Rock climbing, Bouldering, A Christmas Concert, and Baking Cookies

So it's Christmas Eve, and it's about 80 degrees and sunny.  There are some decorations in stores and businesses, but it's nothing like things back home.

A few weekends ago I decided to take up a friend on his suggestion to go rock climbing at a gym that I've passed by a few times.  I went rock climbing for the first time as a freshman in high school for a field trip and loved it.  Last year I went in Mendoza, so it was exciting to get to try it again.

To save money and enjoy the weather I decided to ride my bike there.  I was anticipating a 25 minute ride, but due to the incline it was almost 45 minutes.

After getting the harness and shoes I went up for the first time.  It was more difficult than I remember, and I was a bit nervous as I got higher and higher.  After making it up most of the way I dropped and it was Eric's turn.  He gave me a quick refresher on how to belay (hold the ropes tight so the person climbing stays secure in case they fall), and up he went.  He scaled to the top easily and then made his way down.

Once he was safely down, an instructor from the gym came over and warned me that I wasn't securing the rope safely.  I felt pretty embarrassed and really bad that I put someone in danger.  The instructor showed me the correct moves, and then he watched me while I belayed the next time.  I felt much better after that.

After going up a few more times Eric asked me, "So, do you want to try some bouldering?"

"What's that?" I asked.

"You climb on an incline and upside down but with no rope."

"Sure, why not?"

I really wish I had brought my camera to take pictures, because it's not as nearly as dangerous as it sounds.  You climb walls that are maybe 7 or 8 feet tall, but they also protrude from the walls and are connected to parts of the ceiling that have areas for you to hold onto.  The entire area is covered in thick mats to cushion any fall that you might have.

Since I didn't need my harness for bouldering I proceeded to take it off and tripped on it and fell, much to the amusment of 2 11 year olds that were there bouldering too.  Since I'm not in as good shape as I used to be I wasn't able to do too much, but it was cool watching others climbing all over the place, up, and around the gym.  You really need strong upper body strength and a strong core to be able to excel at bouldering, both of which I'm unfortunately lacking right now.

After a few hours we headed out, and I went back home.  The ride back was much easier since it was downhill.  Then it was off to a Christmas concert.

I met up with a coworker, and we hung out for a bit before going to the concert.  It was free and in Plaza de Armas, the main square of Santiago.  I was impressed by how organized it was.  There were barricades up and chairs set up, We walked around the area and settled on some seats.

The concert was divided into two parts.  The first part was excerpts from operas and included Mozart's Overture to Figaro, Verdi's Nabucco, and Rossini's Barber of Seville.  In addition to the music there were dancers in festive costumes doing acrobats and entertaining the crowd.

The second half was Christmas carols.  It was a really nice concert, but I still couldn't get used to hearing Christmas carols in such warm weather.

The concert of course had its own influence of Chilean culture.  There was no mention of not smoking during the concert and it was outdoors, so people around us were lighting up during the actual concert.  There was a family in front of us who had a son who was jumping around, being loud, and playing with a balloon for most of the concert, and the parents didn't make much of an effort to calm him down.  The balloon popped around halfway through the concert, and after that he calmed down.

Even though it hasn't felt like Christmas, I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies to get into the spirit of things.  I never used my oven here much, as it gets expensive pretty quickly.  The thought of going out to buy cookie sheets and figure out all of the ingredients in Spanish almost persuaded me against it. 

Once I realized I could just use the pan that came with the oven and aluminum foil and with the help of some friends figuring out the ingredients, I was ready to go.  I had to go to a special store to get the chocolate chips, and they only sell them in 1 kilo (about 2 pound) bags.  They sell baking powder in much smaller containers here, and baking soda is actually sold in small plastic bags and is with the spices in the grocery store.  Here are the ingredients:

 And here's my substitue for a cookie sheet:

The cookie batter:

And the final product!

I spent the last half of this week bringing cookies to students and secretaries, into the office, and a few for myself as well.  In the end it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, and listening to Christmas carols while I baked made it that much more enjoyable.

My Christmas celebration will include a pancake brunch today, meeting up with friends later tonight, calling family and friends tomorrow, and a Christmas dinner tomorrow night.

Since I didn't mail out Christmas cards, I'd like to post this for everyone reading:

Mendoza Day 2

So yesterday was an awesome day.

It started out with rock climbing.  I was so glad to see that it was warm and the sun was shining, and it made up for the cloudy and cool day during ziplining yesterday.  After making the trip there, I was glad to see that there was someone else doing the rock climbing with me.  Victoria was a woman from New Zealand but living in the UK, and our guide was Fernando.  Before we even got to the rocks to climb, Fernando noticed a 2 peso bill in the grass.  As he picked it up, I noticed another 2 peso bill and then a 5 peso bill. This sent us all in a flurry to try and look around further to see if we could find any 100 peso bills, but to no avail.  He told us to hang onto the money so we could buy fruit later.  I thought he was joking since where we were was so desolate, so I didn´t think much of it.

We got to the rocky area, and Fernando pulled out a bunch of shoes from his backpack for us to try on.  He was like the Mad Shooer or something.  Fernando got us secured and sent us up for our first climb.  I went first, and it was really challenging.  Being able to keep both of your feet and both of your hands secure was rougher than I thought it would be.  After stopping and slipping several times, I finally made it to the top.  Then Fernando helped me repel back down.  I told him how hard it was for me and asked if there were any easier ones to try out.  He then told me that in Argentina they rate climbs between grade 4 and grade 9, and that the one I did was a grade 4.


Victoria then took her turn, and she struggled too.  After she came back down, Fernando gave us some tips.  I learned that clinging to the rock for dear life does not help you, as you need to keep your body away from the rock in order to be able to move around and get from one place to another.

Our next few climbs went better though.  We were getting the hang of it with more practice, and it was easier.  I actually didn´t complete the second climb the first time around, as I stopped a few meters short of the end becuase I couldn´t find a way up and was too tired.  Victoria and Fernando encouraged me to give it another try after Victoria finished it, and that time I was able to do it.  It was such an awesome feeling to have completed it.

The sun started shining more brightly, and it was getting hard to see when looking to climb up.  Add this to the fact that my glasses were getting looser and looser and were almost slipping off, and it made it that much challenging.  Victoria was experiencing the same thing with her sunglasses.  I also realized that I had a tissue pack in my pocket to wipe away my sweat between climbs, but apparently I lost it on one of the climbs.

After a while, we decided to take our lunch break.  We sat in the grass and ate, and it was so peaceful to only be able to hear the water going by and no noise of the city.  We also heard the occasional rooster that apparently slept in.   Before I forgot I told Fernando about my glasses.  He then disappeared for a few seconds, and he came back with a kit to tighten glasses.  He tightened both of our glasses, and it seemed totally random that he had the tools with him to do that. 

We went back to the climbing area, and now Fernando was setting up some grade 5 climbs for us.  I thought grade 4 was challenging enough, but these were much steeper and had you climbing over rocks and having to reach up and around a bit. 

While Fernando was up at the top, we heard him whistle loudly and then call to us "¿Quieren fruta?"  We then told him that we wanted apples and bananas, and he came down a minute later.  It turns out that a fruit truck was driving by, and he whistled to him to get his attention.  I gave him the money we found in the grass, and he came back with a large bagful of fruit.

We enjoyed the fresh fruit and then did a few more climbs.  I was getting the hang of it and enjoying it, but it was wearing me out.  I hadn´t done something very active like that in a while, but I was enjoying it despite that. 

Then as Fernando set up the last climb, he came down with my pack of tissues.  I guess they got stuck to part of the rock and he found them.  The last climb was the most challenging, but the view at the top was amazing and it felt so awesome to see what I accomplished.

Here is me with Fernando:

This was such an awesome experience.  When I was in high school we actually took a field trip to an indoor rock climbing place, and I remember loving it and going back once.  Even though it is about 15 years later, it is so fulfilling to have done the actual thing.  Sure, I was scared and slipped a few times.  I got scraped up.  But I will never forget sharing the experience with Victoria and Fernando and them calling up to me to encourage me and help me up each of the climbs.

Once I got back to the hostel, I decided to hang around for a bit.  I talked with some people and got some tips on good wines to buy, and then I headed out with Peter (from Switzerland) and Nika (from Holland) to get some dinner.  Peter really wanted to go to 1884, but after wandering around for about 45 minutes we decided to go to Facundo instead.  We got a nice steak dinner with wine and sat outside.  I rarely have wine at dinner and even more rarely eat outside, so it was a refreshing experience.  Afterwards we went out for drinks and just talked about our travels, and it was a really relaxing night.

I made it back to Santiago in about 6 and a half hour.  I am going to miss it in Mendoza and am hoping to return for the weekend of Semana Santa.