A Day of Rest

After 3 days of climbing it's time for a rest.  My internal clock seems to finally have adjusted to European time which is nice.  The lifestyle here is pretty interesting, the tranquillo mindset dominates.  The average days goes something like sleep as late as possible (9ish for me), then lazily drink coffee (which I don't do), maybe eat breakfast, read and sit in the sun, until 2P or so.  Then everyone heads to the cliffs as most of the good climbing goes into the shade in the afternoon.  Then it's climbing until 9 or 10P and hiking out at dusk.   Finally there's dinner with a beer or red wine (by the bottle, decent Red wine can easily be found for a dollar).  I find the whole hanging around for several hours in the morning painful but I've been occupied by a book that my friend Frank recommended called the Big Short.

 

I've found this book super interesting and finishing it this morning was a little bittersweet.   The book chronicles the sub-prime mortgage debacle and Wall Street's involvement.  Very high recommended.

Random thoughts:

1.  European food is awesome.  Artisinal food, so hip and pricey in America, is the standard here.  A block of goat cheese made down the road and locally produced chorizo, combined with fresh bread made in town equals fantastic sandwiches for cheap.

2.  On the other hand, I'm missing some food already.  Mexican food and good pizza seem non-existant.  Fountain drinks are unheard of, particularly 32oz ones.

3.  Europeans know a lot more about Americans than vice versa.  I talked with a kid yesterday from Bulgaria, maybe 22 years old.  He spoke flawless, unaccented English but had never been outside of Bulgaria before coming to Spain.  He asked where I was from and I said the US.  He then asked what state and I told him Georgia.  His response was, "oh, there's a good song about Georgia, Georgia on my Mind by Ray Charles".  Meanwhile I racking my brain trying to think of anything I know about Bulgaria.  Anything....hm.  Wait, the capital of Bulgaria is Sophia, right?  Correct!  He knows crazy random facts about Georgia and I happen to know one world capital.  Ughh.  

Oh yeah, we've been rock climbing too.  Wednesday I climbed with Mike and Dan.  Mike I know from the Red River Gorge in Kentucky while Dan is his friend from California.  I tried a very long 13b at La Surgencia called El Corridor del Muerte that goes on forever at about 40degrees overhanging.  Sort of like climbing in the Madness Cave but longer.  With a 70m rope you have to skip the last bolt and jump to get down.  I liked it a lot and want to spend some time trying to send it.  Mike and Dan crushed with mike doing a 13c/d and Dan finishing up a 13b.

We then headed to Las Ventanas, a very steep, tall area that has tons of hard climbing. I managed to do a 12a and a 12c but didn't get on any of the hard routes.  Dan continued his good with 13a and 12c redpoints while Mike fell off the very end of a long 13d.

Yesterday I again climbed with Mike and Dan.  We started at Pince Sans Rire where I punted off a 12c onsight called Maria Ponte el Arnes but managed to climb it 2nd try.  We ended the day at the Gran Boveda, one of the best cliffs at Rodellar that is just starting to dry up.  I climbed Comando Cono (12c) there, again taking 2 tries after making shambles of my first attempt.

Some Pics:

Mike on Botanics (13d) 

 

Dan on Evasion (13b)

Dan on El Delphin (13a)

Random Spaniard on Kings of Metal (13c)?

 

Brian on Pince Sans Rire and Vasco on Maria (both 12c)

Hanging out at Kalandrakas, a climbers hostel with a bar and restaurant poised at the edge of the gorge.