These were some of my favorite moments from last week's climbing trip to the enchanted rock forest of Hatun Machay:
Our furry friend, mix of Sheppard and Terrier, who we dubbed Carl, later Carlito. His name originated when Jeff heard Keaton say "Carol" instead of "perro" for the first dog that came to check us out. And since Carl was a macho, obviously he would get the boy version of that name. He faithfully followed us around from crag to crag and patiently curled up to nap while we climbed. Not only was he adorable, but also amenable to cuddling. Our only disagreement was over the salami he snagged from the outdoor table whilst we dealt with a leaky bathroom in the cold dark (he did apologetically drop said salami when I came back to the table).
Our Colombian friends who were stewarding the climbing refuge while we were there (otherwise, no other climbers to be found!). We showed them the ropes on our last day, which is always fun because climbing is da best and I could see the excitement in their faces. They also heated up our water every morning and night since we'd forgotten our gas canister, and they introduced us to panela, which is made by dissolving hardened cane sugar in hot water - deelish! They might stay with Jeff and I when they pass through Lima soon, which I'll look forward to.
The climbing itself was a blast. I was pretty sure we'd have to deal with rainy conditions, but we lucked out with three straight days of sunny blue skies! The rock is sort of sharp sometimes, but it also has tons of cool hueco features, matrices of divots in a honeycomb pattern. Thankfully nobody suffered any injuries even though we pushed ourselves with some pretty tough routes.
In Huaraz, we stayed at my favorite hostel of all time that I had the good fortune of stumbling upon the last time I was in Peru. Very little had changed! The owner, part-time Peruvian momma to all travelers that pass through El Tambo and full-time wonderful human being, didn't remember Jeff or I but she was her usual ridiculously sweet self, gifting us free slices of chocolate cake she'd baked and even insisting we stay one night for free (we insisted right back that we would pay the modest 3 dollars a night :p). Lots of Frenchies in the hostal and a hodge-podge of South Americans, mostly from Argentina and Chile, who I hung out with the most. One could say they were Chill-eans ;) We got to watch the Peru-Chile game with some fellow travelers, and we were super impressed with how good the Peruvians played. They have another game against the US tomorrow and it seems very likely to be a massacre.
We had one more fun, relaxed half day of climbing at the nearby Olivos area, making it back in time to introduce Keaton to ceviche. We also made time to try cuy, or guinea pig, which was ok but we concluded not worth getting again.
Our climax came at Laguna 69 where we hiked for a few hours in the b-e-a-utiful high Andes mountains, made some friends with some guys from Lima and a Brit on the way up, and then enjoyed a feast next to the gorgeous blue waters that conveniently served to chill the tall boys we'd brought with us.
Although I'm happy to be back home now to have more alone time, I'm very very thankful for the special time I got to spend with two of my closest friends. One night when Keaton went out to buy wine (I was impressed with his unabashed attempts to speak Spanish with what little French he could remember from high school, which made for an often hilarious final product). Despite his best efforts to explain that he was looking for "seco, no dulce" he ended up bringing back the most horrifically sweet bottle of wine we'd ever been unlucky enough to taste. Naturally Jeff suggested we play a drinking game, and never have I felt the stakes to be so real! It was the game where you stick a card on your forehead that you can't see but can see the other players' cards and then you make bets on number of drinks, with the highest card winning. Somehow Jeff always had the highest card! We laughed our butts off when we'd see an ace or a 2 on someone's forehead. Felt lots of love for those guys :)
PS: PSA: for those who want to know, my address is Calle Loma Umbrosa 190 Apt 5B, Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru, 15039
Our furry friend, mix of Sheppard and Terrier, who we dubbed Carl, later Carlito. His name originated when Jeff heard Keaton say "Carol" instead of "perro" for the first dog that came to check us out. And since Carl was a macho, obviously he would get the boy version of that name. He faithfully followed us around from crag to crag and patiently curled up to nap while we climbed. Not only was he adorable, but also amenable to cuddling. Our only disagreement was over the salami he snagged from the outdoor table whilst we dealt with a leaky bathroom in the cold dark (he did apologetically drop said salami when I came back to the table).
Our Colombian friends who were stewarding the climbing refuge while we were there (otherwise, no other climbers to be found!). We showed them the ropes on our last day, which is always fun because climbing is da best and I could see the excitement in their faces. They also heated up our water every morning and night since we'd forgotten our gas canister, and they introduced us to panela, which is made by dissolving hardened cane sugar in hot water - deelish! They might stay with Jeff and I when they pass through Lima soon, which I'll look forward to.
The climbing itself was a blast. I was pretty sure we'd have to deal with rainy conditions, but we lucked out with three straight days of sunny blue skies! The rock is sort of sharp sometimes, but it also has tons of cool hueco features, matrices of divots in a honeycomb pattern. Thankfully nobody suffered any injuries even though we pushed ourselves with some pretty tough routes.
In Huaraz, we stayed at my favorite hostel of all time that I had the good fortune of stumbling upon the last time I was in Peru. Very little had changed! The owner, part-time Peruvian momma to all travelers that pass through El Tambo and full-time wonderful human being, didn't remember Jeff or I but she was her usual ridiculously sweet self, gifting us free slices of chocolate cake she'd baked and even insisting we stay one night for free (we insisted right back that we would pay the modest 3 dollars a night :p). Lots of Frenchies in the hostal and a hodge-podge of South Americans, mostly from Argentina and Chile, who I hung out with the most. One could say they were Chill-eans ;) We got to watch the Peru-Chile game with some fellow travelers, and we were super impressed with how good the Peruvians played. They have another game against the US tomorrow and it seems very likely to be a massacre.
We had one more fun, relaxed half day of climbing at the nearby Olivos area, making it back in time to introduce Keaton to ceviche. We also made time to try cuy, or guinea pig, which was ok but we concluded not worth getting again.
Our climax came at Laguna 69 where we hiked for a few hours in the b-e-a-utiful high Andes mountains, made some friends with some guys from Lima and a Brit on the way up, and then enjoyed a feast next to the gorgeous blue waters that conveniently served to chill the tall boys we'd brought with us.
Although I'm happy to be back home now to have more alone time, I'm very very thankful for the special time I got to spend with two of my closest friends. One night when Keaton went out to buy wine (I was impressed with his unabashed attempts to speak Spanish with what little French he could remember from high school, which made for an often hilarious final product). Despite his best efforts to explain that he was looking for "seco, no dulce" he ended up bringing back the most horrifically sweet bottle of wine we'd ever been unlucky enough to taste. Naturally Jeff suggested we play a drinking game, and never have I felt the stakes to be so real! It was the game where you stick a card on your forehead that you can't see but can see the other players' cards and then you make bets on number of drinks, with the highest card winning. Somehow Jeff always had the highest card! We laughed our butts off when we'd see an ace or a 2 on someone's forehead. Felt lots of love for those guys :)
PS: PSA: for those who want to know, my address is Calle Loma Umbrosa 190 Apt 5B, Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru, 15039
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