Home

Over the last 18 months, the word 'home' has gained new meaning to us. There were times, with tears in our eyes, we said, "I just wish I was home." The idea of home - some warm, safe place - was the antithesis of where we were, and at that moment, the only thing we wanted. In sickness, fear, cold, discomfort, fatigue and loneliness, we needed 'home'.

Of course, having sold our house, we had no 'home'. The closest things we had to home was our tent, our car, our families' homes. All left us wanting.

We also missed the societal contribution our careers provided us. Strange that the very jobs, in which we searched for meaning, were the very things we missed due to a contribution we hadn't realized we had made. Work really did mean something; it really did have meaning in the world.

And alas, the baby bug found us. Our nephew, Blue, found a special place in our heart, and the more time we spent with him, the more we realized that we were ready to expand our family. And certainly, a baby wouldn't be very happy on a lumpy straw bed, sharing a bathroom with who-knows-who, walking down the road for drinking water, eating salmonella-on-a-bun.

Okay fine, so where are we now? As we readied ourselves for our Asia tour, I started re-connecting with my work network. It became obvious very quickly that the job market in Austin is much, much better than the market in Denver. The opportunities were ten times greater in Austin than in Denver, and to top it off, we have family here. My sister and brother-in-law moved from New York to Austin a few months ago, and of course Ana's family is an hour north, so Austin has that going for it.

In the end, we realized how right Austin is for us. Will we miss Denver, the mountains, Colorado weather, a lack of red necks? You bet, but we'll be able to deal with it, especially with a few winter trips each year. I took a Product Manager job with my old company, Motive; Ana took a Consultant job with Works, which is a software subsidiary of Bank of America. We rushed to Denver, grabbed a few things, drove to Austin, and moved into an apartment.

So it's done. The Trip of a Lifetime comes to an end. God, it's been an incredible voyage, and truly a life-changing event. It is still amazing to us that we were able to do it. As we celebrate Thanksgiving next week, I know the holiday will mean much more to us than it has in the past. We are thankful for our opportunities, the ability to work and contribute to the world, to the experiences we've been given, and simply to our own bed, our lives, and to 'home'.

Angkor Wat and the Killing Field - Cambodia

Angkor Wat is the world's largest religious structure. It was amazing to see it and know that it was real. It looks like something straight out of the Archeology/Action/Adventure movie genre... and, well, it actually is! It was featured in one of the Tomb Raider movies.

We recommend Angkor Wat and it's surrounding temples to anyone up for the adventure. We hired a Tuk Tuk driver for the day, and he tuk-tuked us from temple to temple. (Tuk tuks are essentially mopeds with a 2-passenger trailer.) There were some STEEP stairs with steps just big enough to barely fit your foot sideways, but you can choose to go up or not and still see most of the temples. It's not as bad as Machu Picchu, where you HAVE to go up and down ALL the stairs just to see anything, and the stairs you do have to climb at Angkor Wat are typically western-style stairs.

From the Angkor Wat area, we took the boat to Phnom Penh, which was really nice, and was an interesting way to see the country. You pass through a huge lake reminiscent of Lake Titicaca, and then go down a winding river through many floating villages. The boat was one of the smoothest boats I've been on, rivaling even some huge ocean-going trimarans.

Phnom Penh was more like my preconceived, pre-trip image of Asia. It's seedy, smoggy, bustling, busy, and sadly full of "massage parlors" and people with soul-less eyes, vending their wares. The roads were bad, the streets were dirty, and people can't drive.

In fact, as far as I can tell, people from Phnom Penh are the worst drivers on earth. I remember thinking Romans were bad drivers, since they ignored the lane lines and liked driving on the sidewalks. Then I went to Peru, which was worse. Then I went to China, and came to a new realization of how bad driving could be. In 1976, there were only 20 cars in Beijing, now there are millions, so some drivers (but certainly not all) just have no idea what they are doing. But Phnom Penh? Oh Lord, it's terrifying. I simply couldn't count how many near accidents we were in, or how many pot holes can be found along the highway to the main tourist attraction, the Killing Fields. Seeing accidents there is a daily occurrence. Of course, there is the standard badness: forget about looking in mirrors, signaling your intent or defensive driving of any sort. In Phnom Penh, the standard hand position is slightly different than most places. Certainly not "ten o'clock and two o'clock" as American Driver's Ed graduates have heard. No, in Phnom Penh, you have one hand at 9 o'clock, with one thumb on the horn. The thumb is absolutely vital because without lanes, the only way to pass someone is to honk, letting them know you are beside and slightly behind them. It's similar in style to China or Peru, but used more often, primarily because it is relied upon so heavily. And, as in Argentina, Peru and plenty of other places, there are very, very few Stop signs. The rules of the road are simple: 1) first car to the intersection wins 2) if you stop first, forget about rule number one, you still lose 3) if you are driving a significantly larger or more dangerous-looking vehicle, you win no matter what. And the thing that makes Cambodia the worst is that there are no lines. I mean, in Peru, Italy and China, at least they paint lanes, even if they are ignored. Not so in Phnom Penh. Oh sure, there is one yellow line, supposedly indicating the division between oncoming directions, but certainly not lines for lanes going in the same direction. Even the yellow dividing line is ignored, and I don't mean slightly ignored; I mean if you are turning left, for example, you huck your vehicle into oncoming traffic about 3/4 of a block ahead of the turn and ease over to the left as oncoming traffic (usually) swerves out of the way to avoid you. Now, I'm not just talking about, say, a large bus plowing through a sea of motorcycles, assuming the bikes will get out of the way out of shear terror. I'm talking about people doing just the opposite! Motorcycles will hurl their soon-to-be-corpses in front of an oncoming semi, and miraculously the semis (usually) veer away. It's just nuts. And we rode in a tuk tuk, which is a moped dragging a 2-passenger trailer, a la rickshaw!

Anyway, back to Phnom Penh. The "Killing Fields" (made famous by the movie of the same name) are located there, and we visited them. It was one of the most gut-wrenching things I've ever done. In the 1970's there were thousands of men, women and children (including babies) tortured, executed and buried in mass graves there, as part of a genocide that ended in the death of more than three million people. Most, but not all of the graves were exhumed. As we walked through the grounds, it was just IMPOSSIBLE to not step on the bones and clothes protruding from the ground, and we were on the designated pathway. Fragments of skull, femurs, tibias and humorous bones were evident everywhere, as were the remnants of the victims' clothing. And I don't mean just in the graves (pits) -- their remains were simply strewn all over the area near the graves. The skulls of the exhumed victims were places in a Buddhist stupa, and are on display there, as are some of their clothes. It made us both physically ill. The memorial was built to remember the victims, as well as the horrific ways of the government from that time.

The Cambodian government also turned the main political prison, S-21, into a museum. The museum is well done, given the resources Cambodia has to devote to it. They have not significantly changed the structure or its contents, other than to add documentation, photos, and exhibits in some of the group detention cells. Most of the individual cells were "discovered" with the remains of the last occupant still there. The jailers killed them before they abandoned the prison. The photos of the remains are on display of their respective walls, and the rooms are basically the same as they were in the pictures, complete with the beds, leg irons, and in some cases, the beating implement (they were usually beaten to death, not shot). There are also quite a few other displays, including torture chambers, and bios of jailers, victims, and survivors.

It's disturbing seeing -- and even treading upon -- human remains like that. It certainly made me realize deeply that it happened during my lifetime. There was a picture of a prisoner and her 2-3 month old baby (prisoners were fully documented at check-in) dated May 13, 1978. Ana would be the exact same age as that baby.

After Cambodia, we headed back to Thailand, hoping for better times. But of course there was a military coup on our planned date of departure. But strangely, it worked out well for us. We had no idea what had happened. (We didn't get CNN at our $10 per night hotel.) So as we were driven to the airport, we were incredulous at the sparse traffic: "Why is NOBODY driving right now? It's early, but it's not THAT early." We hopped on our plane and were none the wiser until we landed in Chicago and found out what had happened. Kind of an appropriate way to end the trip.

I Drank Pee from a Buddhist Monk

Before I even get started, let me state it was an accident! Now, on with the story...

Yesterday, Ana and I returned to Bangkok from Krabi, a beach resort near Phuket. Krabi was nice: we snorkeled, sun bathed, rock climbed, drank fruity drinks and had a wonderful sunset dinner on a deserted island. But I digress.

We arranged for a driver to pick us up as soon as we returned to Bangkok so we could tour the province of Kanchanaburi, near the Burma border. On the tour, we saw the bridge over the river Kwai, a WWII memorial cemetery, a beautiful Buddhist temple located in a cave, and most exciting: the Tiger Temple.

The Tiger Temple is a Buddhist monastery, whose purpose is to rescue injured, abandoned, orphaned or otherwise endangered animals. We watched a documentary about this place and heard good things from our friends Troy and Shelly, so we wanted to go. The refuge began with several birds, followed by boars and deer, and others. Finally in February 1999, a tiger cub was brought to the monastery. She was extremely sick because her mother was killed by poachers when she was very young. The monastery got a reputation for housing tigers, and more and more were brought there. These days, the monks and some staff take care of the tigers, deer, peacocks, deer, buffalo, bear, et al.

The visit was wonderful. We walked with the tigers on their daily pilgrimage from their cages to their daytime hang-out: a chalky canyon with a waterfall, aptly named Tiger Canyon. The tigers spend about five hours each day lounging next to bowls of ice water in Tiger Canyon. The monks and staff walk with impunity among the tigers, and so do tourists -- at least with relative impunity. The staff and monks hold tourists' hands and direct them very specifically as they walk through the canyon, ensuring the tourists safety (in theory, anyway).

The tigers are usually calm and accepting of the tourists, and only occasionally act out. When they act somewhat aggressive, one of the monks will reprimand the tigers.

The monks took pictures of us as we walked among the tigers, and sat next to them. They also tried to get one tiger to put his head in our laps as we sat next to him. "What a great picture," they must have thought. My first go-around wasn't exactly smooth. The tiger got pretty aggressive, and growled, bore his teeth and swatted at us. The staff pulled me away from the tiger as a monk reprimanded him. I lost track of everything that was going on between the monk and the tiger, but there was some stern talking and prodding. I also recalled seeing a bottle of urine in the hand of the monk. Spraying urine in a tiger's face is considered a very extreme reprimand in tiger-speak (as well as human-speak, I guess).

After a few minutes, the staff brought me back to the tiger. I sat next him, and the monk placed his growling head back in my lap. He was fussy but accepted his new position. I was trembling inside but trying to remain calm outside -- something the monks told us would help ensure our safety. After a few moments, it occurred to me that the tiger's head was wet. He suddenly started the growling and swatting again, and his head hit mine as he reared back. The staff again pulled me away.

As I walked away from the tigers, I began to realize my shirt and face were sprinkled with liquid. "OH NO! I remember seeing URINE IN THAT BOTTLE! YUCK!" I thought, "I can't believe I have tiger piss on me." Suddenly a few thoughts sprouted:

1. It would be very hard to collect tiger pee.
   
2. Monk pee would be very easy to collect.
   
3. Urine is a territorial marker, and animals can smell the difference between each individuals' urine.
   
4. The monks would want to use their own urine -- rather than one of the tiger's -- to reprimand the tigers, because they would want to show them who the boss is.
   

So now I realize that I have a MONK'S urine on my shirt, not tiger's urine. Gross.

It was HOT yesterday, and I was really sweating, causing both a wet face and a parched throat. I REALLY needed some water after the ordeal, so when I got out of the canyon, I found a bottle of water. I licked my sweat-soaked lips before I drank and realized that the sweat tasted a little different than sweat usually tastes. A a bit more ... uh ... I'll call it tannic. Apparently my wet face wasn't just from sweat -- when the tiger hit my head with his head, he wiped some of the monk urine on my face. It then dripped into my mouth. Absolutely gross. I didn't tell Ana about it until after she went through the same experience, since I figured she had enough to think about without knowing about monk pee. As much crap as I've eaten (evidenced by countless intestinal woes), I guess a little monk pee won't kill me.

Three Weeks and Counting

Can you believe it, we only have three weeks left! We're back in the States after traveling through the Amazon and Venezuela. We've spent the last few days polishing our resumes and trying to get rid of some intestinal hitch hikers.

On Monday, we fly to Bangkok. We will tour Thailand, China, Cambodia and hopefully Vietnam over the next three weeks.

After that, it's back to the working world. Woo Hoo! It is surprising just how excited we are about returning to normalcy. Traveling can be pretty stressful, and starts to seem a lot like a job, complete with deadlines, negotiations, financial concerns, intelectual challenges, etc. It does not, however, bring with it any sense of security, safety, peace or relaxation. We miss having a home, contributing at work, being creative at work, and we miss our friends and family.

So soon enough, we should be back working, and enjoying the Good Life. Since most of my work contacts are in Austin, we might end up there, but we're trying in Denver as well. We'll keep you posted.

Amazon Adventures

In mid-July, we met a couple of our friends in Lima -- Mike and Karen. I knew Mike from high school, and we've both continued to be adventurous, so it wasn't terribly surprising we got together for some fun. It also isn't terribly surprising that when we did get together, we reverted to 18 year-olds schoolboys.

The four of us flew to Iquitos, Peru, which is the start of the Amazon River. Virtually all the water in this section of the Amazon comes from snow melt in the Andes, It kind of felt like completing a circle for me since we just left the mountains. From Iquitos, we headed down river, passing several towns and a few cities. Drug enforcement was TIGHT when we passed through Columbia into Brazil, and we were thoroughly searched several times, including surprise middle-of-the-night raids.

Once in Manaus, we organized a 4-day excursion into the rain forest. We were told the guide would teach us to make fire with sticks, we would make our own shelters from scratch, we wouldn't use plates or forks, medicine would come from the forest, our transport would be in dugout canoes, etc. It sounded like an incredible adventure, and it certainly was an adventure, though it was a bit more technologically advanced than they touted. In the end, we ate with spoons made from bamboo, used leaves as plates, fished for pyranha, swam with alligators, caught alligators with our hands, touched sloths, and slept in hammocks hung from vines.

We negotiated with the owner to include several bottles of cascaca (liquor), thinking it would last us the trip. But remember, Mike and I were acting like we were 18, and the two guides drank like fish, so we ended up having to "run to the local 7-11" to pick up some more after the first night. We ended up getting the guide so drunk, he passed out in a plate of chicken. Of course, that was after we all went swimming with the alligator pictured above!

Other than the alligators and crazy-diverse insects, the wildlife was disappointing. There really wasn't even substantial bird life in the area. We did see quite a few monkeys, and a sloth (pictured) but the animals just weren't as dense as they are further south in the Pantanal. It made me wonder if it has always been that way, or if human intervention has changed things.

From Manaus, we rode north in a bus, then hopped on a Cesna airplane to see Angel Falls, the highest waterfall on earth. The plane ride was all the more interesting since we passed TWO crashed planes as we flew. (The less-destroyed crash is pictured to the right) I'm glad we clean those up in the States, because seeing them certainly doesn't increase my faith in air travel.

After Angel Falls, we hoofed it to Margarita Island in the Carribean, north of Venezuela. On the island, we windsurfed, boogie boarded, and Mike did a bit of kiteboarding.

After a few days on the beach, I got bored. I wanted to experience a new culture -- that's what this trip was all about -- and had long dreamed of going to a certain carribean island run by an ailing communist dictator. But of course, going to Cuba is illegal, so why would I go there? I do have a friend who went, and he said it was a very interesting experience. When he went, something horrible went wrong due to the US trade embargo against Cuba, leaving him stranded. When that happened, his friends and family helped him immensely, and he owes them a debt of gratitude. The Cuban people were very friendly to him, and helped him out enormously. But anyway, I thought I'd include someone a picture I found from Cuba since we thought about going.

Out of the Mountains and into the Jungle

Last Alpine Climb (for a while anyway)

I just got down from my last climb here in Peru: Yannapaccha. I am surprised to be saying it, but I've climbed enough mountains for now.

Yannapaccha was a GREAT climb. The technical climbing was really enjoyable, and harder than anything we'd done so far at that altitude -- sixty degree ice for the last 500 feet, and plenty of 45 degree ice lower on the face. The weather could have been better, but the skies cleared on top.

I figured out how to attach my camera to my helmet, and I got the last 14 minutes of the climb on video. The video is huge (390 MB) and so we will have to wait to upload it until we hit the US again but it really shows the climbing environment better than all the other pictures combined. Mark and Ana give it Two Thumbs Up.

Ana's achilles tendons were totally swollen, so she had to stay in town. I climbed with a couple of Norwegians, who are doing a trip sponsored by the Norwegian military. They are former special forces, and are doing this to help with recruitment, apparently. Ana and I knew them from Huaraz, and spent a lot of time talking with them about climbing, so we figured out they would be good partners.

Amazon Jungle

Our friends Mike and Karen met us in Lima about a week ago. From there, we flew to Iquitos, the largest city on earth with no roads to or from it. (Everything gets there by plane or boat.) It was a really nice city, but we left fairly quickly. We road on a 60-foot river boat for 4 days with about 200 other people, most of whom stayed in hammocks. Luckily, we were able to pay $45 more and stay in a lockable, air conditioned cabin. The quarters were still very tight (the room was about the size of a normal closet), but nothing like the slave quarters in the hammock area, and we could lock up our gear. The sanitation on the boat was bad, and as a result we all got sick. Mike got it the worst, I was lucky and had the fewest effects. Mike's still fighting it off with the help of cipro, but it's not working terribly quickly.

Tomorrow, we're headed into the jungle. We should be there for 3 nights, four days, getting back late on the fourth day. We will sleep in a hostel the first night, camp the second night and sleep with some indigenous people in their hut the third night. Sounds like it will be an adventure -- even by our standards. No plates -- we use leaves instead. No matches -- we rub sticks together. No tents -- hammocks will be fine, thank you. (It makes me wonder if the monkeys will try to steal our gear.) Our mode of travel is dugout canoe and walking (in jaguar and black panther territory). We talked to an Irish couple who did a trip organized by the same man, and they had a wonderful experience, which bodes well for us.

Vallunaraju Climb

We climbed Vallunaraju, 18963 ft / 5780 m, early Thursday morning. What a treat! We had clear skies and great views. The high wind that has been sweeping through Huaraz (and the mountains) died down for the 24 hours we were on Vallunaraju. This is one of the closest mountains to Huaraz, and is another technically easy (but beautiful) climb.
We shared the mountain with one other group who also summited, which made it all the more fun. The weather was pretty harsh on Pisco, so we were very happy with the fact that we did not have to wear all of our layers on this climb. The other group on Vallunaraju was co-guided by a guy from Colorado, John, who lives here part time with his mountain biking business and whom we met last year. We also ran into a local friend from last year, Apu, on his way down with a client the day we were hiking to high camp. You expect to run into people you know in the mountains in Colorado, but in Peru? What a small world!
Look for more mountain adventures to come from Mark, but not me. Unfortunately, my achilles tendinitis has been getting worse with each climb, so it's to the backless-sandals and yoga for me! I would really like to go up one or two more mountains this trip, but I'm also satisfied with the good fortune that we have had with the two mountains we've attemped in the Cordillera Blanca this season. These are memories I will never forget.
For the Photo Journal Click Here.

Back in Peru - Pisco Climb

We're back in Peru, taking care of unfinished business. Since we got typhoid last time we were here, we weren't able to climb as many mountains in the Cordillera Blanca, so we came back to knock off a few more.

This trip started out well with a climb of Pasto Ruri (an easy, "practice mountain"), followed by a good acclimatization climb of Nevado Pisco (18,867 feet). Pisco was a really fun mountain with some very aesthetic crevasses and -- since it is located in the middle of the range -- some of the best views in the entire Cordillera Blanca. We started out from high camp at 1:45am with relatively clear skies, but that soon changed. The weather has been unusually unstable this year, and unfortunately we had awful weather on summit day. The wind chill was around twenty-five below, and visibility was about 50 feet due to clouds and blowing snow. We almost had to ditch our attempt 150 feet below the summit, because we just couldn't see where to go to cross through some crevasses. Fortunately, after waiting for more than 20 minutes, the clouds parted, and we were able to summit. Once on top, we had 5 minutes, when the clouds dropped below us, and we were able to take in the wonderful views of the range.

We'll spend a few days in Huaraz to rest and recover, and then plan to head back into the mountains to climb some more mountains. We've been able to catch up with old friends from last year, making our stay all the more enjoyable.

"Wait Wait - Don't Tell Me!" BryanQuiz #1

Question #1
After living without an income for a year, Ana decided to (a) play guitar for the spare change of stangers (b) perform her previously unknown folk-music talent at the Kerrville Folk Festival (b) test friend Ryan's guitar for quality, and later pawn it for cash.


Question #2
Mark (a) is rejoicing that he has found others like him in a communal tent settlement (b) has expanded our camp lodgings to include a kitchen tent, living room tent, reading room tent, yoga tent, ... (c) just sampled all the beverages you can (and can't) see behind him.


Question #3
Ana is (a) climbing away from the smell of her fellow camping companions (b) trying to find the bird's nest for that new recipe she found online (c) trying desperatly to get attention from her Mother.


Question #4
After much debate, Mark (a) took a break from waving down the cars at the rural NASCAR-equivilant race (b) decidedly had a case of the Vapors while enduring the blazing Texas heat (c) has decided to submit this as his publicity shot for PlayGirl magazine.

Thanks for playing our version of "Wait Wait - Don't Tell Me!" Don't forget to submit your answers via the Comments for this blog.

After puttering around the western part of North America for the last few months, we decided to head south of the border. We'll be back in Huaraz (Peru) for a month starting on Wednesday. After hiking and climbing mountains there, we'll head to the Amazon for a month. Beyond that, we have a two-month trip to Asia planned for September and October. November appears to be the "Return to Stability" transition period (and begining of job search), most likely to take place from Golden, Colorado.

Another Photo Journal

We forgot that nobody had seen the pictures from ice climbing in Cody and Canada, so we just posted a new (and vastly improved) photo journal on our photo page.

We also improved the other photo journal, so it has thumbnails now.

Ten Things We Learned from Living in a Tent for a Month

10. We stink ... at keeping up with pictures, so we're changing things up a bit. Check out our first Photo Journal, which will replace our old Photos page.

9. Field mice like to eat baseballs. We have no idea why.

8. Showers aren't a luxury, they're a necessity!

7. Wind drives us crazy. Literally, monkeys-on-crack bonkers.

6. We're winos, errr uh wine connoisseurs, and we're always in search of a good table wine at a reasonable price. We found THE table wine: Charles Shaw from Trader Joes! Known as "Two Buck Chuck" the wine drinks about like Yellow Tail, but costs $1.93! Seriously. I bought two cases. (for less than $50, I might add)

5. Gas costs $3.65 per gallon in the Mojave desert.

4. Campfires are social events.


3. Vegetarian meals rule. We haven't used ice at ALL to keep food cold. We only eat meat a couple of times per week. Otherwise, we're eating tacos with beans and soy filling (they taste EXACTLY like beef and bean tacos), tofu stir fry, Indian curries, nachos, pasta and pesto...

2. Half the world is scared of people with mo-hawks. The other half thinks they are funny.

1. You CAN bake a pizza on a camp stove! Check it out.

Here Comes the Sun!

What, you may wonder, does 2 1/2 months in the cold do to one's sanity? Well, Mark seemed to have the perfect response to that question as you can see here. Maybe a mohawk is his special way of shedding the heat of the desert sun, or maybe it will speed his ascent of the sandstone climbs, or maybe he is simply letting his hair UP now that we are on the most relaxing part of our trip.

After Yellowstone, we ended up in Canmore, Canada (near Banff). It was the most exhilerating and beautiful ice we have ever climbed! You can pick the type of approach you want (long alpine slog or drive-up-to-climb), what type of climb you want (1 pitch or 10). We're all about that, eh? We will definitely 'Take off to the Great White North' again sometime soon. (Right pic of Ana traversing to rappel from the Weeping Wall.)

After Canada we visited one of Mark's old schoolmates in Missoula, MO (thanks Creighton and Kimberly for the wonderful time!) and then headed south to attempt an early spring climb of Capital Peak (a Colorado 14er). We were winter-stormed-off the mountain on summit day. Still a beautiful hike, though. (Left pic of Mark in Johnson Canyon near Banff.)

That finished our winter weather, and we are now in Moab, Utah! We went mountain biking on the famous slick rock, and I decided that was a sport I'll let Mark contend with. :-D We've been climbing and hiking since then. Next, we're off to Zion, Red Rocks (near Vegas), Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon (in that order, if we decide to stick to the current plan). Anyone headed our way?!?! (Pic of Mark at the begining of his first official Aid climb, different from the Trad climbing he usually does.)

Rodeo Clowns in Yellowstone

We became Rodeo Clowns for a bison (a.k.a. buffalo) in Yellowstone National Park yesterday.

Our park ranger friend, Julie, invited us to Yellowstone for a private snowmobile tour around the park. We rented one snowmobile for Ana and me, and we headed out from the East Gate around 8:00 in the morning.

Almost immediately, we ran into a herd of bison that was headed by a juvenile male. The juvenile male, who we'll call Mr Angry Bison, didn't want us to pass. Julie stopped and told us, "Okay, this herd seems to be iritable. Stay really close to me, because if we have space between us, they will think we are surrounding them, like wolves. That's why they usually attack the first sled in the second group." My thoughts: "Well, okay, that's just #@)%* great. I guess, as the second snowmobile, I'm the 'first sled in the second group'."

Julie explained further, " I'm not sure what is going to happen, but be ready to gun the throttle, stop, or jump off your sled ... Jump away from the bison." At this point, I'm remembering a story my sister Stacy told me. The first year she worked in Yellowstone, she had to watch a training video. The video wasn't a beware-of-bears video; it wasn't a beware-of-wolves video. It was a beware-of-bison video. I remember her description of the video: a Hell's Angel biker got too close to a bison. The bison casually tossed him over a pine tree and landed him in the hospital. The bison exerted about as much effort as a dog scratching a flea.

So, as I soiled myself, we drove towards the herd again. At the exact moment we reached the middle of the herd, Julie stopped. Of course, not wanting to allow any space between us, I had been following Julie her pretty damn close. I barely stopped before slamming into the back of her.

Of course, Ana and I were then about 4 or 5 feet from a bison (the picture to the right is zoomed OUT as far as it would go), with several others only a bit further away. And since Julie is 0.00001 inches in front of us, we have no way to escape in case one charges. Luckily, the few-foot-away bison seemed to be pretty friendly, and after a few uncomforable moments, he started gnawing at the ground again.

However, the bison in front of Julie didn't seem to be very friendly, which of course is why she is stopped. He had trotted in front of her, cut her off, and stopped -- trying to establish his dominance, I guess. Great. She moved her snowmobile forward a few times, hoping to intimidate him into moving, which he finally did. As soon as he budged, she floored it. Meanwhile, I was still eyeing Mr Two-Feet-Away Bison (in my mind, he got closer), so I was a bit late hitting the gas. We also had a rental snowmobile, which wasn't exactly the speediest of sleds, so Julie is out of the herd in the blink of an eye, while Ana and I are sitting on a growling, vibrating piece of bison bait.

As we pass Mr Angry Bison (the bison in the picture on the left), he decides to show us a little PBR. (PBR stands for Pro Bull Riding for anyone who hasn't been to Texas.) Remember the bull fighters in rodeos? That's exactly what we looked like. Remember the bull ramming the bull fighter? That's exactly what the bison looked like. Luckily, our sled was as fast as your average bull fighter and got us out of the way of the gouging. Whew, 10 miles into the ride, and we've already been charged by my least favorite animal. Only 140 miles to go....

Fortunately, the rest of the day was much, much better. We saw wolves, otters, more bison (friendlier bison), coyotes, and TONS of geysers. In fact, we saw more big geysers going off than I'd seen collectively in the last 4 times I'd been to Yellowstone. We got back to the East Entrance a little after dark, and had a little snack before heading back "home" to Cody.

We're off to Glacier National Park in Montana, and then up to Canada (just northwest of Calgary).for a bit more ice climbing. Well, hopefully we'll make it to Canada. We don't have Ana's passport, so we're going to try to find a friendly Mountie, who might let us through...

I Took Two Women to Fredericks of Hollywood Yesterday...

I took two women (my wife and her friend Julie) to Fredeicks of Hollywood yesterday and expected things to go a little like this:

But it ended up like this:

Okay, so Fredericks of Hollywood is an ice climb in the South Fork. Unfortunately a rock smacked me in the head before I had my helmet on. It looks a lot worse than it is, and doesn't really even need stitches, so all's well. It was just kind of a funny thing to happen on such a nice- sounding climb.

PS to Edna: You don't have to smack me on the head for posting such a juvenile entry, since God did it for you. ;-)

Ice Climbing

Howdy from Cody, Wyoming. It's a balmy ZERO degrees outside but at least it's a "dry cold" (yeah, right). We rented a house here for the month, and plan to be ice climbing in the South Fork of the Shoshone, just southwest of town.

We started our ice climbing season about a month ago in Ouray, where we spent a week and a half. The ice was good, since they hadn't had much snow during the winter. We happened to be in Ouray during the Ice Festival, which is essentially the Super Bowl of ice climbing. We were able to see lots of our climbing heros, which was tons of fun. And even better, the huge crowd of people left the area RIGHT after the festival ended, so we had the ice all to ourselves. We saw a few friends while we were there: Eric from Rainier, Dawn from Cody, Kevin, Diane and Merideth from Denver and Kim from Ridgeway. It was lots of fun to see friends again.

Now we're here in Cody, where there is a higher concentration of frozen waterfalls than anywhere else in the continental US. It's truly amazing to see the number and quality of ice falls here. The "approaches" tend to be longish, but the climbing is worth it. (Approaches are the hikes to get to the climb.) We are expecting to see several of our friends here, too. Since we're playing house, maybe we'll have a house party! Ooh, fun.

Boda Mejicana!

Stacy Bryan (Mark's sister) and Paul Streckfus brought us to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, for a beautiful wedding celebration this month. Congratulations!

During our 10 days in Mexico, we visited with family and friends and got to know Paul's family. We went snorkeling, whale watching, and pool-side-lounging ... and pool-side-lounging ... and pool-side-lounging. Mark's cousins were our partners-in-lounging most days, and together we discovered a new level of fun in people watching. One day we watched a 31-year-old man instigate a "Who can imitate a Sea Otter in Captivity" competition with a group of people in the 1-foot-deep tanning pool. Oddly enough, he looked a lot like Mark, and the people playing along looked a lot like the rest of us...

We snorkeled from our tour boat near a rock outcropping, and saw puffer-fish, file fish, parrot fish, star fish, clown fish, sergeant majors, sea urchins, and much more. We were even stung by tiny jellyfish, although most of us didn't realize it until we were out of the water. Whale watching was amazing. We saw Humpbacks courting, which is a pretty violent display of aggression between males, but fascinating to those of us watching above water because we could see them breach, perform head slaps and tail slaps ... all the activity we could hope for! The guides put a Hydrophone into the ocean, and we heard the Humpbacks singing. It was a truly spiritual experience. I learned more than I expected, like the fact that Orcas (Killer Whales) are really dolphins!

The wedding was on an island called Las Caletas. The ceremony was unique and beautiful, just like the bride. After a candle-lit dinner, Stacy and Paul amazed us all with a surprise performance. They walked out to the dance floor with Stacy wrapped in a red shawl, and as they stepped up onto the dance floor, Stacy flung her shawl away to reveal an intricately beaded Salsa dress as the music started and they began their Salsa performance. Talk about jaws dropping!

After Mexico, we spent time in Ouray, Colorado to get some ice climbing under our belts. We ran in to so many people we knew! A friend of ours is living in Ouray for a few months and let us crash at her place for several days in return for a few dog-walks for the lovely Lucy, her chocolate lab. Now we’re in Amarillo attempting to lend a hand with Mark's mom, Jo, who's recovering (perhaps even ahead of schedule!) from a total knee replacement. Her friends have been taking such good care of her, too – thank you all!

This weekend while everyone's gearing up for the Super Bowl, we'll be ice climbing in Colorado and celebrating our 6-year anniversary in Denver. Cody, Wyoming, will be our home for a month (~Feb. 10 ~ Mar. 10), and we've arranged to rent an efficiency or apartment (whichever deal comes through). $30 a month for WiFi access throughout the whole city of Cody, so I'll actually keep up with email while we're there. :-)

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Festive Festivus, Kwanzaa, Bodhi Day, Lhori, and NEW YEAR! We are so happy to be spending time with our families and friends for the holidays this year.

Not that we were ever good with Christmas cards, but... Don't expect one for another couple of seasons from us. We'll probably start to settle down around this time next year, and should have a new permanent address for the following Christmas.

I've been cooking up a storm in everyone's kitchen (and annoying my sister by wanting to 'test' her new Press 'n Seal cling-wrap by trying to create a pouch to hold the left-over chili con carne). I have missed cooking! My mom, sister and I had our second try at making tamales this year. We missed my friend, Linh, since she was here the first year we attempted tamaleando. Who knew you needed a Canadian in order to make a good tamale??

It's been great catching up with everyone we've been able to see so far. Hopefully in February, we can catch those of you we missed when we were running through Denver, Amarillo and Austin! We spent time in Amarillo with the Bryans, catching up and relaxing, when we first arrived 'home' in early December. We saw the Nutcracker, visted with friends, and re-discovered the Discovery Center for children. For now, we've settled at my parent's house (about an hour North of Austin), and are soaking up time with our nephew, Jason Blue, and catching up with friends. We plan on taking a break to go camping at Lost Maples or Mother Neff the week after Christmas, if there are any takers for a Texas Winter Camping Trip?!?!

Alis and Jason hosted a family Christmas Party this year with both of their immediate families (Alis is my sister). We kept in the Grizwold Family Tradition by exchanging not one, but TWO jello-molds in the White Elephant Gift Exchange. Susie, Alis's Mother-in-Law, wins the prize because she went the extra mile and added cat food to hers. Beeee-autiful, Clark.

May everyone have a wonderful holiday season, and a fun, happy, healthy and peaceful new year!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

We are BACK IN THE USA!!!! We are really enjoying family, friends, quiet neighborhoods, soft, clean beds, drinkable tap water, healthy vegetables... Life is Good.

As we were flying back, we thought about all the planes, trains and automobile rides we took: 8 boats, 44 buses, 3 trains, 3 planes and 29 long-distance car/trucks.

Date	Mode	Origin	Destination	Time	Notes
7/12/05	Auto	Harker Heights	Dallas, TX	3 hrs	John and Edna's SUV
7/12/05	Plane	Dallas	Lima, Peru	7 hrs	American Airlines
7/13/05	Bus	Lima, Peru	Huaraz, Peru	8 hrs	Cruz del Sur
7/19/05	Auto	Huaraz, Peru	Collon, Peru	1 hr	Private taxi
7/22/05	Auto	Collon, Peru	Huaraz, Peru	1 hr	Private taxi
7/28/05	Bus	Huaraz, Peru	Huantar, Peru	5 hrs	Private mini bus
7/28/05	Bus	Huantar, Peru	Huaraz, Peru	5 hrs	Private mini bus
7/31/05	Bus	Huaraz, Peru	Yungay, Peru	2 hrs	Colectivo
7/31/05	Bus	Yungay, Peru	Huaraz, Peru	2 hrs	Colectivo
8/6/05	Auto	Huaraz, Peru	Pasto Ruri, Peru	3 hrs	Private taxi
8/6/05	Auto	Pasto Ruri, Peru	Huaraz, Peru	3 hrs	Private taxi
8/7/05	Auto	Huaraz, Peru	Collon, Peru	1 hr	Private taxi
8/11/05	Auto	Collon, Peru	Huaraz, Peru	1 hr	Taxi
8/13/05	Auto	Huaraz, Peru	Vallanaraju, Peru	2 hrs	Crazy Taxi
8/14/05	Auto	Vallanaraju, Peru	Huaraz, Peru	2 hrs	Crazy Taxi
8/20/05	Bus	Huaraz, Peru	Caraz, Peru	3 hrs	Colectivo
8/20/05	Auto	Caraz, Peru	Cachapampa, Peru	1.5 hr	Taxi
8/26/05	Auto	Cachapampa, Peru	Caraz, Peru	1.5 hr	Taxi
8/26/05	Bus	Caraz, Peru	Huaraz, Peru	3 hrs	Colectivo
9/02/05	Bus	Huaraz, Peru	Trujillo, Peru	9 hrs	Movil
9/04/05	Bus	Trujillo, Peru	Tumbes, Peru	8 hrs	Bad bus
9/05/05	Auto	Tumbes, Peru	Huaquillas, Ecuador	1 hr	Bad taxi
9/05/05	Bus	Huaquillas, Ecuador	Quito, Ecuador	14 hrs	Horrible bus
9/11/05	Bus	Quito, Ecuador	Latacunga, Ecuador	3 hrs	Chicken bus
9/11/05	Auto	Latacunga, Ecuador	Cotopaxi Refugio, Ecuador	2 hrs	4x4
9/12/05	Auto	Cotopaxi Refugio, Ecuador	Caraterra Panamericana, Ecuador	1 hr	4x4
9/12/05	Bus	Caraterra Panamericana, Ecuador	Quito, Ecuador	2.5 hrs	Nice bus
9/15/05	Bus	Quito, Ecuador	Mitad del Mundo	2 hrs	Local bus
9/15/05	Bus	Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador	Quito, Ecuador	2 hrs	Local bus
9/19/05	Bus	Quito, Ecuador	Caraterra Panamericana, Ecuador	2.5 hrs	Bus
9/19/05	Auto	Caraterra Panamericana, Ecuador	Cotopaxi Refugio, Ecuador	1 hr	4x4
9/20/05	Auto	Cotopaxi Refugio, Ecuador	Quito, Ecuador	2.5 hrs	4x4
9/23/05	Bus	Quito, Ecuador	Baños, Ecuador	3 hrs	Bus
9/23/05	Bus	Baños, Ecuador	Riobamba, Ecuador	2 hrs	Bus
9/23/05	Auto	Riobamba, Ecuador	Chimborazo Refugio, Ecuador	1.5 hrs	Taxi
9/24/05	Bus	Chimborazo Refugio, Ecuador	Caraterra Panamericana, Ecuador	1 hr	Hitched on tour bus
9/24/05	Bus	Caraterra Panamericana, Ecuador	Riobamba, Ecuador	1 hr	Bus
9/24/05	Bus	Riobamba, Ecuador	Baños, Ecuador	2 hrs	Bus
9/27/05	Bus	Baños, Ecuador	Ambato, Ecuador	1 hr	Bus
9/27/05	Bus	Ambato, Ecuador	Riobamba, Ecuador	2 hrs	Bus
9/27/05	Bus	Riobamba, Ecuador	Guanquil, Ecuador	6 hrs	Bus
9/28/05	Bus	Guanquil, Ecuador	Piura, Peru	12 hrs	Bus
9/29/05	Bus	Piura, Peru	Lima, Peru	20 hrs	NICE bus
9/30/05	Plane	Lima, Peru	Cusco, Peru	1 hr	With parents. Nice plane
10/02/05	Bus	Cusco, Peru	Sacred Valley, Peru	8 hrs	Tour bus
10/03/05	Train	Cusco, Peru	Aguas Callientes, Peru	4 hrs	VistaDome
10/04/05	Train	Aguas Callientes, Peru	Cusco, Peru	4 hrs	VistaDome
10/05/05	Bus	Cusco, Peru	Puno, Peru	7 hrs	Tour bus with parents
10/07/05	Boat	Puno, Peru	Taquile Island	9 hrs	Uros and Taquile
10/08/05	Bus	Puno, Peru	Desaguadero, Bolivia	4 hrs	Chicken bus
10/08/05	Auto	Desaguadero, Bolivia	La Paz, Bolivia	2 hrs	Taxi
10/10/05	Bus	La Paz, Bolivia	Santa Cruz, Bolivia	9 hrs	Bus (no heat - cooold)
10/12/05	Train	Santa Cruz, Bolivia	Quijarro, Bolivia	17 hrs	Orient Express, "Death Train"
10/13/05	Auto	Quijarro, Bolivia	Corumbá, Brazil	1 hr	Taxi
10/14/05	Mixed	Corumbá, Brazil	Campo Grande, Brazil	36 hrs	Farm Truck, Bus, Boat
10/18/05	Bus	Campo Grande, Brazil	Brasilia, Brazil	24 hrs	Bus
10/19/05	Bus	Brasilia, Brazil	Salvador, Brazil	28 hrs	Bus
10/24/05	Boat	Salvador, Brazil	Morro do Sao Paulo, Brazil	2 hrs	Nice boat full of tourists
10/28/05	Boat	Morro do Sao Paulo, Brazil	Valenca, Brazil	2 hrs	Little boat, just the three of us
10/30/05	Mixed	Valenca, Brazil	Arrial d' Ajuda, Brazil	13 hrs	Boat, Bus, Van
10/31/05	Mixed	Arrial d' Ajuda, Brazil	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	19 hrs	Boat, Bus, Van
11/05/05	Bus	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Sao Paulo, Brazil	13 hrs	Bus
11/07/05	Bus	Sao Paulo, Brazil	Foz do Iguacu, Brazil	15 hrs	Bus
11/07/05	Bus	Foz do Iguacu, Brazil	Puerto Iguacu, Argentina	1 hr	Van
11/08/05	Bus	Puerto Iguacu, Argentina	Buenos Aires, Argentina	19 hrs	Bus
11/12/05	Boat	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Montevideo, Uruguay	3 hrs	High Speed Catamaran
11/13/05	Boat	Montevideo, Uruguay	Buenos Aires, Argentina	3 hrs	High Speed Catamaran
11/14/05	Bus	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Mendoza, Argentina	8 hrs	Bus
11/17/05	Bus	Mendoza, Argentina	Puente del Incas	2 hrs	Tour bus
11/17/05	Bus	Puente del Incas	Mendoza, Argentina	2 hrs	Tour bus
11/18/05	Bus	Mendoza, Argentina	Santiago, Chile	8 hrs	Bus
11/19/05	Auto	Santiago, Chile	Viña del Mar	2 hrs	Alicia's car
11/19/05	Auto	Viña del Mar	Santiago, Chile	2 hrs	Alicia's car
11/20/05	Bus	Santiago, Chile	Arica, Chile	28 hrs	Bus
11/23/05	Auto	Arica, Chile	Tacna, Peru	2 hrs	Taxi
11/23/05	Bus	Tacna, Peru	Arequipa, Peru	7 hrs	Bus
11/25/05	Bus	Arequipa, Peru	Colca Canyon	15 hrs	Van, no heat (cooooold)
11/25/05	Bus	Arequipa, Peru	Nazca, Peru	8 hrs	Bus
11/26/05	Bus	Nazca, Peru	Lima, Peru	6 hrs	Bus
11/28/05	Plane	Lima, Peru	Dallas, TX	7 hrs	American Airlines
11/29/05	Auto	Dallas, TX	Harker Heights, TX	3 hrs	John's SUV
11/30/05	Auto	Harker Heights, TX	Amarillo, TX	8 hrs	Our Subaru
12/04/05	Auto	Amarillo, TX	Denver, CO	7 hrs	Subaru
12/05/05	Auto	Denver, CO	Amarillo, TX	7 hrs	Subaru

Wine Country

Mendoza, Argentina

Mendoza is the Argentine capital of wine, as well as the coordination point for those climbing Aconcagua (the highest mountain outside the Himalaya). For us, it is simply the home to great Italian-style pizza and wonderful, ludicrously inexpensive wine.

The wineries were very quaint, and all used imported French Oak barrels. We ate beef empanadas as a palate cleanser between tastings, and I have decided to learn how to make these wonderful little pastries! Our Winery Tour included visits to local artesanos (chocolatiers, specialty liquors, etc.), which made the tastings all the more exciting!

Instead of climbing Aconcagua, we took a tour into the Andes. The natural bridge called Puenta del Inca was amazing. Born from sediments deposited from hot springs, it was like a slice of Yellowstone in the Andes. We hiked near the base of Aconcagua to get a better view of the mountain, and enjoyed the fresh air while also enjoying the fact that we weren't busy planning another long trek up into the mountains (just yet)... I think we're ready for some R&R at home with our folks for the holidays!

Santiago, Chile

We also visited Concha y Toro winery near Santiago. Concha y Toro is one of our favorite vineyards, so we thought it would be good to visit, and we were not disappointed. The tour was focused on both the history of the vineyard, and included several tastings of some good wine.

One of the coolest parts of the tour was when we got to go into the world (in)famous Cassillera del Diablo (Devil's Cellar), made gained its fame through Concha y Toro's line of the same name. Don Melchor, the original owner of Concha y Toro, named it the Devil's Cellar after he realized some of his best wines were being stolen. In the late eighteen hundreds, he invented a legend that the Devil himself lived in the cellar. Since the townspeople were so superstitious, never again did bottles go missing. The cellar is indeed a spooky place, and the company has done a good job of keeping it original but making it a fun part of the tour. Some people even see the devil down there -- can you see him?

Aussie Futbol, Iguacu Falls, Buenos Aires

Just a quick update, since we haven't posted in a while.

We are in Uruguay right now, which has been more like a European vacation than we expected, with wonderful architecture, atmosphere, food and wine. Last night, we had quite an experience at the Australia vs Uruguay soccer game. It was a World Cup qualifying game and thus very important. We found a big group of Australians at our hostel, who helped us find some tickets at an Irish pub. Luckily, we found some, and bought one from our new Aussie friend for just a couple of beers. Maybe because we had one or two brews ourselves, once it was time to go to the stadium, we decided it made perfect sense to join the parade of yellow-clad, chanting Australians through the streets of Montevideo. Now, for those of you who don't know, Uruguay takes their futbol VERY seriously; they hosted and won the first World Cup, and have won it once since then -- not bad for a country of only a few million. The Australian Embassy personnel warned about possible anti-Australian violence, but the Uruguayans were wonderful. While we did have countless heckles, jeers and hand signals lobbed our way (mostly laughter and friendly taunts), the worst we saw was one person who spat on one Aussie, and Ana had a cup of water thrown on her -- yes, we are sure it was water. If such a wild visiting crowd had snaked through American streets singing and flag-waving, they certainly would not have received such a tame reception. In the end, Uruguay won a very interesting match.

Prior to Uruguay, we spent a few days in Buenos Aires, and enjoyed every minute. Since my last visit to Argentina eight years ago, the Argentine peso crashed, which makes everything much, much cheaper. Furthermore, while I was there last time, all the "beautiful people" were on vacation in Chile and elsewhere, leaving only grumpy overworked Argentines. This time, we saw so much style, so much friendliness, and so much Argentine suave that we both just fell in love. We visited a local restaurant that had Tango night, and watched several dozen Portenos dancing, who had begun cutting rugs during the 50s in Argentina's Golden Age. We were the only tourists in the whole place, which made it feel much more intimate and authentic.

We also visited both the Argentine and Brazilian sides of Iguacu Falls -- both were well worth the visit. The falls are really massive, and because they are split into dozens of distinct, separate falls, there were countless beautiful views and experiences waiting for us. Our favorite part of the Falls was our ride in a speed boat up the river, through rapids, over waves and into the falls themselves -- it was like whitewater rafting in reverse. We really found it was the best way to experience the extreme power of the falls, as evidenced by Ana's continual screams.

While staying at Foz do Iguacu, we headed into Paraguay for the day. We needed to replace the camera which was stolen in the Pantanal, and Ciudad del Este has the cheapest prices in South America. It also has the reputation for being THE most corrupt city in the continent. It was. We had to sneak into the country because we hadn't bothered to get visas, which made the visit all the more cloak-and-dagger. After lots of searching, we found the prices just a bit more expensive than the Web so we gave it up and sneaked back into Brazil. We made it in time to catch our bus to Buenos Aires, and with plenty of time before nightfall.

Our Walk Through a Favela

So first, what's a Favela? In Brazil, favelas are large slums in every big city, where poor people live. They are similar to a 'project' in the States, except that they are privately owned, and are much, much bigger. The police are scared to go into most of them, and drug lords rule over gangs, who interact with the citizens like the Mob did during the 20s and 30s in the US -- they protect the people, they dish out justice, they ensure structure, but they also oppress the people.

We took a walk through a favela called Rocinha in Rio. The man we went with, Luiz, has done a lot for the community by building a day care center, improving families' houses, and many other similar projects. He organizes and leads tours through the favela, using the proceeds to fund the projects. Because of efforts like his, most favelas now have some sort of medical clinic, giving free medical care to its citizens.

I expected to see some extreme poverty walking through the favela, and certainly we did. But it wasn't as extreme as it could have been. Not as poor as the most impoverished in Bolivia or Tanzania, for example. Furthermore, within the same favela, there existed people with relatively nice homes, including tile floors, roof patios, TVs, running water, etc, right next to other families whose home was essentially a shack made of wooden planks and plastic tarps.

The streets through the favela were really just sidewalks between buildings, just big enough for two to walk abreast. The walkways were scattered with stairwells, running sewage, garbage, PVC water pipes, illegal electrical wiring, animals, feces, and God only knows what else. The only car-navigable streets were on the outside of the favela, and from what we saw, really only defined the borders between the favela and the rest of the world. All along the "streets", there were bodegas, bars, and restaurants. Granted, they were not nice looking bars, shops or restaurants, but they were there. Luiz explained that businesses in the favela do not pay any taxes, though I could not fully understand why -- was it an exemption or just black market?

The streets did not have any signs, despite the fact that they were named (typically One, Two, Three...). The reason Luiz gave was because the residents removed them so the police couldn't easily navigate the area. And naturally, the police were scared to enter the area. They primarily remained on the outskirts with automatic rifles, waiting for crimes to happen. A few days before we toured Rocinha, the police shot and killed the head Drug Lord, creating a power vacuum. After two days of a vacuum, the Number Six Man killed Number One, Two, Three, Four and Five, establishing himself as the new head Drug Lord. As Luiz said, anything can happen in the favela given enough time. There were several drug dealers, who were pointed out by Luiz (he knew them all), though they left us alone.

We walked through the favela for probably two hours, and saw only friendly, generally happy people. This experience certainly changed our impression of the poor in Brazil from one of abject poverty to one of people without many, if any, luxuries, but who are able to sustain themselves well. Take a look at our photos here.

Hang Gliding, Christ, and a Loaf of Sugar

We have been in Rio de Janeiro for a few days now, and it is a wonderful and BEAUTIFUL city. It's surrounded by ocean, and has huge rock domes jutting out all over town. Most of the rock outcrops are covered with dense foliage, like a mini-jungle. We're staying in the neighborhood of Copacabana (yes, like the song!), and are right next to Ipanema (again, like the song!). The beaches are wonderful, with HUGE waves and lots of surfers.

We immediately met quite a few friendly travelers at our hostel, and have been running around Rio together. One new friend, Sartaj, intived us to go on a Hang Gliding Tour with him. I decided being a photographer was more my speed! The boys had fun, although Mark was a little uncertain of his pilot's ability to keep the glider on track. Just adds to the thrill, right? The views they had were amazing - they flew over the ocean, beaches, city... I'm jealous, but not enough to get into one of those contraptions.

After hang gliding, we went on a tour of the Cristo Redentor statue(Christ the Redeemer) and Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf Mountain).

Christ the Redeemer sits on top of Corcovado Mountain (Hunchback Mountain, Tijuca National Park) and oversees the entire city. He is one of the world's tallest statues at 30 meters (98 feet)!! Unfortunately, the weather has been pretty dreary, so everything is shrouded in fog. This type of statue has been very prevalent in most cities we have visited in South America, and is typically called Jesus Blanco (the statue is usually made of a very white stone). The Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio is by far the largest we've seen.

Next, we vistited Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf Mountain). This is a set of two dome-shaped rocks jutting out of the ocean. We reached the top with a 2-stop cable car system that has been in operation since 1912. The first ride takes you from Praia Vermelha to a height of 220 meters (720 feet) at the summit of Morro da Urca. The second ride takes you to the summit of Sugar Loaf at 395 meters (1296 feet). What a view! There is definitely some rock climbing to be had here, but that will have to be on another visit to Rio.

Last night we ventured out with our new friends to a local dance club. If we're in Rio, we have to dance! The place was the size of an indoor footbal stadium, and was packed (and I mean PACKED shoulder to shoulder) with people. The music was great! It was close to 100 degrees Farenheit inside. The local guys had all taken their shirts off, and were dripping sweat on anyone near them. The floor was 1 inch deep with beer and sweat and who-knows-what. Mark and Sartaj made a hasty plan for exiting in case of stampede.

There is so much to do in Rio... we'd better quit blogging and get back out there!

Brazilian Beach Bums

After leaving Salvador, we decided to hit the beaches as we make our way south.

Morro de São Paulo

Morro de São Paulo is at the tip of a tiny island called Ilha de Tinharé, just a 2-hour ferry ride south of Salvador. The streets were all sand. The only motorized land vehicle we saw was a tractor used as the garbage truck for the island. The official 'taxi' service consisted of men who push wheelbarrows around the island. You walked with them, and they pushed your cargo. They even said TAXI on the side of the wheelbarrow!

This was a truley wonderful place. The water was crystal-clear at the beaches, and in the morning you could walk in solitude. Beach vendors sell four main food-items (besides ice cream): Empanadas (meat-filled pasteries), Milho Verde (corn-on-the-cob), Queijo Grelhado (grilled cheese-on-a-stick, which they grill in front of you), and Água do coco (coconut water, fresh out of coconut). Água do coco is really refreshing!

We met up with some Spanish friends (who we had met in Salvador) at a local juice stand every evening, and talked into the night. The juice stand was something else! You picked out the fruits you wanted in the juice, and they blended it up for you. Of course, they added a splash or two of vodka to make sure any lingering bacteria were distilled. Yummy!!

We were sad to leave the island and our new friends, but alas, we needed to keep moving...

Arraial d'Ajuda

Arraial is a very trendy beach-resort-town. The main attraction here is the night life, and I mean NIGHT life. Most bars open at 11pm, and the discos open at 2am. WOW. We tried staying up for it all one night, and had to come back to our hotel to rest and get coffee around midnight.

Our hotel was very nice and relaxing, and the staff was very helpful. I learned how to make fresh juices, and they showed us their cocoa tree (and fresh cocoa).

Finger-Gun Mafia

As we were coming home from dinner in Salvador, we had our first mugging incident. We were almost to our hotel when we passed five or six cops, who were talking with some arguing people. Of course as good Americans, we rubber-necked as we passed by. Between the police officers and our hotel, we only needed to walk 20 yards, turn a corner and then walk another 80 yards to the entrance of the hotel. It was only a little past 9:00 pm, and being so close to our hotel, what could happen, right?

Because we were rubber necking, Ana and I wandered a few feet away from each other. She turned the corner on the street, while I walked on the sidewalk between a car and a building. Immediately as I turned the corner, a young man approached me and said something in Portugese. My Portugese is absolutely awful and I assumed he was trying to sell me something (like the previous 35 street vendors) so I said, 'Naõ' and kept walking. He then angrily whispered something else and stepped in front of me and stopped VERY close to me. I tried to figure out what he just said and remembered hearing "mafia", "no police" and "money" (in Portugese). Uh-oh. I looked into his eyes and saw him nodding towards his stomach. I looked down and saw he was holding something beneath his shirt. I looked more closely and realized exactly what he was holding there -- his HAND, pointing like a gun.

Okay, so at this point I thought to myself, "This guy has to be a really bad robber. He is trying to rob me with his FINGER while standing within 25 yards of a half dozen cops!"

I keep walking and tell him I don't understand. He then pushes me and tells me to give him my money. I tell him I don't have any and then become Emmit Smith. I push him back and dash for the corner to beckon the police. As soon as I get past the finger-gunner, another guy in red walks up to me and tries to stop me as well. Now I have two men trying to keep me from the police. I Emmit Smithed past them (thanks for all the footbal drills, Coach Sadler) and ran to the corner yelling "Policia! Policia!"

Meanwhile, after walking 10 yards ahead, Ana realized there was a problem. As I ran the few yards to the corner, the robbers ran at Ana (we still don't know why). She was pissed because she just saw me in a scuffle with them, so whenever the red-clad man laid a hand on her, she socked him in the nose. (She felt a crunch as her fist slammed his nose.) The Finger-Gunner grabbed at her too, so she punched him in the stomach.

The two robbers ran away uphill but the police gave chase, guns drawn, and eventually caught Finger-Gunner. We had to identify him as the mugger, which he of course contested. He wouldn't be quiet until the cops roughed him up a little, which was a bit unnerving to watch.

We are fine, the robbers didn't get anything, and they were both beaten up by a girl, so I think good prevailed over evil this time.

Candomblé - Is it Right for You?

Last night, we went to the Favela (i.e. the slum), where we watched a religious ceremony in which five or six people become possessed (by gods), dance around like crazies, then dressed in the attire of the god who possessed them.

The religious ceremony was an authentic Candomblé service. It was held in the favela, or slum, of Salvador, and was anything but a tourist attraction. We had to wear long pants and light colored clothing to ensure good luck to the house.
According to Wikipedia, "Candomblé is an Afro-American religion practiced chiefly in Brazil but also in adjacent countries. The religion came from Africa to Brazil, carried by African priests and adherents who were brought as slaves between 1549 and 1888." The religion believes in between 50 and 100 gods, though each sect chooses to recognize -- or not -- each god individually. The gods tend to govern every day entities, like water, fire, trees, animals, etc.

The entire ceremony lasts at least 6 hours, and revolves around dancing, drumming and group singing. The ceremony is split in two halves, the first of which is focused around initiating trances in "god-children" (those who can become possessed by a god). The three drummers beat very specific and apparently well-targeted rhythms designed to induce the trance and possession of the god-children. In the first hour, there was a lot of hierarchical prostration (5 MB movie), hand-kissing and the like. At the end of the first hour, the first god-child underwent a trance, though it was not clear to us whether a trance alone indicated possession. Attendants lead the entranced dancers out of the main ceremony room (3 MB movie), into adjoining rooms. When they returned, their trances had gone. This process repeated itself many times.

At the end of the first half, five or six god-children entered a trance and became obviously possessed. These trances were clearly different than the previous ones, and the god-children behaved strangely (in our eyes anyway). The possessed dancers were lead into separate rooms, and an intermission ensued.

During the break, the dancers were being dressed in elaborate costumes which symbolized the gods which had possessed them. After the intermission, the dancers -- now dressed as gods -- returned, and were paraded around the ceremony room. (2 MB movie) As they danced and convulsed around the room, the worshipers threw leaves on them as a sign of respect, while the head male priest sang about the gods and their deeds. The "gods" would walk to several worshipers and give some sort of greeting and blessing. The Head Mistress was the first to be paraded, and we were told that no photographs could be taken during her procession. The attendant told us too late though, as I had already taken a couple of videos.

We left after the first three "gods" paraded around the room. It was after 1:00 in the morning by time we left, and apparently the ceremony was only half finished. Quite an evening for us; I can't imagine what it would have been like had we stayed the entire night. Ana was half-entranced by the time we left, certainly helped by fatigue, the overpowering drum beats, and the mesmerizing dancers.

Vote for Mark's New Look

My sister's wedding is quickly approaching, and I want to look my best. So help me decide how to style my facial hair for her special day. Vote by leaving a comment or sending us an email.

(Yes, they are all REAL):

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Handle Bar:

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Goatee:

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The Wyatt Earp:

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Clean Shaven:

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Flavor Saver:

The Orient Express, Our Camera and Pyranha Fishing

What do these three things have in common: 1) Orient Express, 2) our camera and 3) us wade-fishing for pyranhas? They all end in the Pantanal.

(The Pantanal is the most animal- and bird-dense area in the Americas. It is home to something like 35% of the world's bird species and 20% of its animals. It is most often compared to the Everglades in Florida, because the terrain is similar, but it felt more like our safari in the Serrengeti, even if it was relocated to the Everglades.)

To get to the Pantanal, we took the infamous Orient Express (Agatha Christie's aptly-named "Death Train"). The train ends in the Pantanal on the border between Bolivia and Brasil. The Orient Express has certainly seen better days. The ONLY veteran of the Orient Express we spoke to before climbing aboard told us about his three-day voyage on the "Death Train". He described the roller-coaster-like ride, the derailing that caused numerous injuries (but no deaths), his return to Corumbá, and numerous other fear-invoking bits. Luckily, our train did not derail, and our trip only took 19 hours -- apparently an anomoly, given the fact that the advertisements suggest it takes "AT LEAST 21 hours". We only had to wait one time for repairs.

As soon as we got to the Pantanal, we went wade-fishing for pyranhas. I didn't notice until we were done, but I cut my foot on the riverbottom while I was fishing. A little cut is apparently a potentially fatal mistake, given the fact that the guide checked us to ensure we didn't have any bloody cuts when we got into the water. Also, as we walked, we had to pound the riverbottom with our cane fishing poles to ensure we scared away the stingrays. (For picky anglers, no I do not mean 'rods', I mean bamboo POLES without reels.) We also had to keep a close eye for crocodiles, which grow quite large in the Rio Paragui, where we were fishing. We did catch quite a few pyranhas, and had them for dinner, though I can't recommend the experience -- eating them or fishing for them. At least, I would recommend standing on the shore when you fish. :-) So our pyranha fishing will begin and end in the Pantanal.

It was a great trip all in all, and we DID get some great pictures but... While we were on our trip, one of the truck drivers from the tour agency stole our camera. We caught him in enough lies to figure out it was him, and pressed charges at the nearest police station (9 hours away, if you can believe that). There is more of a story about the camera at the end of the blog, but skip it unless you like intrigue. Anyway, our camera saw its end in the Pantanal, too. And because we lost our camera, we had to take these pictures in a hotel with a replacement camera, to stand in for the real pictures we lost.

But beside the theft, the trip was wonderful. We saw millions of birds, GIANT rats called copibaras (as big as a great bernard), crocodiles, howler monkeys, quatimundi, ... I would hate to turn this into a Field Guide to the Pantanal, so suffice it to say, it was wonderfully full of wildlife.

And of course, I had to exhibit some idiocy given the surroundings. The guides found a 6 foot anaconda, which I held. I held it for about a minutes, then I got too scared and gave it away. I also swam with a dozen or so crocodiles in the Rio Negro. They were on shore and according to the guide, quite tame. He and I shewed them away so we could get into the water, and we swam. Well, he swam for a good while; I swam for 2.67 milliseconds then leapt from the water faster than when I saw a poo in the kiddie pool. After I got out and was milling around the shore, one of the crocs snapped at me. I guess my crocodile swimming also began and ended in the Pantanal. Ana (and the other two tourists) were smart enough to stay dry.

The Camera Caper:
So, for those interested, the rest of the camera story: We stopped at a bar/grocery store on the way to one of the camps, and waited for two other people to show up. While we were waiting, there was a truck with spurs-wearin', boots n jeans clad, cowboy hatted cowboys who had their pickup truck playing Shania Twain. We thought it so resembled a night at the 'Bottom' at the Brumbalow's , that we got our camera to take a video. A little later, our other truck came, and we went to the campsite. It was dark, so no more pictures. In the morning, we realized that we were missing our camera. We immediately remembered having it at the bar/grocery. We looked in the truck and didn't find it. We talked to our guide, who found the truck driver and asked if he could call the bar/grocery. The truck driver, named Hej (though we didn't know his name yet), said "No need. They called me and they have it there." GREAT! We didn't lose it. Yeah! Or so we thought.

We did a walking safari that morning and then headed back towards civilization. We would pass the bar/grocery on the way and could get our camera. After a 2.5 hour drive (at approx 2:00), we arrived at the bar. They hadn't called. (Huh?) We asked Hej what was going on. He said, "Uh, well, nobody called. Really what happened is that another driver named Caesar saw the camera here this morning." I asked him his name and he told me Tatú, which means Armadillo in portugese. Remember, I didn't know his name at this point, so I thought his name was Tatú. So after a bit of bickering and accusations, Ana and I decided to make pests of ourselves and wait for Caesar. Caesar was apparently supposed to arrive at the bar at 6:00 pm. So we waited. And waited. And waited. While we were waiting, another driverfrom our company came by, who had been fishing with Caesar the day before. Caesar had not even been at the bar until 30 minutes before we arrived, earlier in the day. So there is no way he could have seen our camera in the morning. He just wasn't there. We figured out, along with the other driver, that the prime suspect's name was Hej (Hejinauto), not Tatú. Tatú is another driver, who had been with the company for years, and who we knew already, though we didn't know his name. Anyway, Caesar arrived at 8:30 pm, and had absolutely NO knowledge of any camera. By this time, we weren't surprised to discover such a thing. Also, around this time, we remembered clipping our camera to a bag of oranges which were in the back of the farm truck with us. Locking carabiners don't come unclipped bouncing around in the back of a pickup truck, so we know it was there when we reached camp. We just didn't unclip it from the orange bag.

After the bar, we caught a ride to the company's river camp, and stayed the night (we had missed the last bus from the highway intersection). During the night, we talked to several guides, and we all really pinpointed the fact the Hej was almost certainly the culprit. The next morning, Hej drove through the river camp, and as he was waiting for the ferry, I confronted him. He denied everything, and even tried to claim I had never met him, that I had met Tatú. Several of the guides, including one whom he had lied to as well, confronted him as well. He denied it all.

We left for Campo Grande to talk to the owner of the company and the police. We spoke to both, and in the end, the owner gave us his own camera (hence the pictures in the blog are from our hotel), and helped us make a report at the police station. The owner had even caught Hej in a lie about the camera. We're pretty sure lying to el Jefe is a big No-No. The owner called Hej to Campo Grande, and with police report in hand, he plans to fire him.

Ugh, not the prettiest part of our trip, but it could have been much worse. We were concerned because out of 9 countries we will visit in Latin America, this is the only one where we don't speak the language. But to be honest, we were very impressed with the way the company and the police handled the situation. They were all very professional and they all handled things the way they should have. I'm just glad this happened in Brazil and not Bolivia. Who knows what would have happened there!

Tonight, we leave for Brasilia, and then on to Salvador. It will take another two or three days to get there, but we are certain it will be worth the traveling.

Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia!

WOW, we need to update this thing! We promise, we will keep it updated better from now on.

We visited the vacation town of Baños on our way out of Ecuador, and had a wonderful time... after Mark recovered from High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, which he got on his Chimborazo climb. That's right, he was coughing up blood and all the fun stuff that happens with HAPE the one time Ana decides to sit out a climb, but he turned around in time (before the summit, but at 20,000 feet or so). We've decided to cancel our plans to climb more in SA, so we'll be returning to the good ole USA in mid-December and spending the holidays with Ana's family. OK - back to Baños. Baños is famous for their active volcano, hot springs, and waterfalls. We got massages, rode a 4-wheeler to see the waterfalls (video here), and took a Chiva to see the volcano at night. Chivas are buses with open-air seats on top, and they blast Ecuadorian dance music during the entire trip. What an experience!

After Baños we made our way back to Peru where we met Mark's parents in Lima, and flew to Cusco together. Jo (Mark's Mom) had arranged our tour of Cusco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Pichu, and Lake Titicaca. The Incan ruins were facinating, especially the architecture. Machu Pichu was amazing, and Mark, Gary (his Dad), and Ana hiked up Wayana Picchu to see the ruins from above, while Jo did some painting.




The islands on Lake Titicaca were from another world! There are floating islands made from reeds, and your feet sink in to the soft ground as you walk. The islanders made these islands to keep from being conquored by the Incans and Spaniards. The "normal" islands were equally amazing, especially because the islanders' culture was well preserved.

Jo and Gary flew home yesterday, and we can't thank them enough for the wonderful trip we had together! I imagine they are happy to be home where they can eat a salad and drink iced beverages again... we're jealous!

We've been in La Paz, Bolivia, for 2 nights and are starting our trip East to Brazil tonight via overnight bus to Santa Cruz. It was fun here -- we met a bunch of Germans on the ride over from Peru, and since they had been here recently they showed us around. We'll take the Orient Express (Agatha Christie's Death Train ... oooooo, scary) from Santa Cruz to the Brazilian border and start our Jungle Adventure in the Pantanal. After that, we will head to Brasilia and then Salvador, Brazil.

Cotopaxi Climb

Yesterday, Ana and I climbed to the summit of Cotopaxi, at 19,460'. The climb was actually more physically and technically difficult than we expected, which resulted in a wonderful climb on a beautiful mountain.

This was officially our second attempt on Cotopaxi. We camped near the Climber's Refugio about a week ago but high winds kept anyone from summitting, and kept us awake all night checking the guylines keeping us from becoming the world's largest kite. We didn't even leave our tent to try for the summit, since I do not like climbing into lenticular clouds.

This time, we decided to stay in the Climbers' Refugio, which is quite nice, has room for 70 climbers and even takes reservations. The morning began at midnight, when most of the other climbers' alarms sounded. We tried to ignore the noise for a few minutes, since we wanted to start later than the other (guided newby) climbers. Of course, with 20 pairs of mountaineering boots pounding on a wooden floor, the notion of sleep is a distant one. We got up, had breakfast and started for the glacier at 1:45 AM.

The route has changed in recent years, making it easier in some ways and considerably more difficult in others. The route now begins by westwardly crossing one of the terminal tongues of the glacier, climbing to the pinacle of a scree slope, and regaining the glacier amid a field of huge pentitentes. The beginning of the route consists of a narrow alley running through the pentitentes, ascending the north side of the mountain at around 45 degrees. We then crossed several dramatic crevasses, ascended some steep sections of snow and ice -- including a couple that required (hip) belayed climbing -- surmounted a bergschrund on some sketchy ladders (belayed and praying), and finally made it up the last step to the summit.

The summit crater is a very classic volcanic crater. It is about a quarter of a mile wide, and at least as deep. Since Cotopaxi is active, it has plenty of smoking cracks and plenty of thought-provoking molten-rock formations. The descent was uneventful, and we were back in Quito by 2:00 pm, despite our truck no-showing (glad we didn't pre-pay). We celebrated with two argentine filet mignons and a real bottle of wine (no juice-box wine this time).

We will take a few more spanish and salsa lessons (separate lessons :-) here in Quito, then head for Baños and hopefully a climb of Chimborazo before heading back to Peru to meet my parents.

New Photos on Bryantrip

We have quite a few new photos on our website. We have some from Huaraz, our attempt on Quitaraju, Cotopaxi, and bumming around Quito. Go to photos.bryantrip.com to check them out.

Hot Water System or Death Trap?

We stayed in a dump last night. It was really spooky. I've only stayed at one place that even approached the spookiness of this place -- the haunted St James hotel in Cimmaron, NM. However this hotel was not just really old and (seemingly) haunted, it was also decorated with voodoo/demonic artwork and just had a really bad "vibe".

We had decided to leave just because of the vibe, but the broken toilet, burned out lightbulb, broken bed, and (finally) the absence of ANY water really made our choice easy. Oh yeah, it also had the Executioner's Switch Hot Water System. For those of you that have heard the story, it is like the one that shocked my late friend Chad in Bolivia. Basically, there is a shower head, which has hot wires running through it. That shower head is connected to a wall switch. The wall switch, however, isn't just any wall switch. It is an executioner's switch (see pictures), which shoots sparks when you throw it. We didn't get any pictures with water flowing because, well, there wasn't any water left in the hotel apparently. Ana freaked out when I turned on the hot water and sparks flew out of the switch. You've got to love exposed 220v wiring.

Made it to Ecuador

Getting Here:
We made it to Ecuador. It took 36 hours of bus rides over three days, but we're here. We stopped in a beach town near Trujillo, Peru and enjoyed the scenery and atmosphere (but not the water just yet) of the beach. We had some good seafood, too. We accidentally took a non-direct bus from the Peru/Ecuador border to Quito. It wasn't exactly a Chicken Bus, but it was close. (The chickens were stored in storage beneath the bus) No air conditioning (remember the ecuator is only about 15 miles north of here); LOTS of stops to drop off and pick up people; people sitting and standing in the aisle; no bathroom; latino music blaring through bad speakers. Chicken buses are fun(ny) for short trips. They stink for long hauls, and by the time we got to Quito, we were nearly crazy. Glad we're here...

Typhoid Update:
Ana and I are doing a bit better, though certainly not well yet. Thank God for antibiotics. I'm sure Ana would be dead by now without them. Even with modern pharmaceuticals, she has wished for death a few times. I think she had a fever again today, which isn't good. She now seems to have a cold or something in addition to typhoid.

My spleen apparently swole up due to Typhoid. It has been hurting quite a bit all day every day. It is slowly improving, though it still hurts almost all the time. Luckily, it did something on the bus which made it stop hurting so much for a while - it made a sort of POP feeling, which hurt like CRAZY, then it stopped hurting much. I could feel it draining for about an hour, then no pain for about a day. I woke up to it hurting again this morning though. No fever for me in several days. I did feel really, really lousy in the beach town though, so my lovely wife brought me brunch in bed.

There is a doctor who specializes in Tropical Medicine here, who we will try to get in touch with. We plan to talk to him tomorrow, and want to take another typhoid test to see if we have rid ourselves of it. I'm almost certain neither of us has gotten rid of it, given our persistent symptoms. Ana is supposed to be done with her antibiotics in a couple of days, so we need to get the test soon, because I imagine she'll need to continue on meds.

Quito:
Quito is a nice change of pace for us. It's a big city with plenty of gringos. There hasn't been a lot of international tourism in Huaraz for the last month, so we were kind of token gringos. All the "local" gringos there know us by name. The handful of restaurants in Huaraz were also starting to get old, given the fact that we ate out 2 meals a day, and there are only a few really good restaurants in central Peru. Quito has TONS of great places to eat. We had steaks last night, which were decent by American standards; definitely better than a steak at Appleby's or Bennigans. There are a couple of mexican food place here, that are supposed to be good. There are lots of shops with high quality stuff in them, too. This area seems to be very well-off, as evidenced by professionally done store fronts, all sides of all buildings being painted, etc. It's really a nice, needed change of pace.

Plans:
We're hoping to start doing mountains again next week. We'll start with me doing Cotopaxi, which is a non-technical mountain, and the most commonly climbed mountain in Ecuador. Lots of tourists. It's a one-day climb from the base, which we can almost drive to. It is supposedly the highest active volcano on earth, which is kind of cool. We reduced the number of mountains we're planning due to illness, etc. Instead, we are going to do more touristy things, like visit a little town called Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the Earth). It's right on the ecuator and has lots of silly things you can only do while you are on the ecuator. Should be fun. We will also probably go to Baños, which has lots of hot springs and stuff. And there are several spanish insitutes here, so we area planning to take some lessons.

The Typhoid Twins head to Ecuador

Well, what do you know? Mark has been feeling flu-ish for the past couple of days, so we decided to hurry to the clinic where I had my lab work performed. He's Typhoid Positive! Yes, we are laughing... we have to. We're both worn out, but in good spirits. Honestly, I think Mark is secretly proud to be part of the exclusive Typhoid Fever Club... anyone else want membership? HA! All we can figure is that we didn't purify one of our water bottles when we thought we had (probably at Ishinca base camp).

We are leaving Huaraz, Peru, tomorrow night and starting the journey up towards Ecuador. We plan to arrive in Quito between Monday and Wednesday of next week. Huaraz will be missed, but we are excited about discovering Quito and all that a ‘big city’ has to offer.


The last mountain we attempted was Quitaraju (next to Alpamayo for you Mountaineers). To get there we hiked on the popular Santa Cruz trail. It was very scenic, and we'll get a few pictures up sometime soon. We had decided to go unsupported (backpack with all of our own gear) for the 6 day trip, which is why Mark ended up with so much weight on the last 2 days when I could barely carry myself out. He had 2 ropes, 4 ice tools, all our climbing gear, tent, cook stuff... and more. I can't thank him enough!


Side note: You haven't backpacked in the Andes until you wake up in the middle of the night feeling like you're being watched, just to find out that you ARE being watched by a donkey whose head takes up the entire entrance of your tent and is so close you can feel his breath through the mosquito net. Yes, I screamed bloody-murder until I realized what it was, and then Mark and I couldn't stop laughing all night.

Ana has Typhoid Fever

Ana has typhoid fever. We´re not sure how she got it, but she is sicker than she has ever been. We went to the hospital, where they did blood tests and found out what was wrong. She´s on plenty of meds, and should recover soon enough. We´re staying here in Huaraz, Peru until she is better. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers; she needs them!

As a side note, dry season (and with it climbing season) came to an end while we were at a high camp on Quitaraju. It snowed on us quite a bit during the night but we were able to get down safely. Deep snow and (what we now realize is) Ana´s Typhoid kept us from summitting -- both made it too dangerous. We´re pretty sure it was Typhoid that caused Ana to feel too sick to try for the summit of Vallanarju, as well. So Peru hasn´t been our best trip ever -- only two summits out of five attempted. Then again, I guess we wouldn´t be doing it if it was easy, huh?

Ischinca and Urus Climbs

We´re back from our first successful expedition. We climbed Nevado Urus (18,133´) and Nevado Ischinca (18,249´).

Urus was more fun than we had expected. We found plenty of snow climbing, a short pitch of water ice, and even some easy 5th class rock. Okay, so we had to actually seek out the water ice and 5th class rock, but it was fun nonetheless. Ana didn´t sleep well the night before, and consequently stopped about 600´ short of the summit. Mark pressed on, and summited a short time later.

The day following Urus, we bivied about 1300´ higher than base camp to help us acclimatize and make the Ischinca summit day a bit shorter. (Bivy means camp without a tent.) Of course, the weather didn´t cooperate, and the day we decide to open bivy is the only day it snowed. Luckily, we found a little cave and so were able to get out of the storm. We weren´t really expecting the weather to improve, but to our delight, things cleared up and by 10:00 pm, the skies were crystal clear. We woke at 1:30 AM, had breakfast, cached our bivy gear and started towards Ischinca. We got to the glacier at 4:45 AM, which was a bit faster than we´d anticipated. We heard the glacier was ¨easy enough that you really don´t need to be roped up¨ but since it was dark, we decided to go ahead and rope up. As I started climbing the glacier, I noticed a lot of crevasses, fallen seracs, and I couldn´t help but notice the booms, groans and pops in the glacier. I was thinking, ¨if this is an easy glacier, I´m in trouble.¨ After about 500 vertical feet, the climbing had only gotten harder, and the noises had only gotten louder, so I decided to bail. It was at the moment I turned around to descend that I noticed two headlamps on a rock ridge a few hundred feet above us. Those headlamps made me realize the obvious: we were on the wrong section of the glacier!

After down-climbing 500´ and climbing about 1000´ of scree and rotten rock, we made it back onto the right route, and got onto the right section of the glacier. Once we were on the right route, the glacier was indeed very easy, and we decided to forego a rope so we could move faster through the pentetente-laden glacier. After a few more hours, we reached the only real technical pitch of climbing on the route -- some easy but dense ice, which followed a ramp over a crevasse. The ramp lead to the narrow summit ridge, and some beautiful views.

The descent seemed to take forever, but we were back at Base Camp by 1:30 pm. We pitched our tent, ate some lentil soup and took a nap.

We had originally planned to climb Toqllaraju as well, but we were quickly running out of food, and after a night where both of us dreamt of pizzas, chicken, burritos and beer, we awoke with clear plans of feasting that night. Ana also developed a cold that night, which would reduce the liklihood of a successful summit, so we figured why suffer without food for a few more nights? We found some donkeys, an arriero (donkey driver) and headed back for town.

Once in Huaraz, we ate a great meal and drank a bunch of wine at Bistro de los Andes. After calling our folks, we then headed to a favorite bar, drank some beers, and then walked to another restaurant for part 2 of the feast. We finished our food, but not our beers at the second restaurant, and wandered back to our hotel for a great night´s sleep.

Life in Huaraz: What´s it Like?

So many people have asked us about life in Huaraz, that we thought we´d post a Day In The Life article, and organize it by the questions people ask.

Where are you staying?
We´re staying at a hostal called Albergue Churup. It´s a four-story place with about 16 rooms, a kitchen, a small courtyard, several sitting rooms, free access to new release DVD´s (we watched Mr and Mrs Smith, for example), a book exchange (you just swap your book for another), and most importantly a very friendly staff. Juan (the grown son and general manager) speaks very good English; everybody else speaks only Spanish. There is a great rooftop terrace with awesome views of the mountains.

We did a video tour of our hostal for those who are really interested.

How do you get internet access What about phones?
There are dozens of internet cafes here. We found one that is fairly fast and has very safe computers. They all cost one Peruvian Sol per hour, which equates to about $0.30. It takes a LOONG time to upload all our pictures, but at $0.30 per hour it doesn´t matter too much.

We use Skype to make phone calls. It is free to call people who use Skype, and only costs about $0.02 per minute to call normal phones, so it´s much cheaper than any other option.

Where do you buy food/gas/equipment for expeditions?
For food, there is an open air market with just about everything under the son. The challenge is making sure the vendors don´t inflate the prices for us gringos. It can also be hard to figure out how to say certain things like ¨basil¨ or ¨baking powder¨. But we´ve managed to get almost all the food we need there. For those hard-to-find things, there are a couple of small supermarkets. They stock things like powdered potatoes, powdered milk, ziplocks, etc.

There are tons of little adventure tourism places around here, and most of them stock gas canisters for camping stoves. We decided to use a stove with pressurized gas canisters rather than a ¨white gas¨ stove, and now that we´re down here, we´re happy we made that choice, since there seems to be ample supply of the canisters. They seem to cost about 1.5 to 2 times as much as they do in the States or Europe, but that´s just life.

We luckily haven´t lost anything or forgotten to bring anything with us. If we do happen to need some climbing equipment, we should be able to find it, but it will be used (and thus of questionable quality) and expensive. We did decide to get rid of a few things ourselves, and managed to barter them for the use of some mules and a couple of long-distance taxi rides.


What are the restaurants like? What are you eating?
From spending $1 per person for local dinners to $20 per person for more elaborate meals, Huaraz has a tremendous breadth of options. We have found several restaurants with high quality regional cusine with things like Spiced Chicken (Aji de Gallina) to Beef and Fries (Lomo Saltado) to Guinea Pig (Cuy). There is a great little pizzeria as well, which will even deliver to our hostal. One of the most common foods in Peru is roasted chicken with fries. You just have to decide whether you want a quarter chicken, a half chicken or a whole chicken. There are plenty of international options as well, including a place that specializes in Crepes, several Itallian places, and a couple of French and Indian places. The only thing we can´t seem to find is good Mexican food; at this point, we´d pay $50 for Taco Bell. And of course, we are also cooking for ourselves in the hostal kitchen. We usually have cereal or toast for breakfast with coffee or mate de coca, and we cook dinners for ourselves a few times per week.

Exploring tunnels in 3000 year old structures

Today, we visited Chavín de Huántar on the east (i.e. other) side of the Cordillera Blanca. The Chavín culture pre-dates the Incas by 2000 years, living from 1000 BC to 200 BC. The site we visited was their religious, political and cultural capital. The highlight of the experience was exploring the structures´ endless underground tunnels on our bellies.

The Chavín showed remarkable leadership in art, architecture and culture in such ancient times. The buildings´ corners were exactly 90 degrees, and aligned along the cardinal directions precisely. The construction is reminiscent of early Egyptian pyramids, though the purpose was entirely different. The Chavín de Huántar site was built as a religious center, where ceremonies, rites and sacrifices were performed, and religious figures were housed.

There were rooms and chambers throughout the structure, and both walking and ventilating tunnels connected them. Much, though certainly not all, of the site had been excavated. A striking aspect of the site was how accessible everything was. Other than current digs and particularly fragile features, visitors were able to explore every nook and cranny.

<-- Ana walking up some stairs in one of the larger tunnels. This tunnel system contained many chambers. Many of the chambers had small alcoves, which we guessed were either for storage, placement of decoration/statues or cooking. The chambers also had very specific stonework around the doors, which seemed to imply the insertion of hinges and doors. Ellaborate stone carvings were present in some of the chambers and still remaining on part of the exterior. The carvings represented ¨the feline,¨ which was the primary deity of the civilization, as well as other religious stories and figures. We found the civilization and its accomplishments truly remarkable.




<-- Mark exiting one of the smaller tunnel systems. This tunnel traveled in two directions: uphill and downhill. The uphill branch first split into three separate tunnels, all equally confining. The middle path then climbed a series of very steep stairs, which opened into a six-foot-high chamber, and continued its climb too steeply to follow. The others narrowed too tightly to follow after 20-80 feet.


You can also click here and here to see some videos. They are big (30MB and 42MB), but they show us crawling in some of the tunnels. You should turn up the brightness on your monitor if they appear too dark. The second video is when Ana realized she may be a bit claustrophobic. You can also see all our photos of Chavín here.

Skunked in Peru

We got SKUNKED on our first expedition into the Cordillera Blanca. Was the climbing too hard? Did we get blown off route? Were the conditions too heinous to continue? Nope, we got sick, damn it.

There´s a saying that within a few weeks of becoming an EMT, you will be faced with an emergency medical situation. Mine (Mark´s) was a car accident in Yellowstone, which happened within 10 days of finishing my course. I was certain Ana´s was going to happen when a French lady exploded a propane/butane cartridge in the tent next to us (yes, she really did). But nope, Ana´s first medical emergency was me. I suck. But before I get to that, there are more fun bits.

Our departure was postponed a bit because Ana ate what we like to call ¨foot cheese¨ (otherwise known as un-pasteurized cheese). Of course, that kept her in el baño for a couple of days. While we were waiting, Mark caught a cold from an Aussie staying hostel hostal.

The hike to base camp wasn´t bad, though neither of us were feeling great (see above maladies). Climbers follow ¨burros¨ for about 9 miles and 3000 vertical feet to Ischinca Base Camp. The trail is well worn and ascends first through beautiful dense forests before breaking out into the tundra above treeline.

Base camp is at 14,480´ above sea level. We found a nice place to camp next to the main branch of the glacial stream that runs through camp. The views of Toqlliaraju and Urus were amazing, and the granite monoliths along the valley were truly inspiring. The temperatures ranged from 75 F during the day to around 25 F during the night. There was even a ¨7-Eleven¨though we´ll have to post a picture next time. On the down side, there were about 50 pack animals around camp, and the toilet rules weren´t well followed. So everyone had to hike about half a mile upstream to get reasonable water (which we treated anyway).

We basically planned to climb every day, but felt too rotten to try anything. Finally, on the third day, we just made ourselves go on an acclimatization hike, hoping it would help us feel better. Well, remember that cold I caught in Huaraz? At 16,200´it turned to pneumonia. We realized on the third night that I was getting sicker and we needed to descend. So Ana procured some burros to haul our equipment down the valley, and we started down.

Our retreat was quite an ordeal. I was either hypoxic (lacking oxygen) or had a high fever. Nonetheless, I don´t remember the entire thing, but there are parts of it I do remember but wish I didn´t. For example, I remember kicking dirt at Ana because she was ¨pushing me¨ with her eyes from 30 feet behind. As Ana said, I went ¨totally out of my head.¨ So that´s the story of Ana´s first emergency meunfortunatelyence. I was unfortunatly one tough patient, and getting me down the 9 miles and 3000 vertical feet of trail took a lot of patience and strength. I can´t thank her enough.

But we´re healing nicely in Huaraz, and plan to celebrate Peru´s independence day in a few days. After that, assuming we´re well, we´ll head back into the mountains and see what happens.

First few days in Peru

We arrived safely in Lima on the morning of the 13th, and took the first bus to Huaraz (the gateway city to the Cordillera Blanca mountain range). The first half of the bus ride was along the coast (sand and sand dunes), and then we woke up from a nap and were heading UP tiny mountain roads into Huaraz. The trip began at sea level and topped out near 13,000´ before ending around 10,000´ in Huaraz. We´ve been staying at a hostal called Alburgue Churup, which is fairly nice (very clean and nicely decorated), if a bit pricey. On the 14th, we began shopping for food, fuel and maps for our first expedition. The food and fuel were remarkably easy to get; the map was a bit more difficult but still obtainable. The open air market was interesting, and we learned that the prices are pretty much fixed.

We´re going to take a rest day tomorrow, and head into the mountains on Sunday the 17th. The first expedition should last between two and three weeks. We´ll have some good photos when we return!

Bums Fly to Peru

This is the last blog post from the US. We're flying to Lima tomorrow evening, and plan to be in Huaraz on Wednesday. Everything has fallen into place, so we're now officially bums. Or, uh "tourism consultants" if a cop asks.

Thanks to everyone for all the nice goodbye dinners and farewell toasts. They will carry us well.

Loose Ends Tightening

Ana passed her EMT tests! She is a certified Emergency Medical Technician with a Wilderness designation. Woo hoo, my wife can treat my injuries now! She flies into Dallas Saturday at midnight, where I'll pick her up.

My passport came through, so we ARE leaving for Peru on Tuesday. It took a trip to Houston, a BUNCH of phone calls and a lot of patience, but it's done. For future reference, USE A PRIVATE EXPEDITER. Please remind me if I forget. The extra $150 would be money well spent, even if it only meant I wouldn't have to sit next to another dirty-clothes-wreaking man for an hour and a half.

Boomer seems to be happy at her grandparents' house. We'll miss her. :-(

festering fresNO

Well, despite the optomistic demographics Blaine provided, I survived! I've never been so intrigued by humans in my life. My first ambulance run was to a young man with a first time seizure... at a clean needle clinic. I'm glad I had been prepared with all the moulage in class for what I saw. I could go on for hours, but I really liked the ER rotation best. I was actually able to help out! That made me happy. I was surprised to find that I actually have a stomach for the ER, but not so much for ambulance runs. You get to do more treatment, care, and following of patients in the ER. There are a lot of stories there, but nothing I care to put on a website.
Linh, sorry about not getting back to you!!!! You would love Yosemite, if you haven't already been here. Yes, Yon, you would thoroughly enjoy becoming an EMT-Paramedic or a W-EMT-B. It's totally you! And to Mr. Anonomous who figured out that we're really just lying about doing anything other than live at the railway station lu... well, maybe you're right...
:-) I miss you guys!

Keep your fingers crossed! We're Dealing with the Government!!

As I got ready for my trip to Australia, I realized my passport looked weird. The title page was smeared, looking like I had doctored it (I hadn't). Anyway, I just prayed it would get me through the trip to Australia, and it did, though with a bit of suspicion from the Australian customs agent.

Anyway, when I got home, I had TWO WEEKS to get a new passport. I sent the application expedited, and am anxiously awaiting a new passport. I called today and it's still not "in the system" which means our trip may likely not go off as planned. Keep your fingers crossed, otherwise we'll probably be touring the US for a while before we are able to get more Miles tickets.

California Dreamin'

I'm half way through the Wilderness EMT course! Woo-Hoo! This has been a pretty intense couple of weeks. There has been little time for sleep, much less thoughts outside of the training I'm going through. It's been great so far! Yosemite National Park is beautiful. I hiked up to the Upper Yosemite Falls last weekend, and I highly recommend it! You can actually feel the power of the water hurling itself over the rocks when you get to the top.The group of instructors and students are pretty amazing people, too. One of the instructors recommended hiking the ~8 mile trip to the top of Glacier Point and back down, so some of us are doing that in the morning. The place we're staying is great. There's a swimming hole fed by a waterfall, hiking trails, and the YARTS bus picks you up and takes you to Yosemite (or town) for a dollar during the week. The food is tasty and healthy. I have my 'clinicals' (12 hour ambulance shift and 8 hour ER shift) July 2-3, so that should be interesting (holiday weekend in Fresno, CA). The people who have already had their clinicals have come back from Fresno with stories of Machette avulsions/lacerations to include bone fragments, multiple gunshot wounds, overdoses, and a TON of motor vehicle accidents with all sorts of trauma. I'm psyching myself up for my rotation. We have 'scenarios' every day where part of the class act (with stage make-up) as patients, and the rest of us have to go and treat them. We had a river rafting trip accident as a 'scenario', and we were so involved in treating our "patients" that we never saw the commercial raft trip that stopped to help us, but our instructors told us afterward that the tourists were pretty much traumatized by what they saw. OOPS. The scenarios are extremely helpful in giving us training in the short 4 weeks we have in the class. I'll end this blog entry here, as it's Friday night and I'm in desperate need of sleep and am likely to ramble for ages... I'm going to listen to the jazz band on the deck before bed.

Mark's Walkabout

G'day! I had to come to Sydney for work this week. What a great place for my last customer visit, huh? I've had to work nearly every day so far, but I've been able to squeeze in quite a bit of fun stuff as well. From the Opera House on the Sydney Harbor to The Rocks to Manly Bay to the Darling Harbor, it's been a great trip. I had a couple of good tour guides in Shaun (Motive's sales rep for this area) and Bui (from one of a partner company).

Sydney is a really nice city, but honestly little like I expected. Though the juxtaposition is strange, it's both more urban and more nature-centric than I'd expected. More urban in that there is a LOT of business here. More nature-centric in that there are parks, harbors, trees and birds just everywhere. I was also surprised at how hilly the city is. It's a lot like San Francisco honestly, but more cosmopolitan and not as crowded-feeling. It seems like a really wonderful place to live, and I certainly want to come back for more.

Tomorrow, I'm planning to climb the Harbor Bridge on a tour, and then I'll meet my friend Bryce. We are going to Royal National Park to try to spot some breaching whales. The park is about 40 minutes south of here, just on the other side of the spot where Captain Cook originally landed. Hopefully I'll have some good photos of whales tomorrow.

Hot Times in Tejas

This is probably the second time I've used a computer in the last week... yipee! I apparently have a few emails piling up in my yahoo inbox - I'll get right on that! Texas has been fun. We've been visiting with family and friends, adjusting to the hot/humid climate, and eating lots of Texas BBQ! The Kerrville Folk Festivalwas just AWESOME this past weekend. We camped among the "Hey Sisters" of Texas ("Hey Sister, can you spare some change?") and wandered from Camp Patchouli to Camp Naked (we apparently missed Naked Happy Hour) to Camp Bayou Love (I didn't ask) to listen to the music they had at each camp. Thanks to our friend Ryan who organized our gathering and provided the music for our unnamed camp (Camp Dude, Where's My Capo? is probably the only camp name nominee I'm willing to divulge publicly...). Mark purchased a straw cowboy hat to,"Keep the sun off his neck."

Farewell, Colorado.

We're leaving Denver! We've said farewell to our friends, and this is Ana's last day in the office at Proxima. The Subaru is stuffed to the gills -- pictures to come -- with our gear, but Boomer still has her own little space carved out in the back for the drive down to Texas. Our friend referred to our car endearingly as the Ghetto Mobile (low-rider) that’s about to bottom-out at any moment.

Boomer is spending the day saying goodbye to her boyfriend, Luke Golan, Jonathan's fiercely handsome Rottweiler. Ana's colleagues took her out to a great lunch, and she received a gift certificate to Ruth's Chris Steak House so that she and Mark could, "Enjoy one last good meal before years of nothing but GORP and freeze-dried lasagna." Believe me, we'll remember the steaks for a long time! We’ll both miss Ana’s colleagues.

After dinner with our friend Linh tonight, we're taking off for Amarillo (...and then Austin). Farewell, Colorado! We'll miss you, but will see you soon... This is sooo surreal.

We're Closed

The house is history!! We closed on it earlier today. Yeah for we homeless!!

House Closing...Maybe

The closing date for our house is going to move back to May 3rd. It's a long story, but basically the buyers made a mistake and caused a delay. We're still going to move into the hotel on Saturday, but we won't be officially free until the 3rd. Keep your fingers crossed that this is the last hiccup!

Moved!!

Contents of our house: two kayaks, some work clothes, two crash pads, Boomer's ottoman, two mountain bikes and our stuff for S America.

After two days and three trips with the 26 foot "Big Hauler" we're essentially done moving. The storage unit is RIDICULOUSLY full. We have things stacked 10 feet high throughout it. It's kind of funny to think that there is nine feet of stuff stacked on top of our lawn mower. Or that we have a lamp shade stacked on top of a chair stacked on top of a chair stacked on top of a chair stacked on top of a table stacked on top of a chair, with a garbage pale lid stuffed in the middle somewhere. I have absolutely no faith that our stuff will stay how we so gently hurled it. Anyway, it's done and that's what matters.

We're scheduled to close on the house on Thursday, and everything seems to be in order. We're moving into a Hampden Inn on Saturday. We'll have to dump the crash pads and kayaks (which we actually forgot to move) in the storage unit before we "move" to the hotel. We're going to keep our home phone number while we're in the hotel, but I expect it will go away in June.

Yard Work

I just mowed the lawn and weeded the garden. It cracks me up because it is the ONLY time I will do yard work in 2005, so I had to share it.

The House is Under Contract

Yeah!! The house is under contract!! Yeah!!

Say goodbye to our dear home, we'll be homeless soon . . .

Just an Update

Ana's car sold on Saturday. We did the garage sale over the weekend, too. (It snowed almost the entire time, which was just lovely for business.) The house seems to be getting plenty of interest, and definitely some nibbles but no contracts yet. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Ana is continuing her training program while she is in the UK for the next couple of weeks. She is in the brunt of the Endurance Phase, which is definitely the most grueling, since you have to put in lots of hours and don't tend to see much result. In a few weeks, she'll move on to the Strength Phase and finally into the Power Phase just before we leave. Mark is focusing on Strength and Power between now and "take off".

That's all for now.

The Point of No Return

Ana submitted her letter of resignation; Mark's boss knows about the trip; we have plane tickets; the house is on the market. The river that is The Big Trip is flowing, and there's no pushing it back uphill. It's scary and exciting - that's for sure.

Ana just made our flight reservations. We're leaving on July 12th at 6:45 PM from Dallas and returning on December 29th at 8:05 am. Since Ana's Wilderness EMT course ends on July 8th, it's going to be tight for her to get from Yosemite Valley to Dallas in just three days.

Mark's boss figured out that he was leaving. The conversation couldn't have gone better(Thanks, Andy!) and having it off his shoulders is a huge relief. Mark's last day at work will be July 1st.

House on the Market

The house is on the market!! you can see it here.

We're thrilled to finally have the remodelling done. It seemed to be an endless project, but we've finally finished. We did the last touch-ups last night. You can see part of the kitchen by clicking the Photographs link after following this link to our house. Now we've just got to finish the deep cleaning, and we're home free!

We're planning a training climb this weekend. We have been planning to do Kiener's route on Longs Peak, but we've heard the conditions are downright lousy. We know someone who did it on Saturday; it took him almost 24 straight hours to finish it, and avalanches were constantly threatening. We'll just have to wait until later and check the weather . . .