pieces of a third trip to Costa Rica, part 1

11/22/2011
Tuesday morning, on the beach, partly cloudy skies.  This is the sunniest day we have had, so we went straight to the beach after breakfast.  We are the only 2 rooms in use as Casa Camarona, a terrific find in between Playa Cocles and Punta Uva.  It's a relaxing spot so we booked 2 nights minimum.  The last time I was in this area the water was glass but there must be a swell now - the waves are probably the biggest I've ever swam in.  It's really something diving into/under a wall of water equally as tall as you, especially when you are already standing in 2'-3' of water already.
Today we have even bigger waves than yesterday, and rented boogie boards for some body surfing.  I paddled out past the break and caught the first wave I tried.  It was bigger than I expected... these waves suck up tons of water as they approach.  You find yourself thigh-deep one second, then mid-calf the next, with a huge wall of water exploding over you.  During one lull I paddled back out and found a particular set on the horizon I thought would be great to catch, but as they approached even the first one scared me to ride.  I dove under it.  The second was even bigger, and I noticed my board leash had snapped.  When I came up between the second and third waves I swam to shore as much as possible before diving into the third and biggest wave.  I couldn't get below it, and it sucked me up into it.  That was a very unsafe situation.  Thankfully that was the last of the set because I was exhausted and had swallowed enough salt water for one day.  I swam in, found my board on the beach, and decided to wait for lower tide before another attempt.

Filling in details from the past couple days...
Sunday morning we went to Cahuita National Park and hiked about a mile out-n-back in search of wildlife.  We ended up hearing Howlers but seeing none.  The mosquitoes were bad inland.  It rained off and on, so after lunch we headed to Puerto Viejo and checked into a 5 person room at Agapi with hot water, A/C and TV.  It's a nice place but expensive.  They have a sloth family on the property, so we saw a few sloths there.  In the afternoon we walked to Playa Cocles.  The swimming was nice but I got stung by a jellyfish and my arm looked terrible afterwards, like road rash from cycling or something like that.  It was a strange sensation at first but felt like an electric shock, followed by numbness and pain in m elbow.  The water was pretty clear so I was surprised to not have seen what stung me until we spotted lots of tiny clear jellyfish washed ashore in the sand later.  After a nice dinner in downtown Puerto Viejo we bought a few beers at a super and headed home to watch Beckham's Galaxy win the MLS.  We discovered Toña, a Nicaraguan beer that I had never had before but now highly recommend.
Yesterday we ate breakfast and decided to head out from Agapi.  The goal was to head into Panama, Bocas del Toro, but with the rain it seemed smarter to travel little, find a hammock, and read away the rain.  Where we are now is a great alternative to Bocas (and the possibility of our abandoned rental car getting broken into or floating away in this flood).  We now have 2 rooms for way cheaper than Agapi, hammocks, lots of sun and big waves.  After checking in we got in the water... there are consistent 3'-6' waves here, with the occasional 8'+ wave.  We went for a jog for about 4km yesterday, almost all the way back to Agapi, which was very nice.  After happy hour at our cabinas we drove down to Maxi's in Manzanillo.  The food was good but probably 50% more expensive than when I was last there, with prices rivaling what you would pay in the States for Red Snapper or lobster.  That has been an unfortunate recurring theme over the last few days... I believe the window of opportunity for stretching dollars way beyond reasonable expectation has closed in Costa Rica - at least in the Caribbean coast.  Things seem to cost as much as they would in the States around here.

new quarter, new leaf

The 4th and final quarter of 2011 has begun.  It snowed on the Flatirons yesterday for the first time this season.  It's almost time to focus on winter things.  For many people, plants, and animals, winter is a time of dormancy, but I really hope that is not the case for me.  I feel like I've been stuck in dormancy since I rode the Copper Triangle 2 months ago and need to get out of this rut.  During a dinner with some friends last week I was asked if my current situation might be related to having finished my big goal of the year on the bike, and I think that's exactly what the problem was.  I need to remember this in the future... I forgot one of my cycling goals.  My original goal for riding was to keep my legs in shape for ski season... while I've certainly helped that cause with the early summer, taking essentially 2 months off has not helped my lungs or legs at all.  I am surprised at a lack of motivation because I think cycling is so much fun.  I guess I just needed a break, but I am hereby going to get back to running and riding - depending on which is easier with the weather.

So there you have it.  Columbus Day officially kicks off my leaf turning.  

After taking a look back at some of my goals for this year, I have accomplished many of them but have plenty of room for improvement in others, so it's time to either revise the list or get cracking.  Here's to a strong finish to 2011.

another form of climbing

Once more into the mountains, dear lungs!

I suppose it's fitting that now that the first of the leaves are turning yellow and Fall is clearly underway, I should write about summer cycling.  I seem to be terrible about being timely on here.  Alas, here goes:

My road bike and I have become quite accustomed to each other by now.  I consider it a good friend :)  I've ridden over 1,000 miles on this, my first road bike, and don't anticipate slowing down any time soon.  My first ride of 2011 was actually in January, and I've ridden every month this year except May, which I attribute to planning for or being in Peru for half of.  Anyways, after my return from Peru, Trey suggested we ride the Copper Triangle after discussing the ride a bit with Darren.  I thought about it for a while and decided in late June to give it a shot with 6 weeks to prepare.  I knew I wouldn't be setting any speed records during the ride but wanted to prove to myself that I could finish an 80 mile right with 3 mountain passes and 6,000' of vertical climbing thrown in for good measure.  In 2010, the hardest ride I did was 60-ish miles and about 3000 vertical, so the Triangle would be pushing beyond that by a considerable margin.

I started training in earnest by linking some familiar rides to make a large one; from home over Old Stage then on to Ward, then up to Jamestown, and finally over the north side of Old Stage en route home.  Without realizing it at the time, that ride came to over 50 miles and 5,500' of climbing.  Since the 6000' of climbing was my primary concern in the Triangle, I felt like I would be able to finish that ride as long as the elevation didn't have too much of an effect on me.  With that in mind, I spent the next couple Saturdays on climbs steeper than what I would find on the Triangle; Flagstaff to the dirt.  Loyal readers, Flagstaff to the top is no joke.  That road pushed me to my limit the first time I did it, just like NCAR had the previous summer(, which feels like such a long time ago now...).  It felt so difficult the first time I did it that I had to return the next Saturday to redeem myself.  Noticing similar foot numbness/pain as the previous weekend, as well as a handful of other longer rides, I decided to switch to road pedals/shoes and get a bike fitting.  Eureka!  That was 2 hours extremely well spent, and would recommend a fitting to anybody.  With several micro-adjustments, new pedals, new shoes, and a new stem, I took my new setup to Cottonwood Pass to test out my lungs.  Cottonwood was about 90 minutes of climbing, and went approximately 1000' higher than the highest point on the Triangle.  After the previous few weekends of steep ascent, Cottonwood felt easy, with little to no altitude suffering.  I was honestly fairly shocked at the lack of altitude problem, but had a blast and was confident going into the Triangle.

And so, the following Saturday, I went for a little bike ride for the 5th weekend in a row.  This was my first ride of the Copper Triangle but hopefully will not be the last.  We passed through the starting banner at Copper at 6:40 to a slowly rising sun, and headed up Fremont Pass at a good pace.  It was chilly, so I wanted to get to a quick start and warm up without over-pacing myself.  Trey and I rode together and apparently made good time on the first climb, since we seemed to pass nearly everyone who started within 20 minutes of us.  We topped out the climb above 3,000' and decided to skip the first aid station after such a short time on the bike.  I think we both felt really good and wanted to push on with the sun now above the mountainous horizon.  30 seconds after starting our descent to Leadville, however, Trey got a flat tire.  Just as we both realized how much time the handheld pump was going to take a motorcycle stopped to help us, and we were back on the bikes.  I felt great on the little climb back into Leadville and was ready to take on Tennessee Pass before stopping.  As we turned from Leadville I knew that the next hour or two would be fairly easy going but Vail Pass still loomed in the distance.  I had not been eating or drinking very well on my previous longer rides, so I focused on fixing that during the Triangle.  I think that paid off, because as I left our first aid stop at Ski Cooper (not Copper...) I was not fatigued in any way with half the distance done... feeling as if we had just started.  The ride from Cooper to Minturn was extremely enjoyable with some very fast downhill and excellent scenery.  Battle Mountain gave me a bit of a challenge, and I became a bit concerned at the top about how Vail Pass would compare in the heat of the day as I waited for Trey.  When the two of us started again, I noticed it approached 90 degrees when entering Minturn.  After a short ride into West Vail from Minturn, we decided to skip the third aid station as well and push on to Vail Pass.  The ride through Vail made me remember why I loved that town so much despite it's cheesy touristy atmosphere in most parts.  [That whole Eagle river/county is such a beautiful area and really deserves more of my attention next summer.]  It also gives just enough of a climb that I realized I was working pretty hard in the heat of the day just to cross town.  I knew I had a monster of a climb waiting for me on the edge of town, but felt like I had more than enough left in my legs to make a good showing on the climb and point it back to Copper from the top.  If nothing else, the temperature would drop as I climbed.  Despite that, I had to stop for a restroom and hydration break at the 4th aid station (East Vail).  [Note to self; there are two difficult pushes on that climb, and one of them is right away at the East Vail aid station after you pass under I-70 to begin the climb from town.]  Having re-grouped with Trey, we both began our assault on the famous Vail Pass climb.  I remember passing lots of people and feeling really strong in the beginning of the climb.  I knew steeper sections were coming, but I felt good so I pushed at a pretty good pace knowing I only had about 7 miles of climbing left.  After about 3 miles, we took a sharp right turn under I-70, then a very sharp left to what most people would consider The Wall of the climb.  I had heard of this wall and knew if I could last another few miles I would be sitting pretty on the summit.  Honestly, the toughest part for me was managing the passing of other riders who had either decided to get off their bikes and walk or were going as slow as the walkers.  Without falling over or un-clipping, I made it through the traffic jam that The Wall created, and pushed on to the top.  With about 2 miles to go in the climb, I ran out of water and food at the same time.  I didn't realize I was eating and drinking fairly regularly throughout Vail Pass, and my body was very unhappy about running dry.  The last mile or two were grueling, and only then did I realize how tired I was.  I pulled over to the 5th and final aid station on the summit of Vail Pass and rested my legs while waiting for Trey.  I had a few minutes to rest before he arrived and we hit up the food/beverages.  Although we weren't technically done, I knew my legs had completed the task, and I was extremely proud of the accomplishment.  It felt like a notable achievement, one to remember years down the road, and I was really happy that I had made it through.  After a picture or two and a fun cruise back to Copper with gravity doing most of the work, we had a pasta meal and hit the road to Boulder.

Completing the Triangle feels like the next logical step in a series of physical accomplishments since moving here; my first 14er, my first 10k run, running above treeline on 14ers, hiking/skiing Silverton for two exhausting days, riding 60 miles, climbing 5000' on a bike... and now the Triangle.  I can only hope the list continues and I am fortunate enough to remain in good shape and to be able to continue to push myself beyond the beyond.  The long story short is that Boulder just might be one of the best towns on Earth to be a person who enjoys climbing, whether on belay or on two wheels.  Colorado is certainly one of the best states for both.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 10

5/29/2011

I'm writing this from memory 10 weeks later. I've been bad about updating this site lately.

Sunday. We woke up and had breakfast in the hotel. I don't think anybody was feeling quite 100% but we all were ready to start the day and see the last of the sights before heading to the airport after dinner. After breakfast we walked the hotel a bit and saw ornate and beautiful ballrooms that must have been incredible 50+ years ago. The furniture, chandeliers, carpets, etc. all reminded me of fragmented memories in my grandparents' homes from my childhood. There was a church service getting ready to start directly below our room, and we were told that we weren't allowed to walk around anymore by one of the bellmen despite there being no signs or warnings. We headed upstairs and packed for our last outing. I felt a bit stir crazy, so a dancing / photo session helped lift the mood before leaving the hotel.

We walked past a lot of the things Shelly and I saw yesterday, then continued on to new sites. In search of a market to spend the last of our soles, we wandered into a market that took us a bit by surprise, to say the least. It was more of an everyday shopping center, with anything from wedding dresses to beads and fabric to a butchery. The meat area smelled terrible and gave me serious pause for giving up animal products entirely for a while. Having no Inka fabrics or tourist items, we moved on. I'm not sure why that market was mentioned in Lonely Planet - perhaps for tourists needing to sew a button back on a shirt as cheaply as possible...? Anyways, we continued on to a few churches and centuries-old buildings in Lima. We walked through stark contrasts of socioeconomic statuses. It seemed to vary with each crosswalk, and ultimately became a bit too much to digest. It was a grey, humid, and generally uninviting day. It felt like everything was dirty. As with the rest of the trip, I struggled to make sense of what I was seeing and understand how it affected me.

Perhaps needing a sense of cleanliness and normalcy, we took a taxi back to Miraflores... it's hard to say whether that was part of it, but it did feel easier once we were there. We returned to the Inka market where we all bought a few things and watched a women's volleyball match, then ate lunch in what might be comparable to the cafeteria in a Super Target, and walked through a large amount of Miraflores. I couldn't figure out exactly what it was, but it seemed a lot nicer being in Miraflores. There is a lot more wealth in that part of town, but parts of it aren't that different than central Lima. The city parks were better maintained and overall it was a lot cleaner. Taxis and restaurant employees were hounding us for business, but people weren't begging and didn't look desperate. I think it was just a lot harder to look the real disparity right between the eyes in central Lima. I wondered if tourism wasn't partially why Miraflores is maintained nicer than central Lima and felt a bit guilty for being responsible for some amount of injustice. This trip confused me.

After lunch we headed to Huaca Pucllana to see some pre-Incan ruins. The site is right in the heart of a neighborhood and is surrounded by modern streets and buildings which are known to cover up more ruins. Despite that, there is no effort to remove said streets and buildings, which was incredible to me given that the ruins are as old as Constantine declaring Christianity legal in the Roman Empire. If this were Europe, the people would be demanding further excavation. The neighborhood residents seemed far more interested in the upscale gourmet restaurant that shares the same name as the site. More confusion. The tour was informative and relaxing, and included a spotting of the ugliest dogs of all time (as well as llamas, guinea pigs and a coca plant, all of which seemed out of place to me).

It truly amazed me that we saw almost no signs or indication of special significance to our stops outside of the books we were reading today. Once again, Perú confused me in that regard. I wondered again if Limeñans (and therefore Peruvians in general) have any concern for preservation of the past in Lima. I could understand wanting to forget the Spanish Inquisition and the elimination of ancient cultures now celebrated by Peruvians as their ancestors, but I couldn't understand the general lack of respect for Huaca Pucllana. Or Machu Picchu for that matter. One of the strongest impressions of Peruvian culture for me in this whole trip was that they don't care about preserving their history unless it makes money to preserve it (a la Huaca Pucllana and Machu Picchu). Maybe they actually don't care, or maybe they instead just don't know their history. Maybe the government doesn't want to spend the money. Maybe they don't have the resources to preserve more. I can't say for sure, but that's a huge distinction between somebody from the United States and Peru in my opinion. United States national parks or historical sites exist for the enjoyment and betterment of the citizens of the United States and not for financial gain. I for one am thankful that I can tour Gettysburg, Ellis Island, The Alamo, Little Bighorn or Canyon de Chelly in a preserved state, and cannot understand how the average Peruvian doesn't care about national treasures like Machu Picchu, Nazca or Huaca Pucllana. We saw a perfect microcosmic example of this leaving Huaca Pucllana. Two boys playing soccer with the site's fencing as their goal... a classic Sunday afternoon game. One of the boys kicked the ball over the fence and cared only about getting his ball back. I don't know that he damaged any of the pyramid by climbing over the fence and climbing it, but all I could do was look on in amazement and laugh. I'm sure that kid would have been in serious trouble at an Egyptian or Mayan pyramid. Many times this level of what I would consider disrespect frustrated me but didn't seem to bother locals. I wanted to impress upon them in some way that this was important. Perhaps I should have, or maybe I was just supposed to learn a bit more about being a traveler.

After Huaca Pucllana we walked back to Kennedy Park and people watched, rested, and ate dinner at a pizza place where all the employees were totally engrossed in a volleyball game with the Peruvian national women's team, and finally grabbed a taxi to make our way to the airport as the presidential debates began. The taxi ride was a positive memorable experience. The car itself was basically falling apart and looked unofficial, but the driver was very nice. We had discussed before getting in that we should consider the same taxi to get us back to the hotel as well as then to the airport as long as the driver was cordial. After receiving a reasonable rate and a few minutes of pleasant driving, I asked as well as I possibly could whether he would wait for us at the hotel while we grabbed our bags and then take us to the airport. He hesitated at first but agreed once I assured him our bags were ready and we wouldn't be long in the hotel, and offered another reasonable rate to get to the airport. On the way to the airport we stopped at a gas station and had to get out of the car due to fear of explosion. The engine had been converted to natural gas, which looked to be immensely cheaper than gasoline. After that stop, he switched back and forth on the radio between a Christian gospel CD and the presidential debates. I tried to follow along with the debate as much as possible, but the channel kept cutting out, so we listened to the CD more than the debate. The driver was simply nice, and it made all the difference. When we arrived at the airport he explained that he wasn't licensed to enter the airport, so we were dropped off outside the airport and walked in a side entrance that looked a bit suspicious. All the locals were doing it, so it didn't bother me. We all thanked the driver and made our way inside... simple kindness made all the difference and was such a stark contrast to yesterday's taxi event. I'm happy that was our last impression of Lima's people.

Our plane needed a tire change so we were late departing. I wanted to write but instead took the time to nap and try to put my thoughts together about the trip. I know I was hard on Peru, and don't want to give the wrong impression. I had a good time. I learned a lot, saw a lot, ate great food, got a ton of exercise, saw the ocean, etc. But I also had a hard time understanding many things about Peru. None of the other countries I've visited have been this way. I would go back, but I think the next trip would be very different. I wonder if I'll feel the same way about other countries... time will tell.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 9

5/28/2011

Travel morning. After breakfast we loaded into a taxi and made our way to Lima. Once again we had a few encounters to make us feel more taken advantage of than welcome... the last 9 days have been very hard for me to understand in that regard, but more on that later. The cab ride to the airport was a prearranged price of S/.8, which was cheap, and nice to know in advance. Tony was obviously very sick and seemed to have a hard time the whole plane ride. We didn't have set plans for our afternoon in Lima, but that seemed fortunate at the time since it looked like any plans would be replaced by r&r. I wasn't as sick as Tony but my stomach turned, gurgled and rolled all day. Yesterday's milk adventure was clearly a bad idea.

After collecting our bags we talked to a couple of drivers but couldn't find a ride to Hotel Bolívar for less than S/. 45, which was way too much. I told the driver as much several times, but we had yet to learn where to find the better prices (exit airport building, follow the sidewalk left then right, actually out of the airport property to the main street). We paid less than S/. 45 to get to/from Miraflores, considerably further, last week... arrgh. Throughout the whole trip to the hotel our driver kept telling me that Hotel Bolívar was too expensive, in an unsafe are, and we should stay somewhere else. I told him we had already paid and got a good price. He also said he knew a better place he could take us to in Miraflores. I told him we had already stayed in Miraflores. He said it would be very loud and hard to leave the city (to get to the airport tomorrow night) because of the presidential debates. I don't know if he thought he was being nice or helpful, or thought I was a complete moron who would go along with anything he said, but it was horribly annoying. I didn't respond and stopped listening. The guy pissed me off to no end. When we got to the hotel unfortunately we didn't have the exact fare and he pretended to have no change for our S/.50. Our bags had already been taken inside by the hotel staff, so Shelly and I waited several awkward minutes while Tony retrieved extra money to get correct change. The driver asked if he could just keep the extra S/.5 as a tip, and we had to laugh in frustration about how ridiculous the situation was (it is neither normal nor customary to tip cab drivers in Lima, and the fare to central Lima shouldn't be more than S/.30).

Immediately after putting our bags down, Shelly and I left Tony and walked the pedestrian mall in search of a pharmacy. 5 minutes later we returned with several pills and a liter of electrolyte replenishment fluid. The pharmacist asked a few questions about symptoms, cause, allergies, etc., explained usage, and everything cost about $2. Something easy; phew! We then went back to the mall to get our bearings and make a first pass at seeing the sights. Using our books as a guide, we walked to several 400+ year old churches, the main plaza, a market, Victorian buildings, etc. When we reached the main plaza, where the Peruvian president lives, thousands of people were transfixed by jumbo-tron televisions. It took us a minute to figure out what the heck was going on... I assumed it was related to the presidential election, but it was the soccer championship between Manchester United and Barcelona. Nearly everyone was cheering for Barcelona. We watched for a minute and moved on in search of food. I ordered arroz con pollo, the cheapest chicken dish on the menu. I got to choose between thigh or breast, and was given literally the biggest pile or food I've ever ordered, for less than $6. I couldn't believe how much food I got, and sadly didn't come close to finishing it. Central Lima seemed refreshingly easy, cheap, and very clean.

We window shopped on our way back to the hotel to check on Tony. Prices for food, clothes, and just about everything were amazingly low. It seemed we finally had found the real cost of living in Peru. I was relieved to know it wasn't a myth. Tony was resting and on the road to recovery. After a few hours we ordered some room service for him for dinner and ate at the hotel restaurant... I was still full from lunch so just had dessert. There are mixed emotions about tomorrow being our last day.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 8

5/27/2011

We took today as a rest day. After breakfast I walked into our courtyard and saw Nefisa and Pete relaxing... the same couple who had camped next to us on our second night of the trek and chatted with over coffee on the next day. The 5 of us all seemed to need a slow day, and we ended up chatting away the morning... about travels, London, Boulder, running, ski/snowboarding, etc. They're biking from Patagonia north on a 6 month trip, after having done a similar sabbatical adventure through India and southeast Asia... seems like something I should look into. We grabbed a good lunch together and then parted ways.

The 3 of us walked Cuzco for the rest of the day. Part of our adventure included a stop in the grocery store... we found super cheap prices on everything and I jokingly thought that this is where we should have been shopping the whole time. We also walked through the Mercado Central.... wow. I think we were the only tourists there. I saw café con leche for S/.1.50 (roughly $.45) so I sat down for a cup. I received a cup filled 95% of the way with curdling and boiling milk. I filled the rest with very good coffee and drank my cup, pretending I wasn't drinking curdled milk fat. Quite the experience. At one point what looked like string cheese stuck to my lips and hung from my mouth after taking a sip... Tony and Shelly laughed. I couldn't finish the bottom of the cup with all the stuff floating in there. Afterwards we walked past vendors selling cow noses... it looked like they had used an axe and chopped right in front of the eyes ( teeth, skin, nose, bone, and lower jaw were all left on). I guess you would add that to a soup?? Pig heads were for sale on the next table... eyelashes included. The pigs seemed to have a content look on their decapitated faces... very strange. I had to block it out and keep walking. I have a much better appreciation for our sources of food after this. I also have a greater desire to alter my diet towards vegetarianism. Quite the market. So much of this experience is foreign to me, but great to have seen in person and done.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 7

5/26/2011

We're on the train heading to Ollantaytambo, where we will de-board and take a shuttle van back to Cusco, after seeing Machu Picchu this morning. It's a fairly sunny day and we have a cool breeze coming in the window. In short, it's a much more comfortable day than yesterday. 4:40am came too soon, but I slept well. A pillow and a mattress were greatly appreciated. We were some of the first people in the archeological site after waiting in line for a bus ride up in the dark. Saulo gave us a 2 hour tour, after which we said our goodbyes and took a second pass to just take everything in. I also needed a second pass through the site because my camera batteries died 5 minutes into the tour!! I knew they were low, but didn't worry because they were just the second of 3 pairs of rechargeable AAs I brought... I thought I had only burned through 1 so far but my third pair was dead, so I had to leave and re-enter the site after buying new batteries in the gift shop. Problem solved.

Regardless of how much or how little you know about the Inkas, nothing can prepare you for seeing Machu Picchu in person. It's nearly impossible to believe what was accomplished so long ago, and that such an advanced culture fell so quickly... it makes you wonder what else they could have taught us. The forethought, wisdom, and preparation required to create Machu Picchu is simply incredible. Tony and I decided that the theory that the Inkas only lasted 100 years as a civilization was not accurate, because it would have taken over 100 years to build Machu Picchu. We also struggled to believe some of the things Saulo told us, which has prompted me to buy a book about Machu Picchu when I get home.

Tony, Shelly and I sat on a series of terraces with a vantage point looking down on the rest of the site just to absorb our surroundings. The place moves you to reverence. I tried to bring my imagination to its most vivid and actually picture what it might have looked like with the Inkas surrounding me. We sat in silence, pondering. We talked quietly about the legacy modern man will leave in comparison... destruction, holes in the earth, and piles of rubble. We, who have the tools and technology to build wonders like Machu Picchu far easier, choose instead to build dams and nuclear power plants while living in homes that fall apart after just 20 years of negligence... sad. We discussed the following hypothetical situation:

What if you could travel back in time to the same exact place 1000 years ago (pre-Inkas) with all the PHDs, anthropologists, geologists, engineers, and visitors to the current ruins that you cared to bring with you.... given the same tools (rocks, wheels, trees, rope made from organic materials, water, time, etc.) and limitations, and even when provided blueprints to the expected outcome, how long would it take to replicate the site for this theoretical group of modern-day masters and sages?

I honestly don't think it could be done... it would take generations, and even then would be extremely unlikely.

We were all very happy with our morning and eager to get back to Cuzco for the next phase of our trip when yet another bad memorable experience took place... buying bus tickets to get back to Aguas Calientes. This part of the story frustrates me so much to write... after having such a terrific morning our moods were immediately switched to the complete opposite. Perú makes me feel bi-polar. I feel like there are only high highs and low lows, but nothing in between. Anyways, here's what happened -- I don't know why, but our trekking company only supplied one-way tickets for the bus. There's no ATM at the site and they don't take credit cards at the bus stop, so if you have no cash, you walk down. ($8 for a 12 minute bus ride is a complete rip off. Whey they don't just include the round-trip bus fare in the price of the entrance fee is beyond me. There are plenty of issues with the US national parks, but I think Peru could benefit from some friendly advice in this regard. Also, for $15, you would expect the road to be nice. Not so. Anyways...) We were told there was an ATM at the site so we weren't concerned that we couldn't find one in Aguas Calientes despite looking and asking. (... which also makes no sense given that the singular purpose of that town seems to be taking heaps of cash from citizens of the developed world...) Because of all this, we needed to come up with $24 to get down to town but were low on cash. It's almost too bad I didn't think to tip Saulo with my "bad" $20 bills because all my $20s were rejected by the bus ticket vendor. I don't like being a disgruntled traveler, but I am really tired of pulling $20 bills from Peruvian ATMs only to have them rejected by Peruvians. All you get is, "I can't change this..." and the money slides back to you. I don't know who started this paranoia about counterfeit or imperfect dollars, but seriously, a note to all travelers to Peru: do not try to use USD in Perú. Avoid at all costs, even when amounts are posted in USD, pay in Soles.

Long story short, we were able to "make bail" with a mix of Soles and $1 bills (thank God we had 6 singles)... otherwise we would have been the ones begging. Afterwards we grabbed lunch at the same place we ate dinner the night before (partly because we had to pick up our train tickets from them, but also because we knew we wouldn't be pleaded to death to come in and dine there). I had the tropical fruit pizza, which had bananas, papaya, mango and pineapple on it.... excellent! The waitress literally built a pile of wood, tore a cardboard box to pieces and added them, then used a wooden match to make the fire in the oven which cooked our food. After lunch we picked up our bags from the hostel and caught the train.

...later in the day, back in Cuzco...

In

Ollantaytambo we loaded into a van and made our way past Inka ruins and the high plateau with giant glacial peaks in the distance. There's no doubt the Sacred Valley is worth exploring. On the bus were two Colombian girls sitting in front of me; one from Calí and one from Bogotá.

They were nice and even curious to know whether they spoke like Nelly.

Colombians are easy for me to pick out now; they seem to be the only ones I can follow 100% in a conversation. I can definitely follow other native Spanish speakers, but I drop words and phrases when listening to them. For this reason, not to mention several others, I think Colombia is my next new country (let's be honest, the thirst for travel is insatiable... there will be more...).

We were dropped off in a plaza a few blocks from Renacimiento, and had a short walk uphill before reaching "home sweet home" again. We collected the luggage we left behind from Maria and proceeded to create a laundry explosion... wet socks, pants, and several other kinds of clothing hung throughout our apartment after doing 3 loads of laundry in the kitchen sink. My hiking clothes are still foul, but are a marked improvement from yesterday. We can only hope they dry before we fly back to Lima... t

ime to call it a day.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 6

5/25/2011

Saulo partied hard last night (after a 4 hour game of soccer while we lounged and chatted), and had a hard time getting going this morning. We knew it would be a long day, but got started about an hour behind schedule (about 6:45). Coca tea and pan, our typical breakfast, were ready long before Saulo got up... I think Enrique had to go back to our tent 3 times to get Saulo up. Once we did get going, the going was quite touch. Llactapata is on top of a ridge and Sahuayaco is on the river at least 2500' below... maybe 4000'. As a joke from the coffee incident yesterday, we kept telling ourselves that we only had 10 minutes to go... 10 minutes passed many many times. The views on the way up were great though. Llactapata was somewhat underwhelming, but the view of Machu Picchu (pronounced peek-choo instead of pea-choo like everybody pronounces it in the US) was spectacular. On a clear day it would be a terrific vantage point. The descent back down to the river was hellacious and challenging, requiring total concentration. The ground (again, despite being the "dry" season) was so wet and the trail so steep that we all slipped, but thankfully never enough to get hurt. Tony's knee gave him terrible pain... all of us were approaching our physical limits. It was ungodly humid and hot. We set a fast pace to get to lunch as fast as humanly possible. Views across the river on the way down were nice, but the bridge to cross the river was sketchy!! I honestly fear somebody will die on that soon.

After crossing the bridge we walked past an enormous waterfall created in part by the electric plant we were near, and a trout hatchery. The electric plant was where we entered the national park, but the park was effectively unsigned. I have to say, that was terribly confusing, and Peru should be ashamed on 2 counts;

1. What is this monstrosity of an electric plant doing within a national park boundary containing one of the earth's Wonders of the World?
2. What kind of an entrance to a national park goes essentially unidentified?

There were electrical safety signs everywhere but no signs pointing the way to the ruins or indicating park boundary. Totally famished, hot, and exhausted, we ate our final lunch made by Enrique and said our goodbye. We felt much better but were still sore and soaking wet. Personally, I believe I set some kind of sweating record today. My clothes smell awful and my backpack was drenched.

After lunch we walked along a train track for what felt like an eternity... perhaps 7 miles. I would guess today was a 14 mile day... very long. Despite being tired, the views of the river beside us and Machu Picchu above were phenomenal. It truly looked like an Indiana Jones movie; a huge river flowing fast with house and truck sized boulders in it, dense jungle on all sides, and 2000' cliffs on all sides. Machu Picchu is in a truly stunning setting. I'm excited to learn more about the Inkas tomorrow. The signage to indicate our progress was poor at best... a single handwritten sign pointed the way to Aguas Calientes from the train tracks, 6 miles from town. Later we saw "Aguas Calientes --->" scratched into the sand beside the train tracks. (Again, what's up with that, Peru??) I was disappointed.

When we finally made it to our hostel, I was given a room with a faulty lock. At 5:15 it would be fixed in 10 minutes. I waited to shower and at 5:30 went back down to the desk to get an update. "10 minutes." I showered and re-packed my bag. Feeling a ton better, in dry and clean clothes, I rested until 6:45 when we needed to meet for dinner. Saulo was talking to the same man at the desk, who then told us both for the second time that a man would arrive in..... 10 minutes to fix the lock. I nearly lost it. It had already been 90 minutes, and we needed to leave to eat dinner, so I voiced my disappointment in the most cordial Spanish I could muster. I don't know whether "10 minutes" is Peruvian speak for "leave me alone" but I was tired, hungry, and not happy to hear that nonsense again. To make it worse, he claimed there were no vacant rooms I could switch to. Saulo worked it out so I am in a 3 bed room with a nice bathroom and working lock. Major upgrade. This town kind of pisses me off... if the Inkas could see it! Even when walking to dinner with Saulo (an obvious local) and talking to him en route, the 3 of us were constantly bombarded with people shoving menus in our faces and pleading us to eat at their restaurant. 4-for-1 happy hours, discounts, etc. It's a desperate gimmick and frankly pathetic. I don't think these people appreciate the gravity of Machu Picchu... the park managers, the town of Aguas Calientes, maybe the whole country. It's sad. Although I have had a tremendous and eye-opening, fantastic trip, I feel a "what's wrong with Peru" segment coming on. I need to be at breakfast at 5:00am sharp, so that will have to wait. I'm hoping my mood has changed by then.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 5

5/24/2011

We slept in this morning, but after breakfast bid farewell to the remote village we called home for the night. Today we descended from roughly 11,000' to 6500' at the town of Sahuayaco (also called Playa), several miles upstream from Santa Teresa. This is a legitimate town with a school, electricity (last night a single solar panel powered the only light), and even TV. We're camping in the front yard of a family that has a TV with satellite, a bathroom with a flushing toilet and a tiled shower. They're fairly well off compared to others we've seen lately; their 14 year old daughter is wearing earrings and has a brand new Nike jacket on... allegedly going to Rio with her high school in September. She was quite flirty when we showed up, so I seemed to get more info from her than most would. I asked her what she wanted to be when she was done with school - a singer in Cuzco. She had no interest in continuing her parents' business and said most of the kids in town move to Cuzco when they finish school. It sounds like they don't really care to stay in a rural setting.

Before we arrived, we continued to follow the river past primitive homes... thatch rooftops, no electricity, "bathrooms" which are actually just holes in the earth that flow into the river, "showers" made of a hose fed by a line from the nearest creek surrounded by plastic tarp offering minimal privacy, etc. This is a hard life. I almost can't imagine it, and doubt these folks could imagine my life. It's really hard to put into words, yet part of me wants to move here and try it out for a while. Farm a mixed-use acre or two... bananas, grenadillas, cacao, avocados, lemons, coffee... we walked past those and more on the trail today. At the same time, it's hard to think about how one lives that way. It's such a different life than my current one. In addition to the plants, we've also passed chickens, pigs, alpacas, cattle, turkeys... these people live off the land.

My thoughts are scattered tonight.... so much to write down. We caught a glimpse of Salkantay upon departure this morning. What a stark contrast! If this is the dry season, I can't imagine the wet one here. Water rages downhill all around us. We walked 7-10 miles today, and it was whitewater the whole time next to us. I told Tony and Shelly I had never seen such a continuous set of rapids like this... class III - V water for miles...

It was a short day today; when we stopped for lunch we had arrived here and thus were finished hiking for the day. We spent a large part of the afternoon talking to a couple who are doing the trail sans guide. She's Canadian, he's from New Jersey. They're living in London but taking a 6 month sabbatical. I ordered a coffee from our host mother before we started chatting. "10 minutes, ok?" 10 minutes became 30, but it was worth waiting for. Excellent coffee, the best 2 cups of my life, drip-made from the beans grown organically on the nearest hillside. I keep saying this, but what a beautiful and interesting setting this is. It's such a different way of life and existence than the one I know. I really can't do it justice... time to call it a night.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 4

5/23/2011

It's almost lunch time on day 2 of our hike. Enrique, our cook, is surely churning out another masterpiece. Yesterday we had asparagus soup and lomo saltado for lunch. Dinner was chicken noodle soup from scratch (probably the best chicken noodle I've ever had) and rice + chicken. Dessert was Mazamorra... simple but delicious. Immediately after dinner we went to bed, with a strong rain outside that lasted most of the night. I had a hard time getting to sleep because my heart was racing... I thought it was because of all the coca tea, but maybe it was altitude. At roughly 5am this morning we woke up. The rain at camp was snow higher up, so we saw the surrounding peaks in a different way, which was neat. Getting to our campsight on day 1 is also quite the story...

We woke up yesterday before 5 and were picked up by a van to leave Cuzco. I wish there had been time to take pictures along the way. Heading north out of town, the city is built onto the sides of cliffs nobody would try to build homes on in the States. Out of town, we began to descend and saw locals running, working, even playing volleyball... at 5:30 on a Saturday morning! Winding our way down the valley it began to become apparent the scale of the terrain was like nothing I've ever seen. Rivers have carved out relief here the likes of which simply don't exist in the lower 48. Hillsides so steep they wouldn't be farmed in the US were bursting with produce. When creeks joined and turned into a river, we turned onto a dirt road and ascended to Mollepata, where we had breakfast and I had the pleasure of using a seatless toilet (also lacking TP or paper towel, which seems to be the norm). After breakfast we hopped in a truck for 30 minutes to the start of our trek. The driver and I saw a gato salvaje run across the road... 25 pounds, looked like a leopard. We basically hiked the road to Salkantaypampa, but I enjoyed the experience. (After today's hike, I'm glad we started easy; we're all sore.) The day's hike was basically following a drainage to its source, stopping halfway for lunch. The magnitude of relief from river to surrounding peaks is unmatched outside of Alaska in the US. Literally thousands of feet above the river was the road, and the peaks higher still. We got to camp a few minutes after passing the Mountain Lodge House, which was waaaay out of place in its surroundings.... the Vail of the Salkantay trek. With hot showers even. Anyways, we got to camp with a stunning backdrop. A peak whose name I now forget was dominated by a massive glacier on its south face. I've never seen anything like it. Saulo, our guide, said he's seen it shrink dramatically even in 5 years... sad.

This morning Enrique served me coca tea in bed as I woke up, then we had a pancake breakfast before starting the hike. It was nearly 7 miles to our lunch site, which involved about 700 meters of climbing. Shelly, Tony and I all hiked well, and even ended up passing (nearly or ) all groups who started before us. Many people needed to actually ride horses to get to our highest point, over 15,000' - a new altitude record for us. Once again, it's difficult to find words for how big these mountains are. Unfortunately, Salkantay (and us) was shrouded in clouds, so we only caught glimpses of the glaciers on its side, but based on the enormous alluvial fans, house-sized boulders in the glacier's channels, and the booming avalanches around us, it was clear there was a "wild mountain" 5000' above us even from the high pass.

After stopping only briefly for photos and an Inka coca leaf ceremony to thank Salkantay or safe passage (we each buried 3 leaves under a rock; 1 for the world of gods above, 1 for the human world, and 1 for the underworld where humans passed to), we descended. It was still very cold and drizzly until we stopped for lunch. Clouds rose up valley (from where we were headed and are now), but when they broke, you could see massive glaciers above us.

It seems I need to get used to immediate and dramatic changes on this trip, because right after lunch we found ourselves in a dense jungle. In a single day we passed through fresh snow, cloudy grassy highland reminding me of Scotland or New Zealand, and finally to jungle with orchids and bamboo lining the trail. It is currently the dry season but water is everywhere, cascading enormous and incredibly steep mountains.

I almost don't want to try to write about my current location, because words will fall short. We're on the precipice above the convergence of 3 rivers which apparently form one. The gorge below is almost like an inverted pyramid, which steep peaks on all sides rising from the water. The first 2 rivers form a Y, then another branch comes in before flowing on as a continuous stretch of rapids for miles. Upon our arrival at camp, close to sunset, the cutest little girl (Marina) walked up to me and started playing with my camera. I taught her how to turn it on and how to shoot. She had seen a camera before but didn't know how to work mine. Then she wanted to know how all the buckles and straps worked on my pack. When that got old (i.e. she discovered the candy we brought for this exact event in my pack), she put on a somersault / spin / jump show for me. Adorable. I'm glad my Spanish has improved because I'm sure she doesn't speak English. I doubt anybody in this village does.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 2

5/21/2011

Saturday night in Cuzco. This navel city is hard to describe. I feel like you could stay here 2 weeks and not have seen much... or had the time to properly digest your surroundings at least. Let me first catch up on yesterday.

Yesterday

After finishing writing yesterday's installment, we ate a fairly simple breakfast, took fairly adventurous showers (the water temperature was constantly in flux), and ventured out into our new surroundings in daylight... still gray as can be, but daylight Lima style nonetheless. Our first stop was the Inka Market, and we were not disappointed. Most of the people were selling fairly similar items, but there were definitely stands with unique items. It was fun chatting to the vendors and getting a glimpse into what Cuzco might have in store for us. All the people were amicable and the prices reasonable. For lunch we took an amazingly cheap cab to an expensive but outstanding cebichería called Pescados Capitales. It came highly recommended from our cab driver the night before... we were not disappointed. Local elite businessmen and women (nice watches, make-up, expensive purses, new phones...) dined all around us. The food was incredible and it was clear our trip was off to a fantastic start. After lunch we decided to head to the ocean and catch a glimpse of the Pacific. We wandered south through a string of parks that eventually led us to Larcomar, a mall with apparently some of the finest shopping in all of Peru. I admit to being disappointed to see chain restaurants and hotels from the US in the area, but there was enough local flare to keep it interesting. The parks were more enjoyable though... the perfect way to spend a relaxing day in Lima.

As sunset (what sun?) approached, we headed back towards home base to drop off bags and get ready for our flight to Cuzco in the morning. We had an incident where we couldn't print our boarding passes after being checked in online by the Star Perú office (not to mention only receiving 1 of the 3 boarding passes via email), so we thankfully were able to drop in again and get everything sorted out before they closed. Afterwards, we walked the Kennedy Park area and had a drink or two at a Cuban bar. We were the first in the bar, but by the time we left the place was packed. Instead of eating there, we went to a very nice restaurant closer to Larcomar for a late dinner and then walked back to the hotel for an early flight across the Andes.

Lima, at least Miraflores, is very nice. If all of Lima were like this, it would be way better than people give it credit.

Today

In short, yesterday was a relaxing scene from any city in the developed world. Today, however, was uniquely Peruvian in every sense. This, dear friends, is another world. It was obvious from the minute we sat down in our cab and left the airport. The streets are different... the people are different... the food is different... If wealthy Miraflores in Lima is your only frame of reference for defining Perú, you would not be faulted for questioning whether this were even still Perú. I believe, however, that this is more the Peruvian norm. Speaking specifically of the Quechua women in town, I think even the average Limeñan would have a difficult time finding common ground. This is definitely not Kansas, Toto. Cuzco is a very old town; even the current buildings (built on top of Inka stonework) are centuries old. The topography kind of reminds me of San Francisco orMontmartre in Paris. But again, they're not very similar beyond that. Lots of things are very small here. The streets are steep and narrow. The people are short - the beds are too. The cars are tiny... Anyways, you just basically need to see it for yourself.

We flew into Cuzco early. The Andes are truly stunning from above. Our flight was uneventful and calm; it was just nice to see the sun again. As mentioned above, it was obvious from the start that Cuzco had very little in common with Lima. As our taxi passed the San Pedro market, we knew where we had to go as soon as we got settled in. After unloading at Renacimiento and drinking a cup of mate de coca, we headed down to the Plaza de Armas en route to lunch only to discover the Plaza is no place to lollygag. It is full of people desperate to sell art, shine shoes, or solicit donations from tourists in a feverish and horribly annoying way. It was one of our first glimpses into "the opposite end of the spectrum" if you will. Tourist police were arresting solicitors for bothering tourists as we walked past. I felt accosted but didn't think it necessarily warranted jail time... sad. We left the plaza for a light lunch and were serenaded by a mobile Trident commercial; a guy singing Oasis, Coldplay and Guns 'n' Roses songs while playing guitar on the sidewalk. I definitely did not fly thousands of miles to hear 20-year-old Patience (which is apparently making a comeback as a trance/pop song in Lima), but I guess that's one interpretation of good ol' gringo marketing in South America.

After lunch we had to make a quick stop back at the hotel for our trek introduction and to finalize payment. What should have been a 15 minute simple introduction, "see you at 5:15am..." and exchange of money turned into a painful event lasting at least an hour and a half. There was confusion over how much we had already paid, how much we had left to pay, and how many days we wanted to spend on the hike. The conversation went something like:

Them: Ok, we have you down for 4 days/ 3 nights

Us: No, we want to do 5 days/ 4 nights

Them: Ok, that will be $70 more per person than the 4d/3n

Us: No, you already told us it was only $40 more per person for the extra day. Here is the email that says so.

Them: You have paid $190 per person so far.

Us: This PayPal receipt says $615, not $570.

Them: You paid half of the 4 days/ 3 nights trip, for 3 people; $190.

Us: What is this extra $45 for, then?

Them: Let me call the office.

Us: How can you possibly have this wrong? We emailed back and forth 10 times about this already. Look at this email.

...repeat...

When we finally did agree on a duration and balance due, all of use were beyond frustrated. With the end of this torture in sight, we began unloading a massive pile of twenty dollar bills onto a table for counting, assuming the worst was behind us. The lady accepting payment then starting making a separate pile of rejected $20... and I about lost it. She told us she couldn't accept those bills (that we had withdrawn from an ATM just down the hill) because she couldn't exchange them if they weren't perfect. The slightest fold, tear, or writing on a bill earned it a place in the rejected pile. We literally had zero remaining "perfect" $20's remaining when she was done, despite pulling out more than enough money beforehand. I have since discovered this is a Peruvian norm... and a horrible, horrible experience to have to go through. Honestly, this experience (repeated multiple times throughout the trip) became the single most infuriating part of any vacation I've ever been on. Let this be your warning, fellow Peruvian traveler.

With the trek debacle behind us, we walked back to the San Pedro market and apparently passed through a black hole en route... that place is an alter universe. You can find anything from handwoven clothing to fruits I'd never seen before to sculptures and wood carvings to cheeses, chocolates or candies, to a full on butchery with a turn down any aisle. The meat displays would not fly in the US for sure; entire pigs gutted and ready to cook, cuts of beef sitting out in the open air with flies flying around, whole chickens with their throats slit piled up on top of each other, pig heads and cow noses with hair on and teeth still in... and every vendor is a humble and kind 4 ft tall woman with the exact same wardrobe as the next. I probably looked shell-shocked to people who saw me... at a loss for words. I wanted to take pictures to record the memory but found myself unable to out of respect for the vendors. I'm sure they're used to it but I felt bad when I initially reached for my camera so I just put it away.

[

Market photos from other folks:

http://www.tonyrogers.com/images/2009_peru/index_sanpedro.htm

http://crashwilliams.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/the-other-side-of-cuzco/

]

We bought some fruit and coca candy for the hike. After the market, we headed towards the Plaza San Blas area and were the first ones to sit down for dinner at Pacha Papa. Eureka! Before we left, the restaurant had filled up completely (same as the Cuban bar), and for good reason. The meal was terrific. I had lomo saltado for the first time as well as an appetizer made of various (grassy!) cheeses and several kinds of potatoes I'd never seen before. Tony had alpaca anticuchos... we all ate very well.

Anyways, to sum this chaos up, yesterday was great in its own way, today was too, and tomorrow starts 5 days of a totally different experience. 3 very contrasting days. Today was probably the most I've ever stepped away from my everyday culture, but in a good and inviting way. It was beautiful yet uncomfortable, frustrating yet outstanding, exciting yet sad... the prototypical Latin American day as I've been told.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 1

5/20/2011

3 months ago to the day I was skiing Steamboat. Suffice it to say I'm not in Steamboat today, nor will there be any snow. The trip began yesterday when I boarded DIA>IAH headed south... more south than ever before. I took a window seat after the middle seat had been taken, and it was clear the woman in the middle was nervous about her English. I hadn't heard her speak yet (instead of standing up and getting out of the seat to let me pass, she just pulled her legs up into the seat) so I couldn't place her. When she said she was from Bogotá I switched to Spanish, and a weight lifted for her. Me too... somebody new to test my Spanish on. We spoke the majority of the 2 hour flight. She is a traveling brand manager for pharmaceutical items and had been to a lot of various places but never in the US before. The funniest part of our conversation was her asking me what elk were called; "They look like Bambi and are café all over except for their white butts..." (in Spanish). I was happy to have had a bit more Spanish practice with a stranger before getting to Peru.

Shelly and I sat together from Houston to Lima. After about 45 minutes out the window below us came the familiar site of thousands of 20,000' Cumulonimbus calvus clouds, which I've only ever seen form over warm, tropical water. I actually felt for a minute that we should just land and stay in Central America. Costa Rica to be exact... I really love that country, and I had just been thinking of how lucky I am to live in Boulder when this happened... thinking of running 6 miles the day before on the Mesa Trail in the rain. Anyways, I saw the clouds, and below them a beach. Then, halfway, dry and untrammeled mountains... almost void of any human imprint. Nicaragua? Later lots of stars, then a very large city. Quito? 45 minutes later we landed. The Lima airport is huge.

One of my bottles of hand sanitizer exploded while my backpack was transported as checked luggage... my pack was a bit wet, but no worries. Our hotel in Lima is very nice. Our room is on the top floor with a rooftop terrace outside. I believe if the skies were clearer (so you could see) and/or the air didn't smell of dank rotting fish, it would get a lot of use. Aside from the overwhelming fish smell, I believe you could probably place this setting in any big city in Latin America. The driving/honking, buildings, humidity, noises, etc. are very similar to San José, CR, at least. Last night we got settled in and then walked for a drink. We must stand out a lot because every empty taxi that drove by slowed down or honked at us; fairly annoying. 1 round of pisco later it was after 1am so we walked home. That scene sets this apart from San José: 1am and large groups of old men playing chess on public picnic tables with chess boards tiled into the table... 1am and people just sitting down for full-sized dinner. Miraflores stays up really late.

This is the warmest 65 degrees I've ever felt. It is unbelievably humid here. So far so good though. I believe things will get interesting after breakfast.

2010-2011 ski season coming to a close

Today was my 17th day on skis this season, and a 100% throwback to 4/12/08. I was truly stunned at how good the snow was today. It was almost the exact more-than-happy feeling and satisfaction as it was 3 years ago. Clearly my passion for skiing has not faded... I'm still not the world's best, but it has grown on me way more than I ever expected it to upon first moving to the mountains.

It wasn't just the snow that was good, though. I don't mean to brag, but I skied fantastic today. I don't know if it was the condition of the snow, what I had for breakfast, or some other magical component, but I skied really really well today. I turned when I wanted to, I skied way faster than usual (I'm a slow skier), I skied for longer without tiring, I jumped off of lots of things... it was just easy play. You hear about people in other sports that have days or games where it just feels simple. Jon Diebler's game against Penn State this year where he made 10 3-pointers, he said it was like shooting the ball at the ocean instead of a tiny hoop. Today kinda felt like that for me.

I started off with a quick warm-up lap down low and found some really nice fresh skiers left of straight down the Challenger chair. It's always really nice in there. Then I decided to head a bit higher up, so I headed towards Sunnyside chair and eventually up to the Panoramic Express. It was cloudy with fairly flat light up top, but the Pano chair did not disappoint. I did several laps up there... the terrain isn't very steep so I went faster than usual. At one point I was heading down and found myself charging, full of adrenaline, and going so fast that I realized sharp turns to check my speed would cause a crash, so I rode out the speed through a bit of chop in really wide turns until it fanned out. I stopped to rest my legs when things flattened out only to notice the trees were untracked, so I headed in. Parsenn Bowl was busy but I was alone in the trees with boot deep fresh all to myself. Closing day! I was really happy with the discovery so came back for another lap before heading up Sunnyside again after visibility became too poor to continue all the way up. I headed for the trees between Columbine and Bluebell and found more jackpot there. I wasn't the only one to have spotted the goods, but I was the only one in there on both my laps. I'd never skied in there before but am happy I have a new spot to explore next year. The pitch is nice and the trees are spaced out well... you have to watch out for a few big drops though, so keep your speed low until you are familiar with it. After a couple laps there I decided to head to a section of cliffs/chutes that I'd seen but never been, skiers way left through the trees of Roundhouse on the way to Corona. I found very different snow in there.... and tough navigating through big drops. I also found what may be the biggest tree in all of Mary Jane. The cliffs yield some really nice views to the northeast toward the continental divide. The more you ski in the more solitude you find. Once again, I was all by myself in there. I know it's not very wise, but I seem to enjoy skiing alone more... I don't know why. After two runs there, each of which required a skate all the way back down to the base, I realized it was getting a bit soft and bitey at the bottom, so it was nearing time to call it a day. It was still snowing hard over the whole mountain, but the snow was getting heavier and stickier... I knew either a run to explore more new ground or a Trestle closer was in order.

I remembered closing my Super Pass season with a run down Trestle feeling as fitting as a great Squirming Coil to end a Phish show... Today's last run down I had hopes of finding the mythical Topher's Trees. A friend told me how to get there, which I won't share with you :), but I've seen the plaque and now know the way, so you can be sure I'll be there next year. While I didn't quite make it all the way to Topher's secret stash which is now legendary, I was in completely uncharted territory (in MJ, for me, at least) which turned out to be pure bliss. At one point about half way down from the chair to the car, I stopped to catch my breath and admire the solitude. I mistakenly stopped about 10 feet above a guy apparently doing the same thing. He looked at me with a completely content grin on his face. "Pretty nice, huh?" was all he said. I think we were both beside ourselves. All I could do was nod, "Yup." The trees reminded me almost exactly of a run at Silverton from a month ago.... the same pitch, the same spacing, the same feeling... it was eerie. But fantastic. I truly could not have been happier with the day.

I love how big Mary Jane feels. You see tons of cars in the parking lot but it's easy to get away from everybody on your own track through the trees. I'll go ahead and say now that in hopes of history repeating itself again, you can bet that I'll be at The Jane on Closing Saturday of 2014. From my Topher's exploration, I skied Corona all the way to the Jeep, unclicked as I opened the door, and headed home with another season in the history books.

A breakdown of my days at resorts this season:

• 1 day at Telluride and Powderhorn
• 2 days at Steamboat, Silverton and Loveland
• 4 days at Copper
• 5 days at Winter Park

Silverton deserves a full write-up here as well, but time will tell if I get to that. In closing I'll say this, though. On our run on Rope Dee Dope 2, I was completely filled with a total euphoric feeling of content and satisfaction. I remember audibly thanking God for giving me the physical ability to be able to do what I was doing in the present moment. At the bottom, I looked up and tried to freeze the view into memory by staring up at the run for a long time before heading to the cat track and the bus waiting to take us up on another glorious run. That was, to date, the best and most rewarding run of my life. I really can't forget that feeling and hope I make it to Terrapin Station again real soon.

Inside Job film

I know I'm long overdue on updates here, and have many things to write, but am especially compelled right now to try to tell everybody I can to see the film Inside Job. I try to not use the word "terrorism" lightly, but this film effectively proves that Wall Street is a virus or welcomed terrorist organization to our government and the global economy.

Inside Job is a documentary about the 2008 global economic crisis that was caused by only a few dozen men who today, amazingly, find themselves largely still with the power to cause another identical crisis without repercussion. These coked-out stripper-fanatics find themselves rich beyond belief, in positions of great power, and I would assume with the same mindset that they're too big to fail or can't be blamed for whatever actions they take to gain more power or wealth. They're employed by our government and shaping it to their liking (i.e. rewriting tax laws and deregulating to bend rules). Even today, these douche-bags are speaking out to encourage Congress to allow us to exceed our 14.3 TRILLION dollar debt ceiling... I'm wondering if we shouldn't just call it quits, allow the US to default on its treasury obligations and start the civil war which would inevitably allow Canada to invade (most likely scenario, right?). They have raped the average American citizen of their taxes and income, diluted the ability of this once great nation to educate its youth, pave its streets and prosper. They're still employed on Wall Street and are even heads of America's finest universities. They drove companies into bankruptcy and walked away with millions only to became contracted advisors to those same companies to the tune of one million dollars a month... these are companies which the American taxpayer now sadly owns because they were too big to fail.

Narrated by Matt Damon, the film clearly explains what happened, how, and why... and presents the explanation that this same thing can and will happen again unless major change is brought about. I don't like to think of myself as an alarmist or extremist, but over the last several years I have come to wonder whether the United States isn't destined for implosion in the very near future. Our education system is deplorable. Our national debt is unfathomable. Our collective concern is minimal. It seems more and more that we're heading in that direction. In short, this country is up shit creek. I used to think that apathy and ignorance were the two greatest fatal flaws in this country, but now I wonder if Wall St. greed isn't actually #1 on that short list.

There are popular films about corporate greed such as Fun with Dick and Jane which aren't alarmist or concerning, and there are plenty of documentaries about corporate greed (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is also good) to leave you want for a bomb, a CEO's address, and some spare time, but this has to be the most rational and best one I've seen. I would honestly argue it should be required viewing for all United States citizens and registered voters. I should stop now or risk getting thrown in jail, but for more info you can also check out the NY Times review of the same film: http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/movies/08inside.html. Seriously, watch the film.

2010-2011 ski season in full swing

I started this ski season off slowly, with only 3 days in December; day 1 on tele's at Winter Park, day 2 at Copper on my alpines for a great powder day that completely worked my legs (my first in my new alpine boots.. more on that later), and day 3 back at Winter Park splitting equal time on alpine and tele.

I started on tele because early season snow conditions didn't provide any reason to go on my alpines, but primarily I didn't want to ski another day in my old alpine boots. I still have them, but I made the decision to fork over the cash and move on to try to progress my alpine skiing this season in stiffer boots that actually fit me. I had read and been told that boots are the most important piece of ski gear to get right, and I now have first hand experience with that as well. All last season I was constantly adjusting my boots... tightening to try and stiffen them up to react, and then un-tightening because of lack of blood flow to my feet... and it was horrible. Simply put, my first pair of ski boots didn't fit me well and were too soft for what I was asking of them. My latest pair of boots (so far) could not be further from that situation. They're extremely stiff and responsive, and require almost no adjustment during an entire day on the slopes. Having boots that actually drive my skis is obviously critical, but I don't think I realized what a difference it would make. It has unquestionably improved my skiing. I now, for really the first time, understand how to drive my skis - steering with flexed ankles and knees instead of torso or quad muscles. And it is really wonderful. I feel like I've ranted about that long enough, but honestly, I feel like this year is way ahead of last year already by making a simple equipment change which I probably should have made early last season.

Despite having 3 nice days, I really didn't feel like I was off to a good start, and something was missing. Welcome January. January has been truly outstanding in terms of skiing (I've skied 4 of the last 16 days) and I can't wait to see how the rest of the season turns out. The first of my 4 days this month was a really nice bump day at Mary Jane... a good endurance test, if you will... lap after lap with no breaks and variable snow conditions. The next 2 were great powder days at Copper. This year has really reopened my eyes to what a great mountain Copper is. The first included walking from the cat ski pickup to the top of Tucker Mountain (sounds insane and probably is) when one of the cats was broken down... another great endurance test, but highly rewarding. The 2nd was a Wednesday PTO day that was hands down the nicest snow I've skied in Summit County across all 4 seasons I've been skiing here. Notes to self: Tucker Mountain, everything off the Mountain Chief lift, Union Meadows, Gold digger trees...

The snow this Wednesday, however, was trumped today, by the lighter variety Brian and I found all day long at Loveland. [Based on how great days have been trumped so far this season, I fully expect to be skiing waist deep Steamboat champagne in February. Time will tell. Anyways... ] We really seemed to hit the jackpot. Even the runs that were intended more as traverses yielded some of the most blissful turns of my short skiing career. Loveland being Loveland, it was windy as can be and there were some really variable / rock hard patches, but overall the snow was phenomenal. We had 3 great runs on The Ridge, very nice deep freshies in glades on several runs, and clear blue skies to boot. Today's snow and conditions are exactly why people fall in love with skiing.

I feel like each day out I get a bit more confident, and today helped a lot with that. I think I'm getting better at recognizing snow conditions and adjusting my form for powder, crud, hard pack, etc. I know my cycling over the summer has helped my legs and cardio conditioning, so I must keep up with that this spring/summer/fall. My legs are requiring fewer stops to recover and I'm keeping up with my peers. I'm still not good at jumping cornices or dropping in on steep descents, but I'm working on that. I actually for the first time feel like a fairly solid (not great, but very capable) skier. Long story short, I'm really psyched about how this season has gone, and am excited for the 2nd half.