Hello gang! I made it to Peru safely. The flight was great, got to Huaraz quickly, met up with the right people and am speaking a lot of Spanish....
Now for those that like details...
Let me start with the flight... I flew on a buddy pass from my friend Deanne (thanks again and again!) and when I booked it... it was to be first class the whole way... yippee.. A first time at 27! Love those. Well, got to the airport and lined up in first class, dressed for first class and then after checking me in, the nice Delta man says in his sweetest quietest voice... you are not fitting in first class... and when you fly on a buddy pass, you line up with all the other coach travellers... OOPS! Major buzz kill... so now I'm wearing a skirt to curl up in coach... well, I get to the gate and guess whose name is on the standby list- yikes! Luckily, they find a place to put me on the full plane, all goes well and at the check in counter for my seat assignment to Lima I actually do get first class! It was nice...although I sat next to a real stiff who woulnd´t even say hi to me... an American. He knew English...
The flight was amazing... The most impressive thing was when I recognized a place I had been before, from the sky! Well, it wasn´t too hard... It was Key West. I could see the long straight road that links that last stretch of sea to Key West... it brought bag floods of memories from that awesome trip! Then I saw the coolest place! The most turquoise agua, white sandy beaches and many homes.... sitting right next to an expanse of land so large and green and uninhabited.... It was Cuba and I must go there! Things darkened from that point as we flew into thunder clouds and I survived the most turbulent flight of my long flying career...
At the airport, I wandered into the baggage claim and my friend Mandy was just grabbing her bags. We headed out together into the sea of faces and saw a big sign with her name on it. Daniel was there with his cousin, ready to take us safely to his hostel in Lima... All went great there. The next day we got a tour of Lima from Daniel in his red VW bug (old school) and then piled on a big tour bus for the 7 hour ride out to Huaraz... base camp for these three weeks and starting point for all adventures!
Huaraz is amazing... surrounded by peaks - some rugged, some snowy, some intimidating, some non-descript but all captivating! Our hostel, with Zarela as the ultimate host(ess) is amazing! We have a high room overlooking so much! Our first night out took us wandering into a pizza place where I saw a girl I knew from SLC! Weirder! It was the roommate of Alicia Brown, a friend in SLC. We laughed about the mundo pequeño... (small world). Then we met some other folks from Ecuador, Chile, England, Scotland, Thailand, etc. that Tommy had met before we arrived. (Tommy is Mandy´s boyfriend and they are the folks I am traveling and climbing with for those that don´t know). I also got to meet Naresuan, this amazing Thai guy who just makes you smile when you see him. He got to climb with my friend Ben not long ago and won´t stop raving about him... He loves you Ben!
Today we bouldered with Naresuan and the UK boys and Daniel, who came with us from Lima. The bouldering was great... so much to do in such a cool environment. Located in a farming area outside of Huaraz the boulders and we climbers, became entertainment for some locals that enjoyed a break from chopping Eucalyptus trees to watch us... They thought it was the craziest, coolest thing. They´re such gorgeous people! I love that I can speak with them! After climbing we walked back to Huaraz taking shortcuts through villages, stepping over chickens, walking around enormous pigs with piglets attached to them, and of course me with the camera shooting every new type of animal from cow to burro to dog... anything cute and furry! I got a great close up of a dirty-nosed piglet! The people greeted us warmly as we passed through. At one point a woman grabbed my goldy locks and held them to her face... She was amused by the blonde. At another point I spotted a sad boy watching a neighborhood soccer match from a distance. I asked him why he was so sad and he pointed to his toe where he had the littlest scratch. I asked him if he wanted to share some chocolate with me to make it feel better... He just nodded sadly.. We ate it and I said, doesn´t chocolate just make everything so much better... He tried not to smile, but he did!
So, tonight we ate some phenomenal Thai food at Nersuan´s restaurant...I have a contented grumble in my tummy! In the morning Mandy and I are going on an acclimitization hike (Tommy has already been playing at higher altitudes). Then on Monday morning we head out to do the Sphynx (la Esfinge - in the photo).... I rapped with the porters today and they are meeting us at 6am and then coming back for us on the following Sunday morning... so we´ll be up there for 6-7 days. We are planning to free/fix the bottom pitches, jug ém the next day, bivy on the midway ledge, free/fix all the harder pitches off the ledge, jug them in the morning of the next day and then punch it to the top! Viola!
Hopefully the next time I write ( in a week or so) I´ll have exciting tales.... For now, you really have a lot to look forward to as far as pictures go.... I am taking soooo many on this trip and I love this country! And I really love speaking Spanish!! Another exciting development is that Mandy and I are going to climb Pisco, one of the local snowy peaks after the Sphynx... my first snow slog! yeehaw! Well - until later... Hope you´re all well...
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