Yes, it seems the climbing bug has finally got its little bug-teeth into Angie. She even got her first pair of down-turned shoes the other day, bringing her total shoe tally to three!

Our current location, Bishop, CA

As for 2013, it looks like we have another fun year lined up, including return trips to Catalunya, Spain in spring and autumn and Rocklands, South Africa for the southern hemisphere winter (May through August).

So, without further ado, here are some pictures from the road:

* Road-trip stops included Red River Gorge in Kentucky; Little Rock City, Rocktown, Horse Pens in the Southeast; Northern New Mexico; Hueco Tanks in Texas; Bishop, Los Angeles, and Death Valley in California; and Red Rocks, Las Vegas.

Not traveling light (it’s all relative I guess): our luggage shortly after meeting up in NYC

With a two-week break from school for Fiestas Patrias holidays, Ana and I decided to hike the Huayhuash (pronounced why-wash) trek, which took us seven days.

Being the more hard-core of the duo, Ana needed some convincing to go with an arriero (donkey driver). In the end, she caved (whew!) and thus we hired Monsueto whose burros bore the weight of our packs. We provided food and cooked for Monsueto, but he cleaned up the dishes and set up our tents. Luxury indeed!

As we learned later, we probably shocked our Monsueto with our fancy vegetarian dinners. One day I included a carrot in his lunch, which I later found him feeding to the donkeys. When we recounted this story later, our Huaracina friend became hysterical at the thought of him wanting to snack on raw carrots. So turns out eating raw carrots is a gringo thing…

More of a meat and potatoes guy, Monsueto makes sure we know the way before we set off in the morning

The days generally went like this: We woke up early to freezing cold temps. We made oatmeal in the vestibule of our tent while still wrapped in all our clothes and sleeping bags. We packed up camp and bade farewell to Monsueto, who walked much faster than us.

Then, we’d walk and enjoy the views. We hiked up and down at least one pass per day. The hike is at high altitude–between 3500 and 5000 meters–but luckily I was now fully acclimatized. (Side note: In addition to tea and lunch, taking pictures and consulting the map are excellent excuses for breaks.)

With the exception of one long day, we would arrive to camp around mid-afternoon. We’d immediately start cooking, so we could eat while the sun was shining (read: while it was still warm). We were usually in bed by grandma hour. And then we’d start all over again early the next morning.

The area is populated with sheep herders and subsistence farmers, who live in huts like this one

A disclaimer on my unfashion-forward jean patch: I wore through the knees of my jeans, and Huaraz does not have pants long enough for me!

Color-coordination with nature

Tea time with a view

Rivers running red

An infinity-shaped lake on one of our final days

At the top of our first pass. Only eight more to go!

I’m not sure what this is, but we only saw one of its kind

Ana midway up San Antonio pass

The view the top made it worth it!

Cheesy yoga pose photo

Our friend Alexis surveys the scene from the top

The final campsite comes into view

The sun hits the mountains before it bids us farewell for the night

We emerged from the trek dirty and grateful for the comfort of a bed! No epic adventure stories–things all in all went smoothly–but it was a beautiful and peaceful experience.

Gracias, helpful burritos!

Since Huaraz IS a mountaineering town, I decided to attempt a mountain summit.

We chose Ishinca, considered an easy mountain in the Cordillera Blanca. And I’m sure any mountaineer who reads this will laugh at my newbie account of the experience!

First, you have to get your stuff up to base camp. We took a taxi a few hours out of town, where we met up with our arriero (donkey-driver). He loaded up our gear on the burros and we were off on a several hour hike, happily free of our heavy packs.

Some campo-style traffic on the drive to meet up with our arriero

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Enjoying a pack-free hike in!

The mountains come into view

Then, you set up camp.

Our camp was in a spectacular valley

But then the real fun: you try to go to sleep early. Because you’re getting up in the middle of the night (in our case, 1:30 am), in the freezing cold, and you’re going to hike, in the dark, in clunky boots, to get to the snow line.

For this mountain, this hike was several hours long and pretty damn tiring. I’m happy it was dark, because I couldn’t see all the torture ahead of us!

On the positive, the sensation of hiking shrouded in darkness, with shadowy mountains all around you, is sensational. Headlamp lights from higher-up mountaineers glimmered around us like stars.

The sky shifted from black to grey and finally to the pale glow of near-dawn

We took a steep switchback uphill, which turned out to give us a fantastic view–but was a bit off course. As we retraced some steps, I realized that I was more-than-usual zonked from the hike. I was exhausted, dizzy, despondent–and suddenly nauseous.

Yep, I had soroche–altitude sickness.

We were about to bring out the crampons and ice axes and begin the actual mountaineering.

I had to make a quick call. Either I turned back now, letting the rest of the group summit. Or I needed to continue on and actually make it to the top, because once we were on the snow, I couldn’t turn back alone.

The point of no return: where the snow-line begins

I decided to turn back to avoid making the entire group miss out on their summit moment. I struggled on the easy walk back to base camp, and I realized I had made the tough, but right, call. When I reached my tent, I curled up in my sleeping bag and slowly came back to life over the next few hours.

Snapping photos during my slow-but-steady decent to the comforts of my sleeping bag

And so concludes my first mountaineering experience*–which was sadly sin summit. Will I try it again? I’ve got to be honest, I’m going with no. Even without the soroche, mountaineering just has too high of a suffering-to-pleasure ratio for my tastes! But to each his own, right?

(*To clarify, mountaineering is climbing mountains…whereas rock climbing is climbing rock faces. As I learned, they are two very different pursuits!)

Aye mamita–I am without words!

Steve starting up their 9-day-on-the-wall climb

Oh what a view!

Meanwhile, this much-less-hardcore half of the Stangie duo is leaving Sunday for the eight-day hike around the Cordillera Huayhuash. I was feeling apprehensive about hiking for so long–and at fairly high altitude–but if Steve do what he just did, then I think I can handle walking!

Steve and team, gracias for the hearty dose of perspective–and psyche!

My first few days were a little blurry–I was fresh off of about 30 hours of travel to get from New York to Lima and then up north to Huaraz.

Huaraz isn’t the most tranquila of towns. Combis honk (and run red lights). Stray dogs wander and sometimes howl. And this summer, nearly every main road is under construction to resurface roads and mend the strained sewage system.

One of the rare construction signs. People just go about their business during the construction, and on more than one occasion I’ve nearly fallen into an unmarked ditch.

However, Huaraz is full of friendly people, lots of activity, fun bars and restaurants, and a lively central market selling everything from whole chickens to custom-made clothes.

Veggies in the market.

And have I mentioned the views? The city is surrounded by snow-peaked mountains, which are what draw many of the mountaineers that convene in town pre-and-post expedition.

Rooftop views of the Cordilla Blanca mountains

In Huaraz, I’m getting a taste of small-town living. It’s hard to walk down the street or hang out in a cafe or restaurant without seeing someone you know (or who knows someone you know). In this way, it takes longer to do just about anything–yet the experience of getting something done is pretty friendly and social.

Anyone for a land-line call?

I’ve become a regular at this fruit stand

I’m currently gorging myself on these Cape Gooseberries, which I haven’t seen since Cape Town two years ago! Here they’re called aguaymantos. And they are ricisimo!

I’ve found a living arrangement–I’m renting a room on the top floor of a guesthouse in town called Hostal Caroline. It’s a great deal, and I have access to the hostel’s amenities while also having a private room on the top floor with views of the mountains. And breakfast made for me each morning! I will sublet a friend’s apartment while she’s away for the month of August; otherwise, this will be ‘home’ till the end of September.

Mi casa amarilla en Caroline

I have also found the lady who makes tamales. They’re like the ones in Mexico but with a twist: olives and pickled onions and ají sauce. Mmmm. Tamales should be their own food category.

Jugos! What I love is that they don’t even have to-go cups.

Our writing workshop is underway. We have about 35 girls between ages 11-17 enrolled in our workshop, which Ana and I are calling EscribaChica (which means “WriteGirl” in Spanish).

Ana and I have set up a blog for the workshops, where you can follow along and read work (in Spanish and English) by our awesome writers.

This week we wrote our first poems–some soon to appear on our blog–and I was blown away by some of the things the girls wrote. And it was their first time writing a poem! Creativity is just bubbling over in some of them.

Bi-lingual blogging with EscribaChica

We’d love for you to make comments on our blog on the work we post. We plan to read any comments aloud in class to the girls. (We will translate those in English into Spanish). Trust me, they will really appreciate your comments and feedback on what they write, so don’t be shy!

Some of our writers hard at work decorating their journals on the first day of our workshops

We just finished our second week, and after each session I leave feeling motivated and excited by the eagerness of our fledgling writers. And they are teaching me so much already.

Tania shows off the sticker she received after reading her work aloud

As our workshops happen Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I have the rest of the week open to explore.

So far, I’ve been to sport climbing-and-bouldering area Hatun Machay twice, and I’m eager to be a regular there! The guiding company Andean Kingdom runs a shuttle there every morning, so it’s easy to take the two hour ride. The same company runs the refujio there it has the (wonderful) vibe and feel of an Argentinian refujio (no surprise since the owners are from Argentina).

Literally, the first thing that happened when I arrived at Hatun Machay: someone walked by with a dazed sheep, just about to slaughter it for dinner that evening.

The refujio’s gatita, Paris, who just might make me want to get a cat one day.

Manu stops to take in the view on the way back to the refjuio.

Sun setting over the rock forest of Hatun Machay

Chess by candlelight

The rock in Hatun is rough volcanic and the majority of the routes fall in the 6/7 grade range, which means I have lots of options in my grade and plenty of people climbing around my level. I’m excited to have access to such a cool place with such a lively community of climbers.

Ana choosing our next route

Marty practicing how to volar.

Hatun is at about 4300 meters in elevation, which is definitely a challenge! You’ll get to the top of something that felt easy, yet it feels like you’ve just come back from an intense run. The first day there I had pretty bad altitude sickness too, but hopefully the worst has passed.

On the way back to town, we caught the sun setting over the Cordilla Blanca range. We all hung out of the combi to snap a few photos of the pink illuminating the mountains!

This past weekend, I went out on a two day hike with some people I’ve met since coming to Huaraz. We were hiking at about 4500 meters, which with a pack and about 35 kilometers to cover over the two days, made it rather tiring. Not to mention that half the time we weren’t on a set trail…and I was still not acclimated to the altitude.

After the first day, we arrived at a small lake where we rested a bit and took in the view.

Then we made camp. Despite the extra weight, I was grateful to have a warm tent. It gets downright freezing at nighttime!

Mountain wild flowers closing up as the sun sets

The next day, we hiked up to a ritual cave area and then onto a second lake, where we drank from the (rapidly receding) glacial water.

Cave paintings

Katherine hanging out at lake numero dos

Marshy ground gives way to lush greens and tiny flowers blooming

Then we made a slow descent back to civilization along the spine of a ridge, which gave us fantastic views of the Cordillera Blanca range

The crew taking in the view as we reached the top

Mountains aside, parts of the dry, brown, dramatic hills reminded me of Southern California–and I felt like a bird, given our 360-view of the magnificent scenery

Scoping out our route back to town

As we descended back into the valley, local campisneos helped point the way back to the combi which we needed to take back into town. We counted over 22 people crammed into the little van–not including all the babies on the backs of their mothers!

The cramped ride afforded a photo opp of this lady’s awesome hat. Many of the women here wear this style of hat.

Meanwhile, in the (north of the) Northern Hemisphere….

Steve and co are attempting their route on The Impossible Wall in Greenland, which they were expecting to take about 10 days. Hopefully I’ll get a sat phone message soon telling me how it went!

The rest of the photos from Perú are here, EscribaChica workshop photos are here, and the Artic Team’s photos are here.

Hasta pronto!

Spain rocked. Who can complain about hanging with fun people, camping in peaceful places, speaking castellano, eating jamon serrano, drinking vino, and oh yeah, climbing! We only scratched the surface, but the climbing possibilities feel endless.

(Above photo: Sunset over Siruana. That’s a refujio and restaurant perched on the edge!)

Cataluña was surprisingly unpopulated, with nearly-empty ancient towns and a countryside full of of almond and olive trees. We were awed by the authenticity of crumbling centuries-old buildings, beautiful churches with hand-laid stonework, and even forts and castles!

Bees buzzing around the flowering tree in Rodellar’s churchyard

View from the ancient Moorish fort in Siruana

Looking over the town of Rodellar

Knock, knock

Cars actually fit through that entry-way!

Spring came into bloom, from first buds of the almond trees…

…to sampling their fruits…

…to finding poppies dotting every windy road…

…to seeing roses bloom in the vineyard-trail towns

My friend Amanda joined us in Barcelona for a week, where we enjoyed some urban wonders in the city of sun, beaches, famous artists, and yummy food and drinks. One tip: if you stay in the Gracia neighborhood, you’ll avoid the maddening crowds in the more touristy parts like El Gotic.

Gaudi’s Park Guell was one of my favorite spots. Gaudi was one seriously creative guy

Amanda soaking in the view of Barcelona

Afternoon light on the tile work in the Park Guell

Playing in light-and-shadows

Hypnotic hang drum musicians (to hear what it sounds like, check out this artist’s site)

Drinking mini-cava from straws in the streets

Colorful street art in El Gotic

Um, we a lot of gelato (check out the flavors: olive and Gorgonzola!)

Day hiking to the mirador in Montserrat

Amanda takes in Montserrat’s conglomerate formations (and makes my backpack look massive!)

We took the train to the beach town of Sitges to soak in some rays en la playa

Outside of Amanda’s Barcelona visit, a long-weekend with friends in Madrid, and one exciting experience in a Lleida dentist office, we stuck to simple life in the Cataluña countryside. We spent the majority of our time in Siruana but also climbed in Margalef, Rodellar, Oliana, and Montsant.

One of the charming cabañas at Refujio Kalandraka in Rodellar

And this is the view from the refujio: the valley and river of Rodellar. In-cre-ible!

Peaceful damn near our (gratis!) campsite in Margalef

We had some chilly days and nights in Siruana, including a hail storm one afternoon!

We were lucky enough to take part in several fun Spanish dinner parties, and this one featured the carving of a leg of jamon serrano. Mmmm. (P.S. Spain is not for vegetarians!)

And… here’s where I say something about the climbing. Specifically, my own. I’ve always loved the climbing scene, but the climbing itself has proven more difficult to love! I’m scared of falling. I forget my beta. I wasn’t improving.

I came close to quitting on a few occasions, yet for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to actually give it up. I guess I wanted in on the fun everyone else seemed to be having. But I also kept thinking, maybe I’m just not cut out for this. It just doesn’t come easily to me.

I had started to realize, however, that ‘climbing’ and ‘easy’ are not necessarily words that go hand-in-hand.

So in Spain, I stopped wondering if I should climb. Instead, I just put in a little more effort. I looked for lines to project. I took more falls. I climbed on days I didn’t feel like it. And then, I felt actual progress. Quickly, that feeling of achievement started to feel addicting. Climbing–the part on the wall, not just the hanging out part–had become fun! And the challenge was part of why it was fun. Sounds simple, but I sure had been making it difficult.

I owe a big thank you to this guy for his endless patience. It’s challenging to teach your significant other how to climb, especially when she’s me! I seriously might hold the record for slowest-person-to-take-to-climbing EVER.

Sign of crossing over to the dark side: using headlamp for non-camping purposes, such as augmenting a low-light situation for a mani-pedi. (Or maybe this is just a sign of someone who has camped too much?)

And just like that, our two-plus months in Spain were up. I left feeling like I was just getting started! I for one am very much looking forward to España, parte dos (y tres y cuatro y…)

Mil gracias to everyone who hosted and helped us out. Espero que nos vemos pronto!

Blue, sunny skies above Huaraz greeted me today

Meanwhile, Steve and company are sailing south of the coast of Greenland, where they’re making slow but steady progress towards land–and had their first ice encounter! They’ve been posting to their blog via their sat phone.

The team (minus Dave, who is joining them in Greenland) as they departed Scotland earlier this month

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