Utah-Italy 2001(3)
Bellisima!! The Dolomites absolutely increible! That's spanish, not a typo. Say it with me -in'cray'ee'blay! Good job! Anyway- those Dolomitis! Yikes. So, we set up camp with 350 other campers, at least, in a campsite to cater to the little ones...pool, playground, grassy fields, snack shop, laundry machine, hot showers, nice clean toilettes, etc. I'm not complaining about the crowd, cause everything else is too awesome... plus, the people here are so beautiful and diverse. They are from everywhere on the globe... lots from Holland, Germany, Italy, Austria.. few that speak English, although, as usual, the Britts are out in full force. They are such great travellers.. Who pays for that anyway? So, day one in camp and Tim is jonesin' to get on the rock.. So, I oblige. We headed out blindly into the Dolomitis and hastily marched to the base of this 11-pitch route we were planning to take on at a casual...2pm in the afternoon.. HaHa! So, I know, you won'tbelieve this, just trust me... I opted for the firstlead! Well, ten feet up and in my face is a shiny newgold Metolius BOLT. WHAT THE??? But, I didn'tcomplain. I did look down at Tim and ask if I should clip it. He said 'Naw' jokingly and I moved on. Then he laughed and said, 'you thought I was serious?'. I don't know... I just thought with all the gear and so close to the ground, why bother.... me!! So, I kept climbing for 60 meters, clipping bolts every 20 feet at least... There was no gear to be found and I was looking to find a belay ledge with a dead tree... That ledge never came so I slung a horn and threaded a hole.. (limestone, ya know), and belayed Tim up. He came up, passed me, searched above and found the rock to be shit, and no dead tree... So, we rapped off single bolts to the ground.. yikes! We were...oh...2,000 feet to the left of the right route and now it was too late, so we went back to the unmentioned planB. Recon. Search and figure. We found the route we were meant to be on.. A specfuckintacular arete to a pure face followed by a dihedral, through a small cave to the summit. So, we got back in the car, drove around and found definite trails and starting points for several more climbs as not to goof up and waste another day.. The next day, I watched the chitlins while Tim and Susan did another route.. a 14 pitch beauty up perfect rock on an exposed arete. They hauled ass and did it in time to come down and go to the pool. Tomorrow, Susan and I are going back to that gorgeous route that Tim and I sussed the day before. I can't wait, though a little nerviosa! It's 11 pitches long!
Days with kids. Did I mention that I will never have three!! Today, we got up at 8am, Tim and Susan were already gone climbing. So, I rounded up some lire ($) and headed to the store... bought some bread and cheese, jelly, juice.. they don't have much but it's always quite healthy. So, we had breakfast, then we played kid games and I kept the peace between siblings, then we had lunch, then we went to the pool(which is filled with glacier water... cool?), then we took a nap - not me, just the two wee ones. I got to go back to the pool with Zach and then an hour later,the rents were home. It's exhausting to say the least, being a mom. What a drag too that all the sexyItalian boys think I'm a burdened mamà. ;) Let me tell you too. These people know how to stay in shape. Everyone, of all ages is in great shape. There are noooooooo obese people here! Every day they are hiking, walking, biking, swimming, playing with kids, climbing. NO one seems to run, but they are all in top form. We need to recruit some Americans for activity camp in Europe to learn a piece or too. Well, I'll hopefully have wonderful stories of a route successful. I'm totally amped! Even more so now thatI found the internet place.. It almost seems weird to be in touch all the time, but I'm, again, not complaining. I hope all you SLers were at theMichelle Shocked show with Joe and Emma. Good times! Have 'em for me, and I'll do the same. Ciao amicos.
Days with kids. Did I mention that I will never have three!! Today, we got up at 8am, Tim and Susan were already gone climbing. So, I rounded up some lire ($) and headed to the store... bought some bread and cheese, jelly, juice.. they don't have much but it's always quite healthy. So, we had breakfast, then we played kid games and I kept the peace between siblings, then we had lunch, then we went to the pool(which is filled with glacier water... cool?), then we took a nap - not me, just the two wee ones. I got to go back to the pool with Zach and then an hour later,the rents were home. It's exhausting to say the least, being a mom. What a drag too that all the sexyItalian boys think I'm a burdened mamà. ;) Let me tell you too. These people know how to stay in shape. Everyone, of all ages is in great shape. There are noooooooo obese people here! Every day they are hiking, walking, biking, swimming, playing with kids, climbing. NO one seems to run, but they are all in top form. We need to recruit some Americans for activity camp in Europe to learn a piece or too. Well, I'll hopefully have wonderful stories of a route successful. I'm totally amped! Even more so now thatI found the internet place.. It almost seems weird to be in touch all the time, but I'm, again, not complaining. I hope all you SLers were at theMichelle Shocked show with Joe and Emma. Good times! Have 'em for me, and I'll do the same. Ciao amicos.
Utah-Italy 2001 (2)
Yodle-This is just a quickie to let all those interested that this woman is officially fleeing the country as of Monday Morning - July 16th. I will be heading fromMyrtle to Atlanta to Philly to ROME!! ITALIA.. And so far all I can say is MI CHIAMO RAQUELITA and I can count to ten or so... Ok- I'm being modest. I'll be able to get by in the airport, but go shopping, I think not. Well, my times here at the beach were wonderful and to those of you who I saw, it was awesome.. and from whatI remember of it, I don't regret a thing... except maybe a comment or two about slow motion and showers..:) but, it'll be forgotten by October, right? Yes,we did some partying and now it's time for some serious climbing and kid business. For those of you who have no damn clue what this is all about, here's the bizz..
1- I fly to Italy on Monday and meet Tim and SusanWolfe and their 3 children, ages 2, 4, 6. Then we tour Rome for four days. I'm standing in as nanny for hire, but I know these folks from SLC... although, I don't know the kids... well... at all!! They'll just have to learn to like me.. hee hee... I'll make vegetarians of them all.. JUST FREAKIN' KIDDING! Don't go gettin' all worked up over nothing!
2. So, after Rome we take a train to Venice and tour that wee spot for a spell. Then we rent a car and drive to Cortina, the small mountain town in which we'll join the other tourists/climbers for a month...only, while they're all staying in big fancy chalets..or whatever they are in Italy, we'll be camping.. haha... with three kids. Oh, the jealous eye will certainly fly our way??! :)
3. From Cortina, we'll be climbing the whole time! It'll work like a sort of rotation. Two days on and one off for all of us.. so even though I am merely a nanny, I will be a climber too! Yeehaw!
4. From Cortina, on or around the 18th of August, we'll take a train to Florence and see the sights...and then, they leave me all alone.. little americana in big Italia! FREEDOM.
5. So, from Cortina. I have really no flippin' idea what the hell I'm going to do. The only set plans I have are: a) don't spend it all in one country b) see france, spain, portugal, switzerland, and hopefully belgium. c) look for girlfriend - ANNABANANA in Italy orSpain d) meet friend, Doug, in Nice on October 1st and take ferry to Sardinia to climb for my last two weeks in Western Europe. Anyone wanna join me for adventures in September???
So, then I come home on October 15th, 2001! If Idon't... then send in the troops. I'll be logging on a lot to keep everyone up on my goings on. I'm sure to have some sort of adventure, although it may not be a foot flapping, overhanging 5.11 hand crack in the Andes. God, those guys rock! :) So, to all of you -keep on having awesome summers, or start... and I'll be way in touch soon. You guys will be my travel buddies once I hit the road solo, so hang in there with me. Clam Ciao -der. -rai ;)
ps - I must clear something up. I should have done itlong ago to clear the air and prevent major embarassment... My name is RAICHLE!! Not RAILENE!! I just put that as my alias. It came from ChrisGrover.. you know, that dude at Black Diamond that"runs the fuckin' place." So, make a mental note if you didn't already know.. (there's more)
pss - forgive me father for I have sinned. It hasbeen almost one week since I sent that silly forward, in which time I have to come to learn that, indeed, Bonsai kitty is joke. There is no Bonsai kitty. It was a big fat mistake and I was pulled down like many other Animal lovers, into the depths of darkness and gullibility.. and I am heartily sorry for having offended anyone with such silliness.. Thank you. :)
1- I fly to Italy on Monday and meet Tim and SusanWolfe and their 3 children, ages 2, 4, 6. Then we tour Rome for four days. I'm standing in as nanny for hire, but I know these folks from SLC... although, I don't know the kids... well... at all!! They'll just have to learn to like me.. hee hee... I'll make vegetarians of them all.. JUST FREAKIN' KIDDING! Don't go gettin' all worked up over nothing!
2. So, after Rome we take a train to Venice and tour that wee spot for a spell. Then we rent a car and drive to Cortina, the small mountain town in which we'll join the other tourists/climbers for a month...only, while they're all staying in big fancy chalets..or whatever they are in Italy, we'll be camping.. haha... with three kids. Oh, the jealous eye will certainly fly our way??! :)
3. From Cortina, we'll be climbing the whole time! It'll work like a sort of rotation. Two days on and one off for all of us.. so even though I am merely a nanny, I will be a climber too! Yeehaw!
4. From Cortina, on or around the 18th of August, we'll take a train to Florence and see the sights...and then, they leave me all alone.. little americana in big Italia! FREEDOM.
5. So, from Cortina. I have really no flippin' idea what the hell I'm going to do. The only set plans I have are: a) don't spend it all in one country b) see france, spain, portugal, switzerland, and hopefully belgium. c) look for girlfriend - ANNABANANA in Italy orSpain d) meet friend, Doug, in Nice on October 1st and take ferry to Sardinia to climb for my last two weeks in Western Europe. Anyone wanna join me for adventures in September???
So, then I come home on October 15th, 2001! If Idon't... then send in the troops. I'll be logging on a lot to keep everyone up on my goings on. I'm sure to have some sort of adventure, although it may not be a foot flapping, overhanging 5.11 hand crack in the Andes. God, those guys rock! :) So, to all of you -keep on having awesome summers, or start... and I'll be way in touch soon. You guys will be my travel buddies once I hit the road solo, so hang in there with me. Clam Ciao -der. -rai ;)
ps - I must clear something up. I should have done itlong ago to clear the air and prevent major embarassment... My name is RAICHLE!! Not RAILENE!! I just put that as my alias. It came from ChrisGrover.. you know, that dude at Black Diamond that"runs the fuckin' place." So, make a mental note if you didn't already know.. (there's more)
pss - forgive me father for I have sinned. It hasbeen almost one week since I sent that silly forward, in which time I have to come to learn that, indeed, Bonsai kitty is joke. There is no Bonsai kitty. It was a big fat mistake and I was pulled down like many other Animal lovers, into the depths of darkness and gullibility.. and I am heartily sorry for having offended anyone with such silliness.. Thank you. :)
Utah - Italy 2001 (1)
moooooo!!!!! I made it home to SC. And I've already heard from so many of you! Thanks for being in touch. I'll write some personals later, but I'm just bumming this computer from a friend for a sec! I did make it to St. Louis, 12 hours and one car seat flying out the back later.... yup, Sarah, at 5:00 am I drove away from your house in Boulder and left the tailgate downand the back up! Luckily for me... I only lost the car seat. When I realized... I hit the steering wheel, said fuck a few times and tried to backtrack...got lost in the interlocken place where Sarah lives and finally made it back to her place... The carseat was sitting comfortably on the side of the road twenty yards from her front door!! Thank my luckystars! :)
So anyway, in St. Louis, I called steerrider, the girl I met on line at the veggieboards.com. She said I should definitely come by and meet her steer AND that I could stay! How awesome.. no hotel,no sleeping in my truck! Again, lucky for me, she was a really nice, normal 23 year old. Her steer... so cool! His name is Nunde and he is just like a dog! He comes trotting up to us, sniffing me to say hi and who the hell are you.. and then he bent over and put his nose up against my dog, Seamus' nose! He was flabberghasted to say the least! Nunde is black and loves to have his back scratched. He's also way curious and watched everything we did. He also ate his first carrot while I was there. Steer rider was astonished... I'm not sure if I want to say her realname... Anyway, then I left St. Louis and embarked on a 16!! hour drive home. Whew. But, I made it! Along the way, I hit a much needed Thunder Storm in Kentucky.. cooled things down for Seamus and I as I have no air conditioning. Then of course, we hit that line in the country where all of a sudden, you remember for the first time in ages, what that thing called humidity is! Then in Tennessee, well, some bible carrier released his wrath on the vegetarian hethen with the 666 liscence plates... Well, I don'tknow if that's what happened, but all of a sudden hundreds of bugs started flying out of the median into my windshield.. It was like the ending of the movieMagnolia.. or the curse of the locusts and grasshoppers.. crazy! WE survived. That was all the drama. Oh, and I had some Mellow Yellow and I saw a Piggly Wiggly! And, the trees.. oh the endless sea of trees! So many and just as many shades of green! That was dropping down in Chattanooga! Gorgeous.. Oh and then I hit rush hour in Atlanta.. 8 out of every 10 cars was driven by a black person... The fact thatI noticed that has only come to be because I've lived in Utah for 6 years. Kind of sad, eh? But, a relief to be back in the midst of some diversity. Getting home was splendid and seeing the folks was the best! And the best for Seamus too. He swam in the lake out back all day today. Well, I'm going out on the town to see some old cronies so take care and happyIndependance Day!
So anyway, in St. Louis, I called steerrider, the girl I met on line at the veggieboards.com. She said I should definitely come by and meet her steer AND that I could stay! How awesome.. no hotel,no sleeping in my truck! Again, lucky for me, she was a really nice, normal 23 year old. Her steer... so cool! His name is Nunde and he is just like a dog! He comes trotting up to us, sniffing me to say hi and who the hell are you.. and then he bent over and put his nose up against my dog, Seamus' nose! He was flabberghasted to say the least! Nunde is black and loves to have his back scratched. He's also way curious and watched everything we did. He also ate his first carrot while I was there. Steer rider was astonished... I'm not sure if I want to say her realname... Anyway, then I left St. Louis and embarked on a 16!! hour drive home. Whew. But, I made it! Along the way, I hit a much needed Thunder Storm in Kentucky.. cooled things down for Seamus and I as I have no air conditioning. Then of course, we hit that line in the country where all of a sudden, you remember for the first time in ages, what that thing called humidity is! Then in Tennessee, well, some bible carrier released his wrath on the vegetarian hethen with the 666 liscence plates... Well, I don'tknow if that's what happened, but all of a sudden hundreds of bugs started flying out of the median into my windshield.. It was like the ending of the movieMagnolia.. or the curse of the locusts and grasshoppers.. crazy! WE survived. That was all the drama. Oh, and I had some Mellow Yellow and I saw a Piggly Wiggly! And, the trees.. oh the endless sea of trees! So many and just as many shades of green! That was dropping down in Chattanooga! Gorgeous.. Oh and then I hit rush hour in Atlanta.. 8 out of every 10 cars was driven by a black person... The fact thatI noticed that has only come to be because I've lived in Utah for 6 years. Kind of sad, eh? But, a relief to be back in the midst of some diversity. Getting home was splendid and seeing the folks was the best! And the best for Seamus too. He swam in the lake out back all day today. Well, I'm going out on the town to see some old cronies so take care and happyIndependance Day!
Friday, May 17, 2002
Peru-Utah 2002 (6)
Hello All! Sorry I left some of you hanging (those that don't see me in SLC). This is just a quick uneventul message to let everyone know (that doesn't already) that I am back safely in SLC. I came back with a funk in my stomach... it kicked my ass for a few days and forced me to get some fluids from the emergency room and some antibiotics. I can finally stand up straight and breathe normal so all is well! I don't know the source but just found out this morning that I test negative for any parasites and all bacteria!!! Yay! So, with renewed faith in the third world, I'll start planning my next trip!
But, a word to the future Peru explorers... I'll pass on the advice I got from my friend, Jon Webb... which I was doubting at first... When you fly to Peru, have a ride planned for you at the airport or at least a trustworthy hostel lined up for the taxi to take you to...(I can recommend our friend Daniel's), stay one night if necessary and then get the hell out as fast as you can! Go to the jungle, go to Huaraz, go to Iquitos, just get out!
Maybe I'm not being fair to Lima.. and this is only my (and Jon's) opinion... but Lima, of all the cities I've been to around the world, is the dirtiest (in most parts) and seems to be festering a little. The air is so much cleaner and people are so much more content everywhere else... and who knows what's floating around in that humidity...I hate to bash anywhere, especially when I didn't stay long myself, but that's what happens when people go before you... they make a call and you choose to believe or not believe...
But, a word to the future Peru explorers... I'll pass on the advice I got from my friend, Jon Webb... which I was doubting at first... When you fly to Peru, have a ride planned for you at the airport or at least a trustworthy hostel lined up for the taxi to take you to...(I can recommend our friend Daniel's), stay one night if necessary and then get the hell out as fast as you can! Go to the jungle, go to Huaraz, go to Iquitos, just get out!
Maybe I'm not being fair to Lima.. and this is only my (and Jon's) opinion... but Lima, of all the cities I've been to around the world, is the dirtiest (in most parts) and seems to be festering a little. The air is so much cleaner and people are so much more content everywhere else... and who knows what's floating around in that humidity...I hate to bash anywhere, especially when I didn't stay long myself, but that's what happens when people go before you... they make a call and you choose to believe or not believe...
Monday, April 22, 2002
Utah - Peru 2002 (5)
Well, this is my last full day in Huaraz. I had lofty goals of writing a wonderful overview of this city and its people and then as I sat here reading my messages something hit me... Nausea... I don't know why except that maybe I was a little hasty with the treatment of the last bottle of water I drank this afternoon. I dropped the iodine into the bottle to kill the bad stuff... You're meant to wait 30 minutes before adding anything to it to kill the iodine taste and it's bad effects on your stomach's natural flora... but I added the vitamin C after only 15 minutes cause I was so thirsty... ay ay ay, como me duele.... (Selina) So, I'll stick it out as long as I can. There is a baño behind me but how embarrassing, to puke audibly in the internet cafe with all the Peruanos listening and chuckling about Gringa (again, my name for the month) losing her burrito in the toilet... Maybe if I think hard enough about this message my stomach-brain connection will be disrupted... Enough of all that...
Peru is wonderful and I'll be back. There have been so many things go in through my eyes and land permanently on my brain but the climbing stories have been overshadowing them as of late. For example, the drive up to the Valle Paron where we climbed/camped for a total of 10 days. The ride up starts rough and rocky and doesn't really get better but it does get more spectacular. The lower sections include the views of all the campesinos do for this country - their agriculture. They pull plows through their rocky fields with ropes tied around their bulls'/cows' horns. The cows plod along slowly with amazing precision through the fields which vary in steepness from flat to 45 degrees. The cows and bulls that aren't working get to help the farmers get rid of the old corn stalks that pile up in stacks of dry yellow waste.. though, not waste to the hungry cows, hips sticking out and eyes sleepy.... chewing their cud between bites of old foliage...Along the ride you also notice how much Eucalyptus they have brought into this country. It's definitely a foreign crop to the area. Unfortunately, Eucalyptus trees don't allow for much other growth.. they kill everything in their way. The folks here use them for hearbal saunas and then they use the lumber for building maybe? It seems like a random commoditiy, but a popular one throughout. As we drive up in our private collectivo, the most common scene is that of the local women, sitting in their skirts and hats, surrounded by children and piglets. They are always seemingly occupied with something, but I don't know what... They seem very happy and united. As we drive by the kids get up and run along side the car waving. If we could hear them better I'm sure we would hear that they are screaming 'hola gringos' Their dogs take over the lead and chomp at the rubber on our tires and always get out unscathed somehow. The homes are made of dried clay blocks, like bricks and the roofs are made of a sculpted, scooped out red clay. In the winters, most of the windows, which are just openings in the structure, are filled with blocks to keep out the cold. The floor in all the houses in earth and their is no electricity. They use the bathroom in one of two places, either 1) wherever the hell they want or 2) in these small clay outhouses. The outhouses have a little pipe for ventilation but I bet it does little. Sometimes you spot a pile of human shit in random places like on a big rock on the side of the road or on a lid for some kind of container... Random. The campesinas don't wear underwear, they just pull up their skirt and let it fly, even in the streets of Huaraz (so they say, though I have yet to see this.)
The 27 year old Peruvian that drove us up talked to me a lot about the US and about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer in Peru. He said there is no middle class, only pobres and the rich, although, I woulnd't consider him to be part of either, so I think there is a class just above the poor but well below the rich. He only makes 10 soles a day which is about $3 US and that just about covers his meals for the day. Clothing, marriage, children, the rest... it's too difficult. He has dreams of coming to the US one day, but it will most likely never happen. It's impossible for him to save with what little he has. I told him that at least the poor outside of Huaraz contribute to the society. Without them, I don't know where anyone would get their veggies, fruits, juice, chickens, sheep, cows. They may be poor as hell, but they don't just give up and beg in the street like our poor chaps in the bigger cities.. and we all know they have opportunities. These people seem mostly happy to be in the fields working with their children and contributing to the market twice a week. But, who am I to say. The life is nothing less than hard for most. They always look so much older than they are as the climate here is rough and carrying loads on their back daily takes its toll.
Yesterday I had an wonderful opportunity to meet with some folks that live outside of Huaraz. I was going to go up to Laguna Churup, a lake nestled among huge rock walls, but alas, I decided to summit Tambosharaju the night before instead and it took everything out of me.... Tambosharaju... All the peaks here end in raju, like I mentioned before.. it means snowy peak in Quechua... well, on the Sphynx, it got so hot at one point that Mandy made this funny- "I didn't know we were climbing Warmisharaju" haha... So, Tambosharaju is my cover up for the Tambo.. a bar! Where I relearned how to move my hips like a sexy Latina until 4 am... oops. It's just that it was so much fun! I went out with Peru, Chile, and Spain and we had a blast! The next day however, waking up at 11am, put a wrench in the plan for La Laguna... so back to my wonderful opportunity. I had a late lunch with an American named Joe (whose brother worked at Black Diamond for a month or two, Alex?) and at lunch he told me the story about how he has been coming to Peru every year for the last 8... A common thing I'm finding out. Huaraz is just the kind of place you can come to over and over. So, he did a climb and met a great porter years ago... Liberato Torres. Well, in the years to come, he and Liberato (a local Huarazino) became climbing partners. They summitted several peaks together, including Alpamayo... Well, last summer, one week after Joe left Huaraz, he got an e-mail from Liberato's wife saying that he had just died climbing Artesanraju. He was climbing with a Japanese guy... they had summitted and were rappelling off the face... The japanese climber rapped first off one snow picket and it held... then when Liberato went, it pulled. He fell the length of the face and was pretty well in pieces when they finally found his body 5 days later... but fortunately, the rope had wrapped around him and kept his body in tact. So, anyway, he left behind his wife with three boys and one daughter. Joe has kept in touch with the family and his family in Sandy, Utah sends them money via Western Union from time to time to help. Yesterday, Joe was going to visit the family and asked if I would like to go! Of course!We took a 30 minute collective ride from Huaraz up to the little village of Llupa and walked through a field, past two sheep, two cows, a pig and one burro and then climbed a stone wall and hopped a little creek and arrived at the clay home of Martina and her children. She was wearing a slightly torn skirt and her bowler hat with a white blouse. The children giggled and hid around corners while Joe introduced me, then I handed them a big bag of candies that I brought up for them. They came running saying thank you in Castellano and Quechua. The next hour was spent talking to Martina, her brother Graciano and his wife Juana about the accident, life after the accident and just life in general. On this Friday, the 9th of August, a large group are going up to the base camp of Aretesanraju to leave a plaque in honor of Liberato. I took several photos of them family with the plaque and they were delighted. Before I could even take a photo, both of the older women went into the back room and changed into their good velvet skirts with white lace embroidery. Martina has a hat hanging on a wall in her 'living room'. Joe explained that this hat was her married woman hat and now she wears her widow hat. The difference is a white band around the base of the hat. Their house is very modest. There is one open roofed room with a concrete floor where Graciano was prepping camp stoves for their trip up the mountain. In this area there were two kittens and three chicks and one adult chicken, pecking around and trying to eat a bolt from the stove. The kitchen has an earth floor and no light. The roof is low and decorated with massive stacks of hanging corn. They were cooking up some mystery meal for us which we regrettably had to decline with the utmost sensitivity... We would surely have become sick and at the least, I would have been obligated to eat guinnea pig or lamb or something (meat for the first time in 11 years)... but they understood when I explained that I had dinner making plans with some Spanish folks who were leaving the next day... not a lie. I got some photos taken of me and Joe with the kids. One of Martina's neices, Anita, stood close to me. I squatted down next to her and put my arm around her waist and she laid her head on my shoulder... oh, my heart almost broke! I love those kids! I took their address at the general delivery and promised to send them copies of all the photos... and I'm sure I'll send much more too.... books, etc.. maybe some clothes... Martina was such a great host.. she made me promise to come back next year and bring friends. One hour and I fell so in love with them!Joe told me later that she has changed a lot over this last year. He said she used to resent gringos and even the more Spanish influenced peruvians... they are pobres, campesinos, Quechuanos... but now, she welcomes us in, lets us take photos (a rarity) and invites us back for more. It probably has much to do with the fact that when Liberato died, it was a bunch of his gringo clients that sent money and best wishes to Martina. Zarela thinks monetary support creates a crutch for the family... and maybe so, but until her boys are older (the oldest being 8 now) she really has few options. She isn't skilled to anything and her husband's work as a porter kept them going for so long.
On the way down from their house we passed a cemetary... I took photos. I love cemetaries for their history and variety. I think I'll do a coffee table book on cemetaries some day.. I have them from Ireland to Italy, Nevada to Peru... We also passed a couple of young kids herding four cows and five burros up the rocky road.. After they passed I was going to steal a picture but as I turned around with my camera, so did the young girl with her index finger shaking rapidly below a disapproving frown.. I said sorry and moved on. Some of them still hate the whole photo thing and I know that was more than shyness.. that was.. "Don't violate me!"Last night I, Zarela, Daniel, Christina and Fernando (all peruvians) and the token Spaniard, Kepa, cooked up some fine potato tortillas and lasagna and had a wonderful late night feast with red wine. Poor Mandy was racked with a flu which has been killing her motivation and her mood lately.. She went to bed early and shyed away from all the Spanish speakers in the kitchen. After dinner, we almost went to bed but peer pressure from a possee of Columbianos and Catalonians took us up for one more ascent of 'Tambosharaju'! We only lasted until 2am this time and it was so fun! I love dancing! I traded e'mails with the ones I may see again ' climbing in the states or in Spain and we kissed on the cheeks, our saludos, and turned in.Today, Zarela and I had breakfast... Mandy had Pedialite and we rallied to go up to the overlook spot (El Mirador) above Huaraz, where as in so many Latin American towns, there is a huge cross on a hill overlooking the whole town. We were 100yards from the cross when a couple from England told us that 10 minutes prior, two other tourists had been robbed at gun point near the cross and that we should take caution... I put my money in my sock and ran through all the scenarios of how I would defend my camera at gun point... We moved along slowly and then decided to head back down. On the way down we alerted two gals from Denver and another Gringo.
Back at the house now, chillin' and not regretting any sights missed cause I know I'll be back soon! Tomorrow at 1pm I hit the bus for Lima. My limeño friend, Daniel is picking me up at the bus station and we'll grub down one last time before he takes me to the airport and I fly overnight to the US of A.... Until then, I'll be eating Thai food with Naresuan for one last time and then dragging myself up Tambosharaju for one last hurrah with Zarela! Take care and be in touch! luv, rai
Peru is wonderful and I'll be back. There have been so many things go in through my eyes and land permanently on my brain but the climbing stories have been overshadowing them as of late. For example, the drive up to the Valle Paron where we climbed/camped for a total of 10 days. The ride up starts rough and rocky and doesn't really get better but it does get more spectacular. The lower sections include the views of all the campesinos do for this country - their agriculture. They pull plows through their rocky fields with ropes tied around their bulls'/cows' horns. The cows plod along slowly with amazing precision through the fields which vary in steepness from flat to 45 degrees. The cows and bulls that aren't working get to help the farmers get rid of the old corn stalks that pile up in stacks of dry yellow waste.. though, not waste to the hungry cows, hips sticking out and eyes sleepy.... chewing their cud between bites of old foliage...Along the ride you also notice how much Eucalyptus they have brought into this country. It's definitely a foreign crop to the area. Unfortunately, Eucalyptus trees don't allow for much other growth.. they kill everything in their way. The folks here use them for hearbal saunas and then they use the lumber for building maybe? It seems like a random commoditiy, but a popular one throughout. As we drive up in our private collectivo, the most common scene is that of the local women, sitting in their skirts and hats, surrounded by children and piglets. They are always seemingly occupied with something, but I don't know what... They seem very happy and united. As we drive by the kids get up and run along side the car waving. If we could hear them better I'm sure we would hear that they are screaming 'hola gringos' Their dogs take over the lead and chomp at the rubber on our tires and always get out unscathed somehow. The homes are made of dried clay blocks, like bricks and the roofs are made of a sculpted, scooped out red clay. In the winters, most of the windows, which are just openings in the structure, are filled with blocks to keep out the cold. The floor in all the houses in earth and their is no electricity. They use the bathroom in one of two places, either 1) wherever the hell they want or 2) in these small clay outhouses. The outhouses have a little pipe for ventilation but I bet it does little. Sometimes you spot a pile of human shit in random places like on a big rock on the side of the road or on a lid for some kind of container... Random. The campesinas don't wear underwear, they just pull up their skirt and let it fly, even in the streets of Huaraz (so they say, though I have yet to see this.)
The 27 year old Peruvian that drove us up talked to me a lot about the US and about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer in Peru. He said there is no middle class, only pobres and the rich, although, I woulnd't consider him to be part of either, so I think there is a class just above the poor but well below the rich. He only makes 10 soles a day which is about $3 US and that just about covers his meals for the day. Clothing, marriage, children, the rest... it's too difficult. He has dreams of coming to the US one day, but it will most likely never happen. It's impossible for him to save with what little he has. I told him that at least the poor outside of Huaraz contribute to the society. Without them, I don't know where anyone would get their veggies, fruits, juice, chickens, sheep, cows. They may be poor as hell, but they don't just give up and beg in the street like our poor chaps in the bigger cities.. and we all know they have opportunities. These people seem mostly happy to be in the fields working with their children and contributing to the market twice a week. But, who am I to say. The life is nothing less than hard for most. They always look so much older than they are as the climate here is rough and carrying loads on their back daily takes its toll.
Yesterday I had an wonderful opportunity to meet with some folks that live outside of Huaraz. I was going to go up to Laguna Churup, a lake nestled among huge rock walls, but alas, I decided to summit Tambosharaju the night before instead and it took everything out of me.... Tambosharaju... All the peaks here end in raju, like I mentioned before.. it means snowy peak in Quechua... well, on the Sphynx, it got so hot at one point that Mandy made this funny- "I didn't know we were climbing Warmisharaju" haha... So, Tambosharaju is my cover up for the Tambo.. a bar! Where I relearned how to move my hips like a sexy Latina until 4 am... oops. It's just that it was so much fun! I went out with Peru, Chile, and Spain and we had a blast! The next day however, waking up at 11am, put a wrench in the plan for La Laguna... so back to my wonderful opportunity. I had a late lunch with an American named Joe (whose brother worked at Black Diamond for a month or two, Alex?) and at lunch he told me the story about how he has been coming to Peru every year for the last 8... A common thing I'm finding out. Huaraz is just the kind of place you can come to over and over. So, he did a climb and met a great porter years ago... Liberato Torres. Well, in the years to come, he and Liberato (a local Huarazino) became climbing partners. They summitted several peaks together, including Alpamayo... Well, last summer, one week after Joe left Huaraz, he got an e-mail from Liberato's wife saying that he had just died climbing Artesanraju. He was climbing with a Japanese guy... they had summitted and were rappelling off the face... The japanese climber rapped first off one snow picket and it held... then when Liberato went, it pulled. He fell the length of the face and was pretty well in pieces when they finally found his body 5 days later... but fortunately, the rope had wrapped around him and kept his body in tact. So, anyway, he left behind his wife with three boys and one daughter. Joe has kept in touch with the family and his family in Sandy, Utah sends them money via Western Union from time to time to help. Yesterday, Joe was going to visit the family and asked if I would like to go! Of course!We took a 30 minute collective ride from Huaraz up to the little village of Llupa and walked through a field, past two sheep, two cows, a pig and one burro and then climbed a stone wall and hopped a little creek and arrived at the clay home of Martina and her children. She was wearing a slightly torn skirt and her bowler hat with a white blouse. The children giggled and hid around corners while Joe introduced me, then I handed them a big bag of candies that I brought up for them. They came running saying thank you in Castellano and Quechua. The next hour was spent talking to Martina, her brother Graciano and his wife Juana about the accident, life after the accident and just life in general. On this Friday, the 9th of August, a large group are going up to the base camp of Aretesanraju to leave a plaque in honor of Liberato. I took several photos of them family with the plaque and they were delighted. Before I could even take a photo, both of the older women went into the back room and changed into their good velvet skirts with white lace embroidery. Martina has a hat hanging on a wall in her 'living room'. Joe explained that this hat was her married woman hat and now she wears her widow hat. The difference is a white band around the base of the hat. Their house is very modest. There is one open roofed room with a concrete floor where Graciano was prepping camp stoves for their trip up the mountain. In this area there were two kittens and three chicks and one adult chicken, pecking around and trying to eat a bolt from the stove. The kitchen has an earth floor and no light. The roof is low and decorated with massive stacks of hanging corn. They were cooking up some mystery meal for us which we regrettably had to decline with the utmost sensitivity... We would surely have become sick and at the least, I would have been obligated to eat guinnea pig or lamb or something (meat for the first time in 11 years)... but they understood when I explained that I had dinner making plans with some Spanish folks who were leaving the next day... not a lie. I got some photos taken of me and Joe with the kids. One of Martina's neices, Anita, stood close to me. I squatted down next to her and put my arm around her waist and she laid her head on my shoulder... oh, my heart almost broke! I love those kids! I took their address at the general delivery and promised to send them copies of all the photos... and I'm sure I'll send much more too.... books, etc.. maybe some clothes... Martina was such a great host.. she made me promise to come back next year and bring friends. One hour and I fell so in love with them!Joe told me later that she has changed a lot over this last year. He said she used to resent gringos and even the more Spanish influenced peruvians... they are pobres, campesinos, Quechuanos... but now, she welcomes us in, lets us take photos (a rarity) and invites us back for more. It probably has much to do with the fact that when Liberato died, it was a bunch of his gringo clients that sent money and best wishes to Martina. Zarela thinks monetary support creates a crutch for the family... and maybe so, but until her boys are older (the oldest being 8 now) she really has few options. She isn't skilled to anything and her husband's work as a porter kept them going for so long.
On the way down from their house we passed a cemetary... I took photos. I love cemetaries for their history and variety. I think I'll do a coffee table book on cemetaries some day.. I have them from Ireland to Italy, Nevada to Peru... We also passed a couple of young kids herding four cows and five burros up the rocky road.. After they passed I was going to steal a picture but as I turned around with my camera, so did the young girl with her index finger shaking rapidly below a disapproving frown.. I said sorry and moved on. Some of them still hate the whole photo thing and I know that was more than shyness.. that was.. "Don't violate me!"Last night I, Zarela, Daniel, Christina and Fernando (all peruvians) and the token Spaniard, Kepa, cooked up some fine potato tortillas and lasagna and had a wonderful late night feast with red wine. Poor Mandy was racked with a flu which has been killing her motivation and her mood lately.. She went to bed early and shyed away from all the Spanish speakers in the kitchen. After dinner, we almost went to bed but peer pressure from a possee of Columbianos and Catalonians took us up for one more ascent of 'Tambosharaju'! We only lasted until 2am this time and it was so fun! I love dancing! I traded e'mails with the ones I may see again ' climbing in the states or in Spain and we kissed on the cheeks, our saludos, and turned in.Today, Zarela and I had breakfast... Mandy had Pedialite and we rallied to go up to the overlook spot (El Mirador) above Huaraz, where as in so many Latin American towns, there is a huge cross on a hill overlooking the whole town. We were 100yards from the cross when a couple from England told us that 10 minutes prior, two other tourists had been robbed at gun point near the cross and that we should take caution... I put my money in my sock and ran through all the scenarios of how I would defend my camera at gun point... We moved along slowly and then decided to head back down. On the way down we alerted two gals from Denver and another Gringo.
Back at the house now, chillin' and not regretting any sights missed cause I know I'll be back soon! Tomorrow at 1pm I hit the bus for Lima. My limeño friend, Daniel is picking me up at the bus station and we'll grub down one last time before he takes me to the airport and I fly overnight to the US of A.... Until then, I'll be eating Thai food with Naresuan for one last time and then dragging myself up Tambosharaju for one last hurrah with Zarela! Take care and be in touch! luv, rai
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