tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34829087676760630802024-03-08T01:32:32.724-08:00Granite GropersAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-27354444934213562562013-01-31T11:59:00.002-08:002013-01-31T11:59:14.001-08:00The Journey Home<br />
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Welp, we're in Santiago, Chile at the airport. Waiting. For. The. Plane. Having some nice sentiments about our trip. I will leave you with some parting thoughts.</div>
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Here's a little list of things about this country we will miss...<div>
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Fruitigran. When it's cheaper to buy good red wine than coca cola. The flag. CCR. The products that rise from lack of building codes. Dread lock mullets. Dread lock mullets on children. Bags of olives for $1. No tax on food. Siesta (everyday 1:30-5:30). Dulce de leche. Vertical. Mate. Medialunas. 10% suggested tips. Empanadas. Knock off version of buffs called "stuff". Southern stars. Gauchos. "Buen provecho". Bob Marley everywhere. The outfits (I fit in). Hot water dispensers for mate at gas stations. Bum dogs. Patagonia. Kioskos. "Permiso." "Dale." Fitz Roy. Andes beer by the liter (ryan). Bite de chorizo (Ryan). Gelato. Fancy dinners in Mendoza.</div>
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And the things we won't ...</div>
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Steak flavored potato chips. White bread and sugar. Smoking inside. Table salt. Throwing used t.p. in the trash can. Knowing enough to know someone is talking about me but not enough to know what they're saying. Asados. Being a tourist. Leather placemats. Gallon bags of mayonnaise. Only decent vegetables at the supermarket sometimes. Full dead animals hanging spread eagle in restaurant windows. 28 hour bus rides. 18 hour bus rides. Bad movies dubbed in Spanish with bad english subtitles. Dinner at 10 or 11pm. " wPermiso". "Dale". Plastic bolcitos for everything. Long lines. Drivers having the right of way. Poorly behaved children. Bus terminals. Paying for t.p. in public bathroom (or opting for none). The heat.</div>
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TTFN</div>
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-78928910384063740042013-01-31T11:56:00.002-08:002013-01-31T11:56:54.088-08:00Los AranalesSo we head back into the mountains for one last adventure before leaving. We left El Chalten in the midst of an epic weather window...12 days I heard. It wasn't easy leaving, but we knew if we stayed that we wouldn't get the chance to check out Los Aranales which came highly recommended from everyone who had been there.<br />
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Turns out that we fully got the cultural experience that we had been craving. Where to begin?<br />
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We purchased a guide book from a 'gear' type shop. We asked them how to get there. Some people sounded like they somewhat knew, but a series of translations and phone calls would reveal spotty information. So we dove in head first. We got on a bus to Tunuyan the next day, packs full for five days of climbing and camping. We had to hire a driver to Manzanos Historicos (something about some really old apple tree where the freedom of Argentina was announced...story got a little lost in translation.) once we were there, we were to ask around for the ex rock star who owns the only truck in the town. He would drive us the rest of the way up a 4wd road.<br />
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He was in the mountains for an undecided amount of town. Great. No phones. Now we're really in it. It was 6:30pm by this time so walking the 13+ km up the road to the Refugio was out of the question. Except for a gaucho, storefront owners and a couple of rasta-gypsie type locals, we were alone. Sitting underneath the 50ft Jesus on the cross, which was also the bus stop on the weekend, we were really at a loss.<br />
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Just then a kid in a van drove by and offered us a ride. Yes!<br />
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We got up there, set up our camp and proceeded to kick it. The refugio was incredibly rustic here. Leaky, one window, no kitchen, up-kept by visitors and we hang the food from hooks suspended from the ceiling so the overstuffed mice didn't eat it. The cows and horses liked to hang out up there too and there was an incident of a cow eating a bunch of food suspended from a bolt on the rock. Our awesome friends from Portland (mike and Aileen) were there, knowingly. Besides them, just a few Argentines..the locals, and a few Brazilians. There was a ton of rocks here. Holy crap. Again as with the rest of Argentina, the approaches are bigger than they look. Once up at the base of these formations...wowee! The rocks are hott!<br />
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Perfect quality granite. Again. Splitter as cuss. Sticky. Very inviting. It is spectacular climbing. Most formations are 300-400m tall, so not too big in comparison to other places we've been, but the quality trumps it. The views are also stellar. Right in the heart of the Andes. Quite spectacular.<br />
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We climbed pretty hard for four days. The weather was pretty much perfect everyday. Apparently it rained for like two weeks before we got there and the day we left was a horrendous thunderstorm (also really uncommon). So we kinda nailed that one, blindly. It was absolutely meant to be.<br />
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On our way out, we opted to walk the 13+km to H.M. We awoke that morning to a cow pooping next to our tent, turns out somebody wasn't actually throwing mud at our tent at 8am. We sold a bunch of gear to super grateful climbers, said our goodbyes and took off. Just as we left e Refugio, the sheets of rain hail and thunder began. So with heads down and spirits high from all the wonderful plotters we jammed our digits and limbs into, we made the trek. We passed some gauchos in action and hundreds of Argentines having their raging Sunday asado/day camp family parties.<br />
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We sat in the town and observed the locals celebrating life for quite a while before reporting to giant Jesus for our bus ride back to Mendoza. 12 hours after we left the Refugio we were eating at our favorite restaurant in Mendoza, starting our three days of chillaxin.<br />
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What a whirlwind!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-62359769264935192302013-01-20T04:57:00.001-08:002013-01-20T04:57:35.922-08:00The LoveHate Feelings Towards TravelingI'm going to toot our horns on how well we've been choosing hostels and other accommodations. Until yesterday. I'm not generally snobby about where I stay, I live in my car four months out of the year, but grOSS! I take all the credit for this one. I picked it online, didn't read the reviews... Rookie mistake. I had a bad feeling about it when we rolled up. Maybe it was the chipped paint on the outside of the building, or the gypsie clothes hanging out the window but I just know right away that I made a mistake. After sitting on a nasty bus for 28 hours, the only thing you want to do is take a shower and I didn't even do that. Not even with my shoes on.<br />
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We just walked around for a few hours kind of trying to be light hearted in this situation. When I was looking at all of the other tourists i was picturing the, going to their really nice hotels and sleeping in clean sheets and taking a luxurious shower...jealous! Or when we walked back (I refuse to even call it home) I was looking inside the shops wishing we could just sleep inside any of those clean shops. At least this was the only gross place we'd stayed in two months. When we get to Mendoza, we ain't stayin in no nasty backpackers hostel. I thoroughly researched the place we will check in tomorrow morning. It's going to be like 200* F up there so ac or at least a ceiling fan is a must.<br />
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Feels good to vent! On a happy note, since we unloaded a bunch of gear to super grateful climbers in El Chalten, we are now able to buy stuff! Yay! It's way more fun to be a tourist when you can buy the cute little artisan products! That's what Ryan thinks too, I'm sure :). Since Argentina is going through some massive political changes and in an effort to promote buying local, there are lots of handmade local artisan galleries. Very colorful. I would like one of each please. Unfortunately, on the contrary to shopping in any other south American country, its still kinda pricey.<br />
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Well that's it for today's rant. Thanks for tuning in!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-51520617080467667712013-01-18T10:43:00.001-08:002013-01-18T10:43:26.722-08:00Ramble On<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.09375); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px;">It's hard to believe that we're on the way back home. We've started the journey up north. 3hr bus to El Calafate, 28 hr bus to Bariloche, 18 hour bus to Mendoza...then we will climb in the Andes fora few days before we start the air portion of our journey home. It's deffinately bittersweet. We're having an amazing time, but missing our families, friends, skis and blender...Mmmmm smoothies...<div>
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A little recap on the El Calafate end of things...</div>
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We stayed there for about 3 weeks. It was delightful. We were a little worried that we were not prepared gear wise for climbing anything down there, that didn't seem to hold us back. We agreed that if we even got one big route in, we'd be psyched. So after the first route, anything else was a bonus.</div>
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For the next 10 days, the weather was pretty much a wash. Some rain, LOTS of wind and general low pressure which is just unreliable to plan any sort of big trip into the mountains. We still got to do lots of great sport climbing in town and some super bouldering. Then things started to change. So we made plans to go back into the mountains with Jonny, a friend from home with whom we had been bunking in a teeny trailer. (We are all very close now.)</div>
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Wow. We went for it. It was a dream come true, literally. Im not the type of person that gets obsessed with a particular line, I'm just psyched on the adventure. However, a friend had put a particular route in my mind back in August, and then it kept coming up in our travels down her via other sources. When we were discussing what we were psyched on, I of course had to say Chiaro di Luna. So, up we go. And up and up and up hand over hand rappelling, tyrollean crossing, navigating pretentious scree fields and glaciers. This redefined adventure. The three amigos kept on and on for countless hours. Sometimes we slept when it got dark, but mostly we moved right through it When we couldn't go up anymore, we started the journey down. When we were hungry, we didn't think about it and when we were really hungry, we allowed ourselves a small snack.</div>
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Human beings are amazing creatures. We have so much potential when we put our minds to it. What we climbed had been the longest day of climbing I'd ever had, it made the grand traverse seem like child's play...or maybe I've just forgotten the pain of that too. When we arrived back in town, we started to hear what other people had climbed... our little route kept sounding smaller and smaller. There are some real inspiring, driven freaks of nature out there. Send!</div>
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Lessons learned; 1) don't compare yourself to anyone else because there's always going to be someone better than you 2) the right gear makes all the difference in the world, and yes every ounce will count (it's worth spending the dinero on the light expensive stuff) 3) I'm coming back next time with "muscles and money."</div>
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So hopefully our moms can rest now that we've safely made it past the most dangerous part of the trip! </div>
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¡Ciao!</div>
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</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-86807941967148244582013-01-05T08:37:00.000-08:002013-01-05T08:37:26.435-08:00Lessons<div style="text-align: left;">
First thing, Happy Birthday Evan!!!!! The Internet down here is REALLY slow, so I'm not sure that a message got through to you. So I hope you are having a gay day! Xxo lil bro!</div>
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We are in el chalten now. We arrived here on December 31 and the weather was the most beautiful day ever! I'm pretty sure that is as good as it gets here. So, we needed to take advantage. The next day would bring more of the same per the incredibly sophisticated weather prediction they have here. It's a pretty magnificent website that includes wind (direction and speed) , precip, temperature, and barometric pressure. It breaks it all down hourly for up to 196 hrs. It's pretty impressive, geeky and rather confusing but pretty spot on. So we knew that we had until January 2 at 1pm until the weather turned. We had to rally because once the weather changed, there may not be a break for a while.</div>
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The next day we hit the trail, 7hr with our full packs of climbing plus backpacking gear. It was such a beautiful hike! We got buzzed by a condor. The views are stellar. Right in the middle of all these massive glaciers, huge waterfalls and rivers. The wildflowers are peaking, and everything is radiant from all of the sun after weeks of rain. Not to mention, we were staring up at FitzRoy the whole time. It is a 1250m relief of vertical rock, beyond dreamy sights for a rock climber. As far as I'm concerned, it is the rock.</div>
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The route we would climb is on the same massif, but quite a bit smaller. Still a feat by all means, but it really gave me a perception of how big the big one is. Our route was 8 pitches of impeccable granite, it really is the best. The views from the route were even more spectacular. Surrounded on all sides by massive rock walls and endless glaciers, it made me realize how small we are as humans. It was a good experience for my ego. We finished the route at 12:22, right as the weather changed which was exactly as what was predicted between 12 and 1pm. Yes.</div>
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After rappelling, packing up gear, walking down the loose talus and glaciers, the wind had really picked up. I swore that day I would never complain about a windy day in Gunnison ever again. This is the kind of wind that blows you off your feet (no joke.) it's the kid of wind that cracks around the sides of rock faces so loud it sounds like thunder. The wind is so fierce that you can literally lean into it and it will support you. What a trip.</div>
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We arrived back at our camp, famished, chilled and I was completely ready for bed, at 330pm. The sun doesn't even set for another 7 + hours. Well I devised a clever plan to eat all of our food instead. (I hindsight I'm very grateful we decided that was a bad idea.) We did however stuff our faces. Instant potatoes have never tasted so delicious.</div>
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During the time we were cooking, a friend from camp informed us that a British dude came by saying his homie broke his leg on FitzRoy. He was stable and waiting in his tent, dry and with food for someone to come get help. He was disappointed we weren't around so continued down to get help from the El Chalten SAR. We tossed around the idea of going out to help him, but there were a lot of red flags (Wasser and any other DarkSAR members following, we GARed this one out and were in the red by the 4th question.) We decided we would go at first light.</div>
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Just as we finished dinner, a Swiss party came by and the older, more experienced of the two insisted we go with to help carry the guy back to this camp. He was quite familiar with the terrain and was confident that where they were camped was less than an hour away. At the very least we would bring him some food and just check in on his condition. (3 EMTs in the mix) We were out of there in ten minutes. Carsten dumps all his gear in our tent and the five of us headed over the pass.</div>
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Once we approached where the patient was supposedly camped, we realized that the camp as a lot farther, more technical glacier terrain, the weather was definitely deteriorating, wind picking up, I was wet... A quick reassessment made me realize I may be into deep. I told Carsten I was uncomfortable and wanted to go back as we had no bivy gear. Ryan and I turned around and wished them good luck.</div>
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The wind on the hike back was absolutely horrendous. The rounding crystals on top of the glacier from the warm sun all day were being blown at us. It felt as though we were being ambushed by bebe guns. Wet, cold, blasted by painful wind, how had my psych level dropped so much from the high of climbing that beatiful route? Once we made it to the other side of the pass the wind was way less intense. We arrived back to camp before dark, once again a feast of powdered potatoes, we felt really good about our decision as we realized ther was no way those guys would be making it back that night.</div>
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Not much sleep due to wind, cold, and wondering what the five guys were doing in a two man tent.</div>
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The rescue team was at our camp at first light. The rest of them trickled up slowly. We sat and watched everyone come over the pass and geeked out hard on the SAR aspect. Pretty imoressive, ragtag group of folks...sound familiar? There were 18 people who worked from 2am til 7pm to get homie out. A small follow up, he is ok. Fractured tib/ fib but on good spirits.</div>
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What an exciting first trip up to Patagonia! Pretty full value. Now, once again we will wait out th weather. Rainy day. Good day for siestas and empanadas! I hope y'all are stayin warm up in the Gunnison Valley!mwe miss you guys! Xxo </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-64227415833093838722012-12-30T17:34:00.001-08:002012-12-30T17:34:42.048-08:00Building an Arc and Bringing Bum DogsThis is an older post from right before Navidad that I forgot to publish...<br />
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It's still raining! We have had about 15 days in a row of rain. Not constant all day rain, but we don't leave the place without a goretex jacket. The weather changes so quickly too, one minute I'm about to have a heat stroke the next I'm complaining that I didn't bring enough layers. Bariloche would be a horrible place to go through menopause...from what I hear.<br />
As we walked back from attempting some rock climbing, which ended up inside pullin on plaztek, Ryan wished aloud that a bum dog would follow us home as a rent-a-pet. The bum dogs down here are really good looking dogs. (I can't believe I'm saying this.) they are healthy looking, they don't beg, they don't get all up in your business and somehow they know how to poop in inconspicuous places. They tend to travel in groups.<br />
So we begin our 5k walk back to the Green House. (best hostel ever btw.) All of a sudden, there are two dogs walking with us. One was a German Shepard mix and the other one looked like a chubby version of Rasta. (he even had a faint peace sign on his forehead.) we named them Rosco y Brutus respectively. We grew fond of Rosco over the next 3.5k, Brutus was somewhat of a loose cannon. He'd just randomly jump at oncoming traffic barking hysterically with one ear up and one down. Then trot away...no big deal. We each had at least five heart attacks in that time.<br />
Right around kilometer 4 a guy stopped us and told us that Rosco (Fico) was his neighbors dog and had been missing for five days. Apparently they're not too attached to their dogs here. He had no idea who Brutus was. Brutus continued his kamikaze car chase game and we went back to the Green House.<br />
The next day, on the way back from the supermercado, who should follow me home but the dog formerly known as Fico. No joke! He even stayed the night out in the rain! He was really attached to us and our hostel guy was not to psyched on that. So we had to ditch him back in town. It was heartbreaking, but we knew in the end it would be better this way. He would make a new family amongst the other bum dogs, or hopefully just find his original people again.<br />
At least it was some good entertainment for a rainy day.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-69541805168939561082012-12-30T17:15:00.001-08:002012-12-30T17:15:55.079-08:00On the RoadIt's been a bit since the last post, so this may be a long one, here goes...<br />
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The day after Christmas was absolutely beautiful weather, so we went back int the mountains. This time would only be a few days so our packs were quite a bit lighter. We gotta few pitches in that day as the days provide plenty of light this time of year! Next day was pretty big. We hiked out pretty far to a beautiful formation and climbed a nice long route. The rock quality was stellar and all the pitches were really great. To top it off, another beautiful day. Yes!<br />
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On the approach we crossed over all these little waterfalls that come directly from the snow melt. It is the clearest, best tasting water I've ever seen. It's so refreshing and energizing!<br />
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The next day, my birthday, I awoke to a perfect bluebird day. It was Colorado blue skies for the first time since we've been here. Sick, I knew it was going to be a great day for a birthday challenge. Ryan is a saint for belaying me all 28 pitches. He did get a few good ones in too, however I'm super grateful he was up for the challenge. It was suns out guns out all day! It was just the way I love to spend a day.<br />
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We had to make the bus from the base area at 8pm, which meant we had to leave no later than 6 to bang out the 10km hike. Doesn't seem like much, but after a big day, we were super worked. Luckily all we had to do the next day was sit. For 28hrs we were on a bus. Ew. Luckily the busses here are a few steps up from the trashy greyhound. It's even better than most airlines. The seats recline enough to get a few real winks of sleep in. They show movie after movie for 16 hrs straight. They're in English too, but with Spanish sub titles so it felt like we were getting a Spanish lesson.<br />
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Now we are in El Calafate for the night and will head to El Chalten tomorrow morning. It's a very small town where the Fitz Roy range is. This place is notoriously some of the best quality if rock climbing on our planet. Of course that does not go without cost...also some of the worst weather. People have spent months down here and climbed zilch. So we are prepared to just go see the beautiful mountains and not having high expectations of the weather. There's still plenty to do and see, if the weather allows we will get to climb some of those gorgeous rocks! Keep your fingers crossed for us!<br />
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Happy old year. Thanks 2012 for all the lessons we learned. Looking forward very much to a year full of peace, health, joy and an abundance of love.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-29655105179653657702012-12-25T08:24:00.001-08:002012-12-25T08:24:35.214-08:00Merry Christmas!I hope everyone is having a wonderful day today! We are taking it very easy as we celebrated last night and into Christmas morning argentine style. We had a huge asado, lots of meat (which I didnt eat ) and I made some big apple pies. Then we danced for hours. It was a blast!<br />
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So we are a little tired today. On the agenda; movies, maybe a polar bear club jump in the lake, more delicious food, nap. In no particular order. Tomorrow we will go up into the mountains for a few days so we need to get all of our stuff ready for that. We got good weather for Christmas ;) so were going to take advantage of it for the next week!<br />
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We send our love to all of our family and friends! We hope you are enjoying every part of your day and wish that Santa was good to everyone. Love and light all ways! Merry Chrismas.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-13291246933096159822012-12-21T19:56:00.002-08:002012-12-21T19:56:29.345-08:00Not the End of the World!So we have really become quite fond of this little city. We walk around a lot. Yesterday was an exceptional urban trekking day. It started when we left our hostel yesterday and walked to the bus stop (1k). We were going to make a quick stop at the supermarket to grab snacks for the day before catching the 50 bus (or was it the 51?) to....ummm. Shoot, well hopefully we will just see our new friends on the bus when we get on and if they're not on it then its got to be the next one.<br />
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First, there's no such thing as a 'quick' stop at the supermercado. Everyone in there moves at the speed of slug, especially the cashiers. So my over caffinated, under rested, time crunched internal reaction was ugly. We did need the food for the day so I just got the bare necessities; water, apples, crackers then we booked it to the bus stop. Dangit! We missed one.<br />
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Our friends weren't on any of the next three. Wulp, we blew it.<br />
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Now what?<br />
Let's go to that place that we kind of know about?<br />
The one in walking distance?<br />
Yes.<br />
We don't have a book..<br />
I think we can find it.<br />
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So we walked to kilometer1 where this dirt road should be on the right (4k). Check. Dirt road. Bonus,"Piedras Blancas" sign. So,we decided to walk up the road until we found rocks. It climbed up a small summit so at the very least it would be a nice walk. It was indeed! Such perfect views of the lake, the mountains, the town. It really looks a lot like Seattle. We hadn't found any rocks but decided to continue. So close to the top, may as well,keep walking. Then all of a sudden, ROCKS! We made it! (4k) it turned out to be some great climbing too!<br />
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After a great afternoon of climbing, we went back to town for a bite to eat, groceries and a guide book. (5k) all the grocery stores were closed because some people rioted and organized a massive steeling spree from a store in town. It was on the national news. <a href="http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1538833-saquean-un-supermercado-en-bariloche" target="_blank">Argentine News Article (in Spanish)</a>.<br />
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There were lots of policia in town and the shops we're all boarded up because storefront owners were nervous people would break int their shops as well. No one was sure about what was going on and when the places were to open up.<br />
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We continued on our trek back to our lovely hostel (5k). Luckily we had a small stash of veggies and bread at the hostel! Our friends moved up to our place and brought us a bottle of wine. Phew! disaster narrowly averted.<br />
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So if you've been keeping track, 1+4+4+5+5=lots of urban hiking. Our feet are tired! The grocery stores opened up today with outrageously long lines, I'm talkin up the aisles. People were freaked out from the riots, it's Friday, Christmas is next week, and it was questionably the end of the world! (it's tomorrow here right now and the world exists so not to worry!)<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">We will continue to spin and buy groceries.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">Happy solstice everyone!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-31764518252767244632012-12-18T16:15:00.001-08:002012-12-18T16:15:42.379-08:00Cold Rain and SnowIn case you were wondering, the answer is yes, the weather does get worse.<br />
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We went back up to the Refugio for another week. Most of the time up there was spent waiting for the weather to change. Which it really did not. We got up there just as the wind arrived. You really don't notice bad weather until the last kilometer of the hike up. So it was an enjoyable hike up. We just had food in our packs so we moved quickly. The wind didn't hit us until the last 100 meters of the 10 kilometer hike. Wow, it really hit this time though. I was literally leaning into the wind and it was completely supporting me. The night time was fairly windy and the next day was pretty poor weather. We got out and climbed a bit in the afternoon but it really wasn't too enjoyable. Luckily this time we brought a lot of food with so at least we ate well every night.<br />
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The next few days were more of the same. We just became pretty tolerant of poor weather. It was cold. You know the type of weather where you can't feel if your fingers are holding onto the rocks but you have an incredibly painful sensation in your fingertips so you assume it's a good hold. Well, a few of those days in a row will really break a girl. I did say more than once how "I only ever want to climb at Indian creek." turns out I'm somewhat of a fair weather climber... Last night rained. All. Night. Long. Then we woke up and it began to snow sideways, backwards huh? So we came back to Bariloche in the wettest hike ever reported in history.<br />
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Despite the suffering we did get some nice little day hikes in and the snow certainly made for some wonderful scenery. Good thing we had such good company up there too. There was a strong crew of hopeless fools waiting for a window to squeeze in another pitch before letting the truth of the matter become a reality. We played plenty of card games and laughed, a lot!<br />
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We are beginning to think of some warmer options for the next few weeks. If we anted cold and snow, we would be home skiing with all of you! There will be plenty of time for all of that when we return so for now, we are on a suns out buns out mission!<br />
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Peace love health all ways!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-82596451754012923012012-12-11T14:04:00.000-08:002012-12-12T12:20:32.816-08:00El Frey... The Reputation Holds TrueWe hiked in with humongous packs, they were heavy and I complained a lot. We brought a weeks worth of food, climbing gear, camping gear and lots of cold weather clothes as we heard the weather is finicky. It's not measured I distance but instead by an hourly countdown. From the base of Cerro Catedral, the self proclaimed best ski area in south America, it's a 3hr 45 minute hike to the Refugio at Frey.<br />
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Once we got there the wind was ripping, dangit! Everything bad i heard about Patagonian climbing came back to me real quick. The wind, the cold and the bad weather. I was really starting to doubt this all at that point. We set up our tent in the wind..epic, made dinner and went to bed.<br />
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It snowed all nite.<br />
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We woke up and it was spitting snow, windy...really windy, and the clouds were low. Luckily I was worked from the hike so I was a little grateful for the bad weather. We made breakfast and went into the Refugio to socialize a bit, but mostly to get out of the weather. The first person we see in there, Dan Escalante. We knew he was in the country but hadn't contacted him and really had no idea where he was...classic. It continued to snow in every direction all day. Double dangit. We hiked around in the evening when the sky cleared a bit and got pretty psyched to climb.<br />
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The next day we woke up to more wind and cold but more or less clear skies. So we went for it....brrrrr, easily the coldest rock climbing day I've ever had. First pitch I my fingers felt like wood. The second pitch, the wind was ripping so hard that somehow it blew my sneakers, which were hanging from my harness, into the back of my head. On the third pitch all of the chalk in my chalk bag got blown into my eyes while I was waiting for a break in between gusts so I wouldn't get blown off the very sparsely bolted sandbagged route. The rock really is such high quality granite that despite the suffering it was hard to stop! We climbed a bit more then headed down to camp for some lunch.<br />
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It was not so bad down there. The area where the tents are set us is protected from the wind. By now the sun had really started to warm up the rocks and there were plenty of daylight hours left so we went back for more.<br />
There is an ultra classic line that greets you as you arrive at El Frey. Its the first formation you see as you walk up the trail and you can watch people climb it from sitting inside the Refugio. That was what we chose to climb. It really was great... Splitter line, amazing granite, bolted belay stations. The last pitch is a splitter half way through the face that ends up with one bolt to some hidden huge jugs. You pull these positive heroic feeling moves right at the end of the route. Sick. Yes! Frey is awesome!<br />
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As you walk out to the other formations, it's crazy the way they all change according to your perspective. We would be climbing on one formation and look across and see some gorgeous line on another and so on. I kept feeling like we were at a playground just seeing all the attractions and hurrying around to play on all of them!<br />
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The weather kept getting better for the next 3 days. It actually got hot. We climbed some amazing quality routes. Everything seemed to be a little stiff and the sport climbs are super run out, keeps ya honest! The place is beautiful though, and the rock is divine. Everywhere you look is a photo op, I took lots. It's fully springtime there and the flowers are abundant and some quite different from the flowers in north America. We saw a mama duck and 5 little goslings in the laguna. The water is so clean you don't even need to treat it before drinking it. The snow is melting still so there are these little waterfall streams everywhere. To top it off, it is light out until close to 10pm so there really is no such thing as an alpine start.<br />
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Today the weather turned so here we are in (San Carlos de) Bariloche about to start another chocolate mission!<br />
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We wish lots of snow for you all up north! Powder it up!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-50526460737687907012012-12-04T05:45:00.002-08:002012-12-04T08:40:07.333-08:00Bariloche...the Chocolate Caoital of Sur AmericaWe took a 17 hour bus ride down here from Mendoza, it's a huge country! I guess officially we are in Patagonia but just barely on the north end of it. There is a lake so big here that it looks like the ocean. The weather feels a lot like Seattle, just not as salty.<br />
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The chocolate here is awesome! There are at least ten chocolate factories in the main street, yes. At least one factory per city block. Bariloche is the chocolate capital of South America, needless to say.<br />
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Yesterday we walked to town (5k) because we couldn't stand to be a another vehicle. On the way there was this beater car partially driven off a cliff. One guy was in the driver seat and the other two were pushing it backwards. It was the passenger side front wheel that was off and the car was balancing on the axle. Que peligroso! So we helped to push, to no avail... Then we stepped away and they decided to try and push forward, Ryan and I thought this was a terrible idea as the wheel was completely off the cliff and this little 1991 total beater fiat wouldn't be able to drive with two wheels on plus the front axle. Miraculously they made it!! They all got in the car and drove away, not ever once showing any stress.<br />
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Today we will get all the stuff together because tomorrow we head to El Frey for 2 weeks for climbing!! Finally, as our fingertips are really starting to fall off now.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-27337399446650626032012-12-02T07:23:00.001-08:002012-12-04T05:47:12.863-08:00Mate and summer!I went to a mate class the other night. I didn't know It was such a ceremony. I'll share a little about it...<br />
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First off, when we were at Los termas yesterday (a hot springs water park made from stones) everyone had their mate kits which consist of a thermos, a gourd, a bombilla, loose Yerba mate and sugar all in a travel case... Some of which are pretty baller looking. It's just part if what they bring on their picnics, or mid day break. Mate everywhere!!<br />
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So, whoever carries the case makes a mate the way they like it, then they drink a whole gourd full, then the add a little more Yerba, water, sugar(if desired) and pass it to the person on the right, when they have finished, they pass it back to the head person and they refill and repeat until everyone has had their fill. It's a special event for people and if someone invites you to their home to have mate, it means they think very highly of you.<br />
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The mate section at the grocery store is SICK! There's like 20 different kinds to choose from.<br />
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So as we were at Los termas, we were looking around at all the suckers getting sunburned, which was 90% of people as Argentinians have fair skin. We didn't notice how burnt we were til we got back to the hostel...oops. Feeling better today thanks to Julie's <a href="http://www.singingspringsbotanicals.com/" target="_blank">Singing Spring Botanicals</a> first aide salve. (Great stuff!)<br />
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Well, off to find some lunch before everyone goes for siesta and the entire town shuts down for 3 hours!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-29440357247940778182012-11-30T15:17:00.001-08:002012-12-04T05:48:36.872-08:00For my health food store friends!There is so much about Mendoza that is like a heaven to me... Mate is everywhere, really good red wine also everywhere, chocolate. I am very intimidated by the amount of meat people eat here. Its in everything, and if it isn't directly, then it's cooked in lard. Our waiter explained the soups today as the meat soup or the chicken soup...So, naturally I was concerned. I did a little hunting around yesterday... I did see one little tienda de health, it was the size of my closet in the dorms at western state college<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">. It did, however have just what I needed, nuts and dried fruit! Who cares if you are in the neat capital of the entire southern hemisphere when you can find dried fruit and nuts!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); color: #444444;">.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">Which brings me to my next topic...all the lonely vegans, where do we go for lunch? I've actually found some bomb salads down here. Aside from just wine as an export, there is lots of exported olive and olive oil coming from here. So, bam! That's what I'll sustain off of! Plus, I love how south America has such a sweet tooth, chocolate stores on every street! (double bam!!)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); color: #444444;">As we were walking home last night we found an open air market. Yaaay! Now we're talking! Tons of bulk herbs, grains (even the ones we eat!) plenty more dried fruit, chia seeds, nuts, fresh veggies and fruits. Plus all your basics, neon striped mini dresses, brick oven fired pizza, knock off chuck taylors, even a little stand with all your basic toiletries. Sweet, I'm going to survive, and I don't have to eat bisteka to do it!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); color: #444444;">To top it off, we did find two vegetarian restaurants today, they wee buffet style and loaded with great yummy things. Also, cherry season!! Mmmmhmmm, two cherry seasons in one year?!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">I know the meat thing is of interest to a lot of you as well, so I will tell you that Ryan reports very positively on the subject. The cows did live a happy life, and the meat is cooked over a large wood fire.</span></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-46929951084983166042012-11-29T10:48:00.000-08:002012-11-29T10:48:27.689-08:00Jet laged...Ahhhh...from house to hostel, grand total travel time of...48hrs. Wow,and it certainly feels that way. (while we were at dinner lat nigh, ryan fell asleep twice. One of those ti,es i was in the middle of tellingnhi a story.) We flew into Santiago as the sun was rising over the Andes. Followed by another glorious layover, this<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);"> time only four hours. Then we flew over the Andes into Argentina. Pretty breath taking. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">What's the weather like? I'm glad you ask! Glorious, it was hott yesterday ans stays comfortably warm at night. It's pretty dry here but the city has the similar irrigation system to gunnison's freshman ditch, so all the streets are lined with big trees, there always seems to be a nice breeze here as well. It poured rain turning into hail as we ate a luxurious lunch today. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">But, the best part of everything is the abundance of fine wine. We just got a very nice bottle for only $4.50. We will not be skimping in that terrirory! We will be snow dancing for all of north America! Cheers</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482908767676063080.post-47675213154286118902012-11-27T13:34:00.000-08:002012-11-27T13:37:47.733-08:00I'm in Miami b!+ch!We new it was going to be a good day when the woman at the Hyatt told us last night that the 5am shuttle was full, but we could get on the 4:20. Ok! We had a send of dinner with family at the best restraunt in Denver, the Watercourse.<br />
Just waiting to leave the country now, hanging at MIA international terminal... Spectacular people watching! Plus a little drama when some guy ran away from security and the whole place around us was instructed not to move.<br />
All is well now! We are super styked! <a href="http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=tFujNXdsOoA&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DtFujNXdsOoA" target="_blank">Appropriate theme music</a> at this link. Im just passing time keeping my eyes peeled for celebs and power walking the d terminal...yesss.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11923687356400124740noreply@blogger.com2