I don´t want to be a liar anymore

The other day my fried Matt sent me this article (http://www.slate.com/id/2205635/) about ¨The most annoying economic crisis in the world.¨No friends, it´s not the US economy or the bailouts - it´s the complete lack of change in Argentina. Change as in coins, not lack of progress. On days when I actually have to do something or go somewhere, the only limiting factor to what I can do is whether or not I have coins for the bus. Often that means waiting in line at the bank for them to say to me, ¨No hay monedas hoy.¨ How ridiculous! You´re a bank aren´t you? Isn´t giving out money and making change what you do?

One side effect of the lack of change is the fact that I have to lie about whether or not I have any everytime I buy something. The grocery store and the convience store don´t have coins just like everyone else, so they have to be creative. Every time I buy something, I´m asked ¨¿diez centavos tienes?¨And of course, I say no, even as I walk away with a jingling pocket full of coins that I´ve spent the last three weeks collecting. I´d rather have the store offer me a piece of candy or drink mix that I don´t want or need because they don´t have exact change for my 10 peso bill than tell the truth that I have a pocket full of coins. My personal favorite is when they ask me if I want to donate the change that they don´t have to the store. Even the locutorio where I´m writing this has a huge sign right in front that says, ¨NO HAY MONEDAS!¨Either I wait until the clock on the computer is at a whole peso amount, or I sacrifice the difference.

My sister-in-law, who has lived here for just about a year now, tried something different. She tried the good karma, what goes around comes around approach to monedas. If someone asked her if she had coins, she was honest and gave them what she had, believing that there would be enough change when she needed it. I´m not sure how long that approach actually lasted, but it wasn´t long. Now she hoards coins just like the rest of us.

All of this brings me to why I actually started writing this. It´s our last week in Argentina - I know, I can´t believe it either. So, I thought that I would write down a few things that I´ve really enjoyed and am going to miss, and a few things, like the monedas, that I won´t.

Things I´ll miss:
1. Huge tree-lined, green, shady avenues, all over the city
2. The parillas in the park where I buy my $1.33 lunch
3. The parks and plazas across the street from our building
4. The city lifestyle - walking and taking the bus everywhere
5. Gimnasio Renacemiento
6. Plant covered balconies on every building
7. Getting a little cup of agua con gas and a cookie everytime I order tea.
8. The 3-1 exchange rate
9. The leisurely time schedule
10. The pool on the roof


Things I won´t miss:
1. The diesel fumes on the tree-lined avenues
2. The complete disregard for the lives of pedestrians
3. The noise from the street at rush hours or after a futbol game
4. The lack of monedas
5. The leisurely time schedule
6. Paying for bottled water
7. The dog shit all over the sidewalks
8. The neighbors´shouting that serves as my alarm clock
9. The neighbors´dog
10. The elevators that make you pray everytime you step inside

What would you say, you do here?

I certainly don´t have busy schedule here. My day usually consists of three things - going to the gym, going to the pool, and watching movies (Eating steak the whole time is a given). I thought that I´d write down a little bit about how I´ve spent the majority of my time here, partly for the benefit of the few who read this blog, and partly for my own benefit to have written down some of what I´ve been learning. Below is a chronicle of my last 4 months in the gym.

A couple disclaimers first: 1) Not everyone will be interested in reading about how I´ve been working out for the last 4 months. Attention everyone who´s not interested. I hear that there is global economic melt down going on. Maybe there is something to read about that on the internet. 2) I am by no means an exercise physiologist (shocking I know...) so don´t confuse this with actual research by professionals in the field. This is just my experience and learning over the last few months that I thought I would share. If you´re interested in the actual data, I can point you in the direction of a few studies; otherwise, you can just take my word for it. 3) These workouts are not for the weak of heart. They are intense, painful, and possibly dangerous (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/fashion/thursdaystyles/22Fitness.html).

Background
For most of my life I have been an athlete - more specifically a soccer player and therefore, indirectly a runner. The most intense training I have ever done was pre season soccer two-a-days in high school. It´s been....7 years... now since I´ve played competitive soccer, but I have remained active since then. I still play for fun several times a week, do a lot of cycling, ran a marathon, etc. In all of that time I never truly spent any real time working out with weights in a gym. It was always about mileage, whether on a bike, on foot, or vertical mileage. All this is to say that I haven´t completely slacked off since giving up competitve sports.

A New Paradigm
Once we finalized our plans to come to Argentina, and decided that I probably would not be working, I turned my attention to other things. Namely, working out. I figure that if I´m going to spend the next two years on the African continent, I want to be in good shape for whatever comes my way when I get there. But beyond that, I have personal fitness goals of my own.

I have been following for a while the website of Mark Twight (gymjones.com), who was a very accomplished, fanatical alpine climber. He gained a fair amount of notariety in the last few years as the guy who trained the actors for the homoerotic fiesta that is the movie 300. That´s the one about the Battle of Thermoplyae. You can read Mark´s own thoughts on the project here (http://www.gymjones.com/knowledge.php?id=35), and if you search the internet for Vincent Regan, you can see the transformation of one of the actors. Mark Twight approaches training with the same fanatacism that characterized his climbing. Since retiring from ¨real¨climbing, he has now turned his attention to punishing workouts for climbers, mixed martial arts fighters, and anyone else who has slightly masochistic workout tendencies. Gym Jones would be my starting point, but I´ve learned quite a bit since my first introduction to him a few years ago. Now, I finally have put in the time in the gym myself to have a personal opinion about it.

More Background
I´ve done a fair amount of reading about this, so I´ll go ahead and list some references for you. You already know Mark Twight. Mark Twight got a jump start from Crossfit (crossfit.com), an increasingly popular program started by Greg Classman. Crossfit in a nutshell combines Olympic Weightlifting, gymnastics and timed hard circuits into typically short, very intense workouts. He posts a Workout of Day (WOD) on his website, and crossfitters all over the world post times and weights for comparison. Other places I´ve done some reading are mtnathlete.com, where Rob Shaul runs a Gym Jones style gym, and danjohn.org. Dan John is the weightlifting guru.

The Beginning and the Short Comings of Body Building
As I said before, I´ve never really trained seriously with weights before. So to start, I followed a fairly standard program of doing exercises like bench press, shoulder press, biceps curl, triceps extensions, etc. etc. in 3 sets of 10 reps each. You have to learn to crawl before you can walk. I spent 3 weeks doing rounds of this at the gym 3 or 4 times a week. I also did a moderate amount of running, usually no more than 3 or 3.5K a once or twice a week. This was simply foundational work, but it exposed some dramatic strength imbalances that I´ve developed over the years. I had a pathetically weak bench press, well, upper body in general, and while I could run well, I couldn´t generate large amounts of power from my legs. They were definitely stronger than my upper body, but I had a long way to go.

It makes sense at this point to outline some of my goals for working out. Simply put, I want to be able to do the things that I love to do (like running, biking, soccer, climbing, kayaking,) longer, faster, stronger and later in life. I want my time in the gym to make me a better athlete outside of the gym, as opposed to a body builder, who simply wants to be bigger (I have great respect for the dedication of body builders, they just have different goals than me). So then, can lifting weights alone really make dramatic improvements in my overall athleticism? The answer is yes, but it´s not really the best way to get the maximum return on my time investment. While body building style lifting will make one stronger, which does help in athletics, it has one huge shortfall: It does not train the complex coordinated muscle movements needed in the dynamic world of sports. A fundamental principle of body building is to isolate a muscle or muscle group, overload it, and thus induce hypertrophy. Research has found that the best way to do this is to do 3 exercises per muscle group in sets of 3, with 8-12 repetitions each. Frankly, working out that way is boring, and not nearly hard enough.

However, the best way to maximize gains for sport is through "functional movements," or exercises that involve the total body or multiple muscle groups working in unison. Typically things like the Olympic lifts below are done in very few repetitions with 2-3 min rests in between. That process adds strength without bulk. The ¨revolution¨of crossfit, though, is doing those kinds of moves at a high work rate. In addition to strength gains, athletes get the added bonus of aerobic improvement from the high oxygen demands that full body movements require.

The Second Month
Following my foundational training, I almost completely moved away from a body building approach to my weight training. Reading articles by Greg Glassman and Mark Twight, convinced me that they were on to something; so I gave it a shot. My first true attempt at a gym jones workout was the infamous ¨300¨ (I had done other easier circuit workouts before). According to Mark Twight, this was one of the final workouts he gave the 300 actors, and only to the ones he deemed ¨worthy.¨ A friend of mine had recently done it, and with my new weight lifting foundation, I felt I could at least finish it. It would be a benchmark, a time to improve on.

The ¨300¨
25x Pull-up +
50x Deadlift @ 135# +
50x Push-up +
50x Box Jump @ 24” box +
50x Floor Wiper @ 135# (both sides = one-count) +
50x Kettle bell Clean and Press @ 36# (KB must touch floor between reps) +
25x Pull-up
300 reps total all done for time. The best times are sub 20 minutes.

I couldn´t do it. I made it to the box jumps before my lungs collapsed, and I had to lay on the floor of the gym for awhile before walking home. It was a humbling start.

Here are a couple elements that I´ve used in my workouts since that ill fated attempt...

Olympic Lifts
In the words of guru Dan John, "If you want to get strong, pick up something heavy from the floor and put it over your head." Simple enough advice.
In the weeks following my 300 attempt, I focused on the deadlift, front and back squat, powerclean, thruster and over head squat. I saw dramatic increases in my overall strength, mainly from improving technique. Some of these lifts are difficult to learn, so at first gains come mostly from learning how to properly do the lift. Depending on how one structures an olympic lift workout the objective can either be development of raw strength, or power endurance. Borrowing WOD´s from crossfit like "Elizabeth" or "Fran" (21-15-9 reps of 135lb cleans, and ring dips, 21-15-9 reps of 95lb thrusters and pull ups) I also began developing my power endurance. These workouts are designed to completely wreck your metabolic processes quickly. They are short workouts, but about 1 minute into it your body has reached cardiovascular and muscular failure. The systems are maxed out by the effort. Eventually, power endurance workouts extend your ability to produce that kind of effort for 30mins - 2hrs. (Greg Glassman claims that elite crossfitters have power outputs around 0.5 horsepower for 30 min)

KettleBells
In Russia, Kettle bells are a sport unto themselves. Looking like steel bowling balls with a handle, kettle bells originally came in only a few weights 16kg, 24kg, or 32kg (Approx 35lb., 53lb., and 70 lbs.) There are now an infinite number of weights and exercises to do with a kettle bell, but the ones I routinely use are the kettlebell swing, goblet squat, Turkish get-up, clean and press, and deck squat. What is the benefit of kettle bells and these exercises you ask? Well, in one study where two groups of college freshman were selected. One group was given an exercise routine of running and military style calisthenics. The other group was given a kettlebell workout. At the end of several weeks the two groups competed against one another in the running and calisthenics exercises. The kettle bell group consistently outperformed the other group even though they had not trained specifically for those exercises.

One note - unfortunately, the gym I go to here does not have kettlebells, so I have to substitute dumb bells. It´s not ideal, but it works.

Tabata´s
Crossfit, Gym Jones, and Mountain Athlete all post their workouts online if anyone is interested in seeing what one looks like. I´m also willing to help explain the jargon and notation that they use if you have questions. All of the workouts are brutal, but I have found one element in particular to be the most pain inducing - the Tabata. Named after a Japanese exercise physiologist, a tabata is simply 20 sec of work followed by 10 sec of rest - 8 times. That´s 4 minutes of exercise total. The goal is to do as many reps as possible in each of those 20 sec work segments. You can do tabata´s with any exercise but the most common are squats, push ups, pull ups, etc. Tabata´s alone are difficult, but there is a way to make them even worse. Substituting the 10 sec rest with 10 sec of isometric exercise makes tabata´s a lactic acid nightmare. For example, with squats, that would look like 20s of bodyweight squats, 10s holding in the ¨down¨squat position - 8 times. Did I mention that you do it 8 times? Or with push ups, 20s of push ups followed by 10s of a plank...I think you get the idea.

The Results
So, after almost 3 full months of body punishing work, has it made any difference? I say absolutely yes. I have seen significant gains in my overall strength. I´ve added over 25 kgs to my bench press (don´t be too impressed, it was pathetic to begin with). The impressive part is that I only do the bench press once a week. I´ve seen major gains in all of my olympic lifts as well. I feel much better, stronger, fitter. Before coming to Argentina, I had been having some problems with my knee. I was in a lot of pain while running or biking. I consulted a physical therapist who suggested lunges to work out the muscle imbalance that was causing the problem. While I did few lunges, the other quad burning work I did completely worked out the problem. I can now run and bike pain free, but how fast? Now remember, I have done very, very little biking and running, and predominantly lifting while I´ve been here. The results have been surprising. I dropped 5 minutes from my 3K time from when I got here. I ran a 5:52 mile the other day, and while not my best time, it is still very good for not having trained for running in almost a year. My 5K time is at 24:29, once again, not my best, but very good considering that I haven´t run a 5K in over 2 years. In terms of running, I´ve been most impressed with my 400 meter time. I ran back to back 1:12 which is about as good as I could do in high school. I haven´t really been able to test my power output on a bike so far. The bikes here don´t measure in watts, which has become the standard for biking. I used to average about 140-150 watts (For comparison, Lance Armstrong can put out 400 watts for several hours). I have seen an increase in my typicall rpms. I used to be below 90 most of time and now I can average about 110. I assume that translates to increased power.

Now for the real test, the infamous 300. I gave it another shot the other day. On my second go, I finished the whole thing in 29:01 - a great time for me considering how the first try went. I hope that´s not the best time I ever do. It´s been great to have the free time here to work this hard. Honestly, there are some days when I can´t do much more than walk home from the gym. I can´t picture what it will be like to try to work out this way when I have real responsibilities again. It´s been a long journey of hardwork, lots of sweat, and many strange looks from people at the gym when I do something unconventional or rest on the floor between rounds. Thanks for reading - there is much more out there. As long as this was, it was still only the abbreviated version.

Here´s a video sample from Mountain Athlete...



2008-12-04

WORLAND

Obj: Extended Power Endurance

Warm up: 250x Step Ups, w/pack (M-35#, W-20#)

Training:

(1) 5 Rounds
10x Dead Lift (M-185#, W-95#)
15x Box Jumps (M-24", W-20")
15-ft Rope Climb

(2) 10 Rounds
Row 500m (400m-women)
5x Turkish Getups each arm (M-12kg, W-8kg)

(3) 7 Rounds
5x Pull ups
10x Kettlebell Floor Press each arm (M-12kg, W-8kg)
10x Back Ext

(4) 20-15-10-5
Curtis P (M-75#, W-45#)
Ankles-to-Bar

(5) 250x Step Ups, w/pack (M-35#, W-20#)

I don't like the sound of this...

We got this email this afternoon from the Peace Corps office. This is just about the only communication they've sent us aside from requesting additional medical information. It's unlikely that we'll get everything they want to them before we get back in January, so I'm not sure what this means for us.

Greetings from the Peace Corps Placement and Assessment Office!

Our records indicate that you were originally nominated for a program departing in January – March of 2009 and that you are currently working on obtaining medical clearance. Keep in mind that you still need to turn in the medical paperwork, receive medical clearance, and pass a final suitability review before you can be considered for placement.

It is important to note that due to programming changes in the Africa region and all other regions of Peace Corps programming, the number of assignments has decreased as well which will result in a more competitive process for all programs. If/when you obtain medical clearance, the next available programs for which you can be considered depart during the January-March 2009 timeframe, and potentially April-September 2009 depending on your assignment area and the specifics of available programs.

Upon your medical clearance, we will screen and review your application materials and you will be notified if any additional technical, suitability, or legal information is needed for your file at that time. Once we have initiated the review of your file, we will update you on the next steps of the application process. Upon completion of the assessment process, you may be considered for an invitation. Please keep in mind that this stage in the process is competitive as there are typically two applicants nominated for each spot available. Due to programmatic changes, the current process is even more competitive. Given this, an invitation is never guaranteed and applicants should make no plans regarding Peace Corps service until an invitation has been issued and you have spoken to headquarters staff to accept your invitation.

We understand that you might be eager to receive more information from Peace Corps at this point and we greatly appreciate your patience. In the meantime, you can prepare for Peace Corps service and make your application more competitive by: continuing to gain experience through working or volunteering within your nominated field; attending Peace Corps events; talking to Returned Volunteers; and reading books, articles, and other resources about Peace Corps. You can also find resources and learning activities on our website and in My Toolkit.

The Africa Placement and Assessment is currently reviewing applications for the January-March 2009 timeframe. We will be reviewing applications for the April-June 2009 time period in the next 4-8 weeks. Once those programs are completed we will shift our efforts to the programs leaving after July.

Please be advised that during your application review, you may be contacted by our office if any additional technical, suitability, or legal information is required for the assessment of your file.

We appreciate your patience and look forward to working with you in the near future. Please do not reply to this e-mail as we are unable to respond in a timely manner.

Warm Regards,

Peace Corps Assessment and Placement – Africa Region

Mi Patagonia

Wow! Two whole months without writing anything on here. It kinda takes some work to really keep this thing up to date. On one hand a lot has happened since we last wrote, and on the other, it's been a lot of the same.

With one big exception...

PATAGONIA!


Now, I'll be honest. If I had had my way, I would have chosen to go to the Patagonian mountains (Chalten, El Calafate) rather than the Patagonian coast. I just generally prefer mountains to the beach, especially a beach as cold as those in Patagonia. But, I must say, that the animals and places we saw were definitely worth the trip. Amazing!

We made the trip south in stages, first going from Buenos Aires to the beachtown of Villa Gessell about a 6 hour bus ride away. We stayed in the apartment of Patti's aunt and uncle there, and it would have been a great place to be, except for the fact that we were two months too early. Almost everything in town was closed and it was freezing cold. We passed the time watching really bad movies on TV and hanging out at the one place that was open - the arcade.

From Villa Gessell we headed a few hours farther south to Mar del Plata, where Patti has another aunt and uncle who were kind enough to take us in. Jorge and Leni were really great to us. They showed us around town and took us out to some great places in Mar del Plata. One of them was a microbrewery where I had the first truly good beer in Argentina. Most people here drink beer colored water, but this was a proper brewery. Jorge ordered me the sampler, so I got to try the whole range. I found out that they have a location in Palermo Hollywood in Buenos Aires, so I can get good beer here if I want.


From Mar del Plata, we continued south for many, many more hours to Puerto Madryn. There we met up with Jen, Chris and Albie. Now, for those who don't know, Puerto Madryn is just south of the Peninsula Valdez, which is where there is the largest gathering of southern right whales (coincidently, National Geographic just did a story on them). Out of the 10,000 or so southern right whales there are, about half of them gather around the Peninsula Valdez to breed around October. So, our first hour there, we found ourselves sitting outside of a cafe on the beach, drinking tea and watching whales breach a hundred yards or so out in the bay. To really see the good stuff we rented a car and drove out onto the peninsula. It was a bit exciting, since there is very, very little development there, and the road is kilometer after kilometer of dirt and gravel. We drove to the small town of Puerto Pyramides where there are whale watching boat tours. We spent about and hour and a half on the boat right up next to the whales, which felt a little strange, since they were all mating. It was a little instrusive, but the whales didn't seem to mind.

The next day we drove down through more nothingness to Trelew. Albie wanted to see the dinosaur museum there, so we made a short stop. Trelew has one of the best dinosaur museums in South America. From there, we continued on to Punta Tombo - home to the world's largest colony of Magellan penguins. There are about a million there. They also show up this time of year to mate. There is a walkway through the mating grounds, and literally under every bush and shrub for as far as the eye can see is a penguin or multiple penguins. Oh yeah, and there were sea lions, too... and conaco's, sea birds...

That's the very brief overview of the trip. I'll try to fill out the details of the last two months soon.

Complete photos
http://picasaweb.google.com/PRotherbennett/TripDownSouth#

What if they get elected?!

Eve Ensler, the American playwright, performer, feminist and activist best known for "The Vagina Monologues", wrote the following about Sarah Palin.

Drill, Drill, Drill
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.
I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.
But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.
I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.
Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."
Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.
She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.
Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.
Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.
Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.
I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.
If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.
Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

Eve Ensler
September 5, 2008

I am also starting to have nightmares imagining what it will be like if McCain/Palin win. I started watching interviews with Palin and reading more about her and the more I read the more I am shocked, angered, and downright scared. Seriously, what if they get elected? I watched clips from the Republican Convention and was shocked by how many people were there to cheer on McCain and especially Palin. How is this possible? Do these people not read? DO they just not get it? Is it wrong of me to hate their ignorance?
All I keep thinking is that no matter what, Jay and I will miss the first two years of the next presidents term. We won't have to live under it but I am sure we will feel the effects of it no matter who wins, either good of bad. Lord help us...

Some photos

The altar for my sisters blessing way. One candle for each woman there, lit by the center candle.

Rocio, my niece, so much bigger than the last time I saw her but just as cute!

Albert at his favorite wall, with my chalk bag and Jay helping him

Here, Jay lets go for a while and lets Albert do his thing

Look ma! no hands! Albert climbing on his own! He got really good, fast.

Jay going for the crack while Albie looks on

Albert and Rocio (nephew and niece) at the asado

Albert "hanging" as he calls it. If you have kids you should try this. He was like this for an hour, totally content and happy!

What's Happenin'

So we have now been here about two weeks and are having a blast. Jay is going to the gym everyday but Sunday just like he said he would and I have begun sitting for my nephew Albert. Jay has also decided on doing an Adidas half-marathon that is happening in a few weeks which should be awesome. The weather has been quite cold and Jay and I didn't come very well prepared for that but thankfully it is finally getting warmer. We are slowly finding our groove and flow in this place and are getting more comfortable to be here. In the beginning it was hard to adjust for both Jay and I. Jay felt like he couldnt' go anywhere by himself which meant we were going everywhere together. After having spent 6 weeks in a car together you would think this wouldn't be an issue. What made it hard was that I felt I had to do everything because he couldn't communicate. It was frustrating for him and trying for me. Thankfully we are past that now and Jay is confidant finding his way around without me and using some more Spanish.
My uncle threw us an asado the other day to welcome us to BA which was awesome. Lots of family was there and of course good food as always. I will post some photos. We also had my sisters blessing way last week which was beautiful. My sister Chivi is due any day now to have a baby girl. A blessing way, for those that do not know, is a gathering to celebrate a womens pregnancy, to put it VERY simply. My sister wanted just family there so it was the four sisters, my aunt and two cousins. Being from a family of very emotional people, we of course cried alot and laughed alot and celebrated the amazing woman that my sister is.
Today, we took my nephew Albert bouldering. He had been talking about it alot and we had done some silly stuff at home like hang him from the pull-up bar with my harness on. So finally today we took him and he had a blast! I was a little nervous because he tends to get scared easy so at first I held on to him tight so he could feel me holding him. Jay held on less tightly, trusting Alberts ability and Albert did way better with Jay (of course.) He started going higher and higher and not asking to be held as much. It was really fun and a great little bouldering place to keep in mind. Also, the $5 per day fee isn't bad either!
Anyway, here are some photos for your enjoyment. We will update again soon.

Los Sobrinos

So being here in Argentina means I get to see my nieces and nephews. I love spending time with them and have had so much fun so far. Yesterday we spent the day with Albert playing in the park and "climbing" around the house. Today we saw Tomas and Rocio who are the cutest ever. Here are some photos from our first few days...

Albert Joseph wearing my harness, we played climber


Then we tied a rope to him and Jay would pick him up to "be in space" as Albie called it

Rocio, sucking her thumb as always. Last time I saw her she was just sitting up, now she walks around and is close to talking!

Tomas in the clothes I got him. This is the first time I am meeting him in person. Check out that hair...classic

Another one of Tomas

One more of Rocio in the dress I brought her. Check out those curves...

New Adventures in Spanish and Obama's Global Appeal

It's been a long time since we've updated this - mostly because it was a little crazy towards the end of the summer when we were getting ready to go. There was a lot to be done in those last few days before we flew to Buenos Aires. I have a ton of things to write about - what we've been up to since NY; some reflections on this summer; and some thoughts about the gear that we used. I'll try to hit a few of the highlights here...

Since Patti wrote last, I have spent 4 days in West Virginia with Ohio Wesleyan University. You may remember that Patti and I led a backpacking trip to the Red River Gorge for some OWU students earlier in the summer. If you don't remember, just scroll down a little. That trip was for freshman athletes who could not make it to the main Fresh-X trip because they had to start practice for their respective sports. We had a lot of fun on that trip, but it had a much different feel to it than this trip. Backpacking with 5 other people is a great small group experience; car camping with 100 people is on a whole other level.

I must say that this is one of the most well run trips I have ever been a part of, and it was certainly the largest. Feeding all those people for 4 days is a production by itself and the staff and student leaders that we there managed to pull that off and more without incident or serious injury. My job was to lead two days of rock climbing at Seneca Rocks. For those who don't know, Seneca is a major east coast climbing destination and one of my personal favorite places to climb. Although it is very close to "town" it has a very remote feel to it.


I had a great time with the two different groups that I had the opportunity to climb with. The students leaders for both groups were exceptional. One student in particular had some incredible natural giftings in terms of leadership which he put to use on this trip very well. The purpose of Fresh-X is really just to create an opportunity for incoming freshman to meet people through a common experience prior to arriving on campus. The whole idea is to take away those first few awkward trips to the cafeteria because the students already know 75 or 100 faces kinda well, and another 8-10 faces in their small group really well. One brief success story from the trip - There was one student whose had some significant group anxiety issues and was forced by his parents to attend Fresh X and OWU. They told him he was going two days before the trip. Anyway, he really did not want to be there and at times became incredibly overwhelmed because part of the trip involved playing silly games with 100 other people to get to know each other. To make a very long story short, in the end the freshman made some great friendships and overcame some of his anxieties with the help of the aforementioned student leader.

I left West Virginia and met up with Patti in Harrisburg after the trip. From there we headed to my parents house where is was going to relax after the trip and before we left. Sadly, there were a couple things that got in the way of that. First, there was a mountain of mail to open from the two months we had been away; second, we had to sell the car; and third, we had to go through a bunch of boxes to find the things we needed for Argentina. The 5 days there went way too quickly, and my R&R got pushed back until we arrived in Buenos Aires.

My dad gave Patti and I a ride to Newark airport last Tuesday to catch our flight. We made it there in record time, which turned out to be a really good thing since we had to help Ama with her 3 overweight bags, 3 carry on bags, and her 2 boxes. Honestly, getting all that stuff through the airport was not as bad as I thought it would be; but then again I was expecting the worst, so I'm not sure what that means. The whole operation would have gone very smoothly if it wasn't for a not so helpful check in agent, and a very impatient wheelchair guy. Checking in all those bags took some time, which pissed wheelchair guy off. When we headed for security, he took off with Ama because we had spent so much of his time already just checking the bags. That left Patti and I to carry one box, 3 of Ama's carry-on's, our own carry-on's and JP's guitar. We should have checked the box, but Check-in Agent Man said we should just carry it. That save some money, but added headaches.

At the security checkpoint Ama goes straight through with wheelchair guy and he bolts for the gate - Oh, I forgot, first wheelchair guy tried to dump us off on the airtram because he read our tickets wrong. He was going to send us to Terminal E. The only problem with that is that Newark doesn't have a Terminal E. After I convinced him that we were already in the right terminal, he sprints off through security. Patti and I get separated into different lines. Of course, when they x-ray Ama's big carry-on they want to open it, but wheelchair guy has wisked her off somewhere into the unknown. The TSA guy was kind enough not to ask too many questions when I told him that no, I didn't pack that bag and it wasn't mine eventhough I was carrying it. We finally all make it through and meet up again at the gate. One last thing about airport security... as we're sitting at the gate I lean over and pick up something next to Ama. I ask if it's hers, but she says that she didn't drop anything. It's a collection of ID's, and I read the text under the picture on the front - "Federal Air Marshall" I'm fairly certain that those badges could have gotten me into any part of that airport that I wanted to go to. It's nice to know that our nation's top notch homeland security agents are careful not to leave any sensitive materials just laying around at the airport.

The rest of the flight was fairly uneventful except for the fact that Continental lost every single one of our bags because there wasn't enough time for our connection. That really turned out to be a blessing in disguise because Continental then had to deliver all of those extra bags to our apartment instead of us trying to pack them all into a taxi for the ride into the city.

Since we've arrived, I've caught up on some sleep, joined the gym, and spent a lot of time visiting nieces and nephews with Patti. We've only been here two full days, and already my Spanish has both: improved significantly, and become frustrating beyond belief. I have a new found blinding jealously within me toward bilingual people. I simply cannot learn fast enough.

Last night Jen invited us to watch Obama's acceptance speech at a bar near her apartment. Patti, JP, Jen and I all headed out hear what he had to say. Little did we know that what we were actually going to was a large Obama event sponsored by Democrats Abroad Argentina and ExPat Connection. The place was packed with a surprisingly large number of Americans, and frankly, I didn't like being surrounded by that many English speakers in Buenos Aires. It was a very strange experience to be in the heart of this city and to hear very little Spanish. The Spanish that I did hear was coming mostly from the American event organizers and that jealousy thing showed up again quickly when they would switch back and forth between the two languages. On a positive note, it was fun to be out on the town with everyone and we were able to request our absentee ballots while we were there. Another negative - everything was overpriced.


As for the speech, once again, Obama delivers big. I won't go into too much detail here, but I will note a few things that I really liked.

- Obama pointed out that John McCain has voted with George Bush 90% of the time. He then asks if we want to take a 10% chance on change.
-He made a point to call for reform in the way that we run political campaigns in this country. He said (and I agree) that you should be able to campaign and debate without calling into question your opponent's character or patriotism. I haven't had a TV in several months, so I don't know for sure, but I believe that Obama has not put out and blatant attack ads. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. Even in his speech last night he graciously praised McCain for the war hero and public servant that he has been. That is a rare thing in the politics that I have seen in my lifetime.
-Obama also directly addressed the criticisms put towards him, specifically his character and readiness to be commander-in-chief.
-He spoke at length about "the world as it should be" which plucks at my reformed theology heartstrings. I just don't understand why this country so readily accepts the status quo. In my more cynical moments I point to high level corruption, greed, and mindless capitalism that values the corporation above this country's citizens. When I imagine the most powerful nation in the world I picture a progressive place that truly embraces cradle to grave green technology, healthcare for everyone, elimination of poverty, and good neighbor global citizenship. In Hebrew this is known as shalom or universal flourishing - a time when everything is as it should be. Let me just put one disclaimer on this - I don't believe that all of those things can be achieved through government or are the responsibility of government alone.
Which brings me to my last point -
-Obama gets that goverment can't fix everything eventhough that's what the people often want it to do. My libertarian tendencies love this part - government is only one small part of the equation. The individual, family, church and community all have a role to play.

Here's a shot of the packed house to watch the speech. I don't know exact numbers, but there were several hundred people there to see it.

I'll write more soon as I said before. I'm sure it won't be long before I have some hilarious stories about the ridiculous mistakes I've made trying to order something at a restaurant or tell someone I'm using that treadmill at the gym.

El Tigre

This is the view from the back of my mother's house in Southold, NY. We have had this house for years but it was only when we decided to get married here that I realized just how beautiful this place is. The summer of our wedding, my mother finally decided to re-do the house. For those of you who have not seen it, it has now become a Zen paradise. It is very simple in many ways but if you look closely you will see all of the little details my mom put in like solar panels on the roof, bamboo flooring and cabinets and 360 views from huge south facing windows. It is such a wonderful place to relax and spend some time remembering.

Jay and I arrived in NY on the 12th to celebrate my brother's birthday in NYC before continuing on to my mother's house. Jay and I spent four incredibly relaxed days here before Jay left for West Virginia to help out with the climbing portion of Ohio Wesleyan University's Fresh-X. He will be there from the 16th-19th. I stayed behind with my Mom to continue enjoying the sunshine and the lake. It has been so great to be in one place for awhile and to sleep in a bed, take a shower daily, etc. It has also been strange to not be with Jay as we have been with each other 24/7 for 6 weeks!

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know what we are up to now. Not as exciting as our past adventures but its been good to relax a little. On the 20th of August I will meet Jay in Harrisburg and we will go to his parents house near Philadelphia for awhile. On the 26th we leave for Argentina and will be there until December 23rd. We will continue updating while we are there though!

Photo album

I posted a new photo album on Ofoto. To get to it just click on the link and then hit view slideshow. No need to sign up.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=11yjagrh.919q9x3p&x=0&y=-8rt18&localeid=en_US

Some Photos

We are at Messiah College right now visiting some friends and then are on our way to NY. In the meantime, here are some photos from our trip with Ohio Wesleyan University. We went to KY to the Red River Gorge region.

2001 Volkswagen Jetta TDI For Sale

Since our road trip will soon be ending Patti and I would like to sell our car before we move to Argentina. I cannot say enough about how great VW TDI's are. We've averaged between 50-55 mpg over this trip and at times we've done as well as 60 mpg. You just can't beat that kind of mileage with current gas prices. In case you're wondering, that is significantly better mileage than a Toyota Prius, especially at highway speeds when the Prius can't quite keep up with just the electric motor. Also, diesel engines last much longer, so you can expect to get 400,000 miles out of it with proper care. I could preach the benefits of diesel for a long time so I'll just stop now and give you the stats. Read tdiclub.com for more info. I'll post some pictures of it when I get the chance. Call or email me to discuss a price.

2001 Volkswagen Jetta GLS TDI
~120,000 miles
New timing belt, water pump, and serpentine belt at 109,000 miles
New alternator
Power steering
Powerlocks
Powerwindows
Alarm
CD, AM/FM, Tape deck
~50 mpg

For the Craigs list ad follow this link: http://lancaster.craigslist.org/cto/798069878.html

Plans Change

On a trip like this, travel plans often change. We are nearing the end of a 3 day delay in going from Ohio to Pennsylvania and eventually New York. Patti and I had just finished leading a freshman backpacking trip for Ohio Wesleyan University in the Red River Gorge, Kentucky when we started out on our way to Harrisburg. It would have been the first stop in a truly familiar place in nearly 6 weeks. Unfortunately, the car had other plans for us. On the east side of Columbus the battery light came on, which typically means only one thing - the alternator. Diesel engines don't use a lot of electric power to run since they don't have spark plugs, so we were able to drive it to a nearby Volkswagen dealership. Sadly, this dealership turned out to be like all Volkswagen dealerships, in that they were absolutely worthless when it comes to customer service. After explaining our situation and travel plans and hearing that no mechanics were available at 4:54 on Friday, the service receptionist offered to take a look at the car. Too bad for us, that he knew absolutely nothing about cars...

We walked over to the car, popped the hood, and the receptionist started saying things like, "well, there's your battery..." and, "if the battery light and the brake light comes on at the same then it's probably the alternator...." My response was, "sir, the brake light is on because the parking brake is on..." He didn't seemed deterred from talking nonsense or encouraged to help us out. He was able to give us the name of a foreign car repair shop down the street that they send "older" VW's to when they won't work on them. Apparently, that dealership only works on VW's up to 2003 and their mechanics are unable to fix anything older than that.

So, off we were for a very tense drive a few miles down the road not knowing how long we had on the battery before the car would just stop running. We made it to Blagoi's International Car Service at 5:15, and there we met the nicest mechanic I've ever talked to. I explained what had happened and he looked at the car right away. He hooked the battery up to the meter and said right away we need a new alternator. He asked us how far we were trying to go that day. I said Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and his response was an accented "Oh shit.... there's not much I can do until Monday." He was able to locate a replacement that would arrive on Monday and promised that by about noon we could be on our way again. The shop was not in the nicest neighborhood so he offered to keep the car in the garage instead of in the lot. We called some friends, who happened to be just down the road at the time to ask if they didn't mind house guests until Monday. They came right over and picked us up, and we passed the time chatting with our Macedonian mechanic.

Our friends Ryan and Annie were on their way to dinner with some other friends when they picked us up. Our string of good luck continued because Bryan and Nadia didn't mind a few extra dinner guests. They turned out to be awesome people and we had the most amazing conversation for hours. Nadia made a great Italian pasta salad for dinner and we all shared a few bottles of good wine. I should just say again that they were awesome people. Bryan was a coworker of Annie's at a charter school for inner city kids. The school's goal is to send kids to college early to start an associate's degree, and Bryan's role there is to help prepare them for college and coach them to succeed once there. In addition, he's a fairly incredible hip hop artist and has a Master's in comparative cultural studies. He did some fascinating work on "El Negro" who was essentially an African who was stolen from his African grave, stuffed, and sent to Spain to be put on display for nearly 100 years - up until 1997. Just before the Barcelona Olympics there was a big push to repatriate the body, but no one was sure where he actually came from. Botswana eventually agreed to accept the body and give him a state burial. That's not quite the end of the story, but Bryan had some fascinating things to say about the development of the idea of race and the "scientific" theories used to reinforce those ideas. Nadia is an Italian teacher by day but recently began working with sex slaves in the Columbus area. I did not know it until Friday, but Toledo, Ohio is one of the worst places in America for kidnapping and forced prostitution. Young girls are kidnapped from Toledo, shipped all over Ohio and the US. Nadia is working with a fledgling organization called Rahab's Hideaway to rescue and offer refuge to these girls.

It was simply an amazing night of conversation. It was incredible to have such richness and depth to a conversation with people we had met literally moments before, and it was wonderful to be with Ryan and Annie since we haven't spent a ton of time together before this weekend. Ryan and I have done a few long wilderness trips, but this was the first real time that the four of us have been able to spend together. I wish it didn't take a new alternator to get us there, but it has been great to be with such good friends.

Tomorow we'll pick up the car where and get back on our way to Harrisburg. Our road trip is finally coming to an end.

The Home Stretch

Today we are leaving beautiful Boulder, CO on our way back east. The plan is to cruise across the middle of the country and make it to Delaware, OH in time to lead a backpacking trip for Ohio Wesleyan University. I reluctantly say that Boulder has been my favorite stop so far - reluctantly because I had heard so many things about how chic, built up and trendy it is. Boulder is all of those things, but it also has many, many more redeeming qualities about it. I think that UC Boulder is our school of choice for when we return from the Peace Corps.

Back on the road for real.... it's a mere 19 hours to Ohio from here.....

Bye Wyoming and friends

Jay and I got into Rocky Mountian National Forest last night around 10pm. We drove all the way from Jackson and it was a long trip. We were supossed to get here yesterday but on the pass from Jackson to Dubois our car decided to break down. We waited three hours for the tow truck, then drove an hour and a half back to town to find that the shop was closed. This on our one year anniversary!
We were both tired and frustrated as we called Jay McClymont to come pick us up. He drove us back to the cabin of one of our other friends where everyone was eating dinner. It ended up being so great. They did awards for everyone who went up the mountain and they were hilarious. We ate good food and then everyone sang Happy Anniversary over a cake that Jay had bought on the way to pick us up. They also bought us some Gin to make some Gin and Tonics. As if that isn't enough, they gave us a card and some money to help us out with our car. I was so touched I almost cried. We got to stay at the cabin in the spare bedroom which was great!
Our car was ready at about 11:30am the next morning and we headed out of Jackson, this time making it over the pass! In Dubois we had a delicious lunch at the Cowboy Cafe- the best burgers and pies you will ever have. Then we hit up Lander to check out the NOLS store. Finally we started heading towards CO and are now in Estes Park right outside Rocky Mountian. We are going to head into Boulder today and hopefully meet up with my cousin. Jay and I are liking CO alot, loving how close the park is to cool cities but totally remote when you are there. We were also thinking it would be sweet to climb all of these mountains, now that Jay has a taste of the top.
We had a blast in WY with everyone. While Jay was on the mountian, I stayed back with Tricia and Val and the kids. I had fun hanging with them and playing with the kids. Tricia even got me into a mountian lake- String lake in Teton park. It was freezing but we swam to a rock and had a blast.
We are blessed with great friends!

13,770 ft.

This past Saturday, a team consisting of Dave Tanis, Wes Vander Ark and I climbed to the top of the Grand Teton via the Owen Spalding route - the same one used by Paul Petzoldt as a 16 year old in 1924 who climbed the Grand in cowboy boots and blue jeans. Petzoldt and a friend used a pocket knife to carve steps into the ice during the ascent. The near experience caused Petzoldt to dedicate his life to educating others about how to conduct themselves safely in the outdoors. For Dave, who had met Paul Petzoldt several times, it was walking in the footsteps of one of the greats (if the not the great) in American wilderness education. For me, it was a fantastic ascent with one of the people who mentored me as I first set out into the wilderness.

The Grand Teton is the centerpiece of Grand Teton National Park. It is the 2nd highest peak in Wyoming being only 34 ft. shorter than Gannett Peak in the Wind River Range (13,804 ft.) William Owen and Frank Spalding made the first ascent along with two others in 1898. There is some debate as to whether or not they were actually the first party to reach the top as there are earlier claims by other parties and evidence that Native Americans reached the Upper Saddle on the mountain. They are the most likely to have constructed the Enclosure, a mysterious rock structure at over 13,000 ft.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but they don't quite capture the whole experience of this climb. Perspective is lost in many of these, but to give you an idea, most of the technical climbing is done above a 6,000-7,000 ft. drop - all the way to the valley floor. While the climbing is not difficult, the exposure and the technical scrambling made for an exciting trip.

Photos for now

Everyone looking at the photos from the top. Tanis family, McClymont Family, Vander Arks and Jay!
The group hiking down from the moraine

Wes starting the rappel to the Upper Saddle

Dave sitting on the top!
Sunrise on the Middle Teton.

My foot after a few days of healing before the climb.

The Grand Teton

We saw this bear on the way down eating some berries. We walked by about 20 ft. from it, but it wasn't too concerned with us. Unfortunately, that probably means that it has become habituated to humans and the park service will either relocate it or euthanize it.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=11yjagrh.1sn2gv45&x=0&y=-53gcoh&localeid=en_US All the other photos. I changed to Ofoto so you don't need an account. Just click view slideshow!

The Waiting Is the Hardest Part

Still in beautiful (and insanely busy) Jackson right now. We've met up with a lot of friends from the Messiah/Harrisburg area. It's been great to have a large group to hang out with for a change, and the nightly dominoes games are a welcome change from mind-numbing rounds of rummy 500.

Thankfully, I was able to get a permit for the same days as my friends to climb the Grand Teton, so tomorrow I will be hiking up into the mountains to make our summit bid. The only downside is that Patti and I didn't really plan what else we were going to do while in Jackson, so we're basically killing time whiling everyone else is out whitewater rafting. It's probably for the best, though. I don't think my foot would benefit from being soaking wet all day. It is healing very nicely in the few days since my wreck. I've been able to wear shoes, and I don't think it will be anything more than an annoyance once we set out for the Grand. In a couple days I'll (hopefully) have some exciting summit pictures to share.

Hiking the Ochocos

So I figured I would write about our backpacking trip. For me, I would consider this my first real backpacking experience. Even though I have gone backpacking before, every other time I had to keep dropping weight because my shoulder kept dislocating. So I say this was my first time because it was the first time I got to go three days with the same amount of weight without my shoulder dislocating once!! Hallelujah!
Before I begin let me also say that the map we got from REI was awful. The area we were hiking in took up about 1/20th of the map making it extremely cumbersome to open and find our little area. Also, the map was void of any contour lines making it very hard to figure out where exactly we were or how to plan for the next hike. Made things interesting.
So we began our hike at one trail head, parking our car, packing up and heading out. The beginning of the trail was uphill the entire time. I felt pretty strong starting out which surprised me. My new pack was amazing and when I finally got everything properly adjusted it fit great. The forest we were hiking in was a little strange. It had dead trees and what looked like logged trees as well. It wasn't very pretty for quite some time. As we kept hiking I began to feel the pain of backpacking. It starts in your hips, where the hip belt grinds against your bones. It then moves to your lower back where you bend slightly as you walk. Then your legs and your feet in your boots. Finally your shoulders and neck get sore. Its lovely, really, I can see why people like doing this...
As we continue hiking, Jay sees something off to the right and we hike towards it. It is a Spring that has been made into three huge troughs. The area looks well camped in and we keep it in mind for water later. We continue hiking and my feet are hurting bad now. My Achilles tendon is rubbing and it feels like I am getting some blisters. I let Jay know and we stop to take care of it and put some tape on my feet. We get back up and Jay suggests we just go back to that Spring and camp there. We don't know when we will see water next. This decision was the perfect decision. Even though we had only hiked about 1 1/2 miles (uphill the whole time) we stopped and set up camp.
Another side note. This area has the largest infestation of ants I have ever seen. There were no mosquitoes, thank god, but the ants were insane. Every variety you can think of- large black, small black, red head black body, black head red body- all living in harmony with each other. Everything got covered in ants, including us, during the whole trip. They even ate through a plastic bag of ours, the thick plastic zip lock kind. Crazy.
Anyway, we camped and slept and all was well. The next day we set out hiking again, still not sure what our plan is. We figure we will hike in a ways, camp, rest for a day, then hike all the way back out to our car taking the same route. We hike along and finally start getting some really nice views. The trail we were on takes you to the summit of lookout mountain and then there are a bunch of trails you can take back down. Jay and I keep walking, hoping to make it to a spring on the map. Having no idea really how far we have gone or how far we have left, we stop for lunch. The view at lunch was amazing. We sat on a cliff overlooking the three sisters, three fingered jack and Jefferson mountain. We took a long lunch, fending off the ants, and then decided to keep going forward, waiting for that spring. So, after lunch generally is awful. You are sluggish and full and tired. Putting your pack back on is torture, and for me it was tightening the hip belt across my hips that was killer. We went really slow after lunch and a part of me was ready to call it quits. Jay was awesome. He kept encouraging me and telling me how great I was doing which definitely helped me go on. After about an hour of feeling awful, I got my energy back and started enjoying it again. We kept on hiking up, up, up. Enjoying the amazing views and now the wildflowers. As we got closer to the top the landscape turned from sage brush and dirt to lush fields of wildflowers. It was awesome.
We finally make it to the summit and feel great for having done so. We take a look at the map, our awful map, and figure we have to take this trail to get to that spring. There was a while coming up that Jay and I started to panic about the water situation. Jay especially. As we were walking up, we started to see some tiny little creeks of water crossing the trail. It was a very joyous occasion. Anyway, back to the top. We decided to keep going and try to find that spring. I was tired but also determined to make it. We trugged along, finally going downhill for awhile. We keep going and keep going and there is no spring. Crap. Now what. We see some more markers and signs, keep checking our map which is no help and decide all we can do is keep hiking. I start praying for water. Please God send us some water, anything, just so we can filter and have some for tomorrow. At this point there is no way we are going back to that first spring. We have come too far. We keep going and now the trail and landscape is gorgeous! Full fields of flowers and plants, views and we actually see some people now. We pass two on the trail and ask them how far to the trail head. They tell us about 2 miles (this is another trail head, not the one we started at.) We force ourselves to keep going. By this point, even Jay is feeling tired and ready to stop. We are both slightly panicked about the water situation but we keep it to ourselves and keep hiking.
Finally, we find a stream. A gorgeous, perfect stream. Oh the Joy!! We were so excited. We started to look for a campsite right away and I was holding out for a nice one. Jay pointed out some that would work but I kept insisting. (The last night we had spent on an incline and I didn't sleep at all, I wasn't ready to do a repeat.) So we held out and found a sweet site and got some water and settled in. It was glorious to stop and get our packs off. We ate and waited for the sun to go down so it would be ok to go to bed. I was ready to get into bed around 8pm. We slept soundly and the next day decided that instead of resting, we would hike out and then hike the road back to our car. We pack up and head out.
The hike out was alright. It was short but it hurt for sure. We get down to the trail head and are hoping for some cars to give us a ride to the car. We wait and soon enough, three people and their two dogs come from a trail and head towards their car. The start talking to us and we talk about what we did. After alot of small talk, Jay asked if they would mind taking one of us to the car. They say they can take us both and we are stoked. We load up our packs in the back of their subaru with their two large dogs. The poor dogs barely had room. Thank god they rode with the windows down too, because we were pretty ripe.
They were awesome people. They lived in Bend and the two were probably late fifties/early sixties. They had mountain biked all over, told us to take a better route in Idaho, the guy hunts for elk and deer with a bow and arrow every season. They park the RV for 30 days in the woods and he goes for it. Their daughter had worked at Denali in Alaska and all of them were pretty awesome. We never got their name but were so so thankful for the ride. The road ended up being much longer, much hillier and much rougher than we had thought.
We got to the car, said goodbye, threw our stuff in and headed towards the first showers we could find.
So overall it was a really great trip. Very eventful. I felt really good about what I was able to do and expressed with Jay that there is something really cool about backpacking. It hurts, it is hard and you wanna stop so bad some times and just quit. The cool thing is though that you get to challenge your body and mind in a way that nothing else can. You can push yourself past the point of no return just to see that your body has strength left, that your perserverence still remains. I had a blast and was glad to spend some time in the woods.
We are now heading to Jackson to meet up with the Tanis', the Vander Arks, and the McClymonts. We will write soon about that and let you know if Jay makes it up the Grand!
PS- his foot is healing really well and faster than expected. Please pray that it continues to heal and that he can climb. It would be a bummer if he was unable to do it, he has been looking forward to this for a long time. So pray people, pray!

Photos

Here are some photos from our travels so far. The full album will be linked at the end.

Enjoy!

View of Mount Hood driving east of Portland- we had it is sight for hours, it was really amazing.

Bakcpacking in the Ochocos.

More Backpacking. This plant was everywhere and looked like it belonged in the tropics- not the alpine desert. Crazy

Our crazy campsite at Craters of the Moon.

Our sweet house in Victor- Thanks to Matt and Sarah and Sarahs super generous brother!

The full album- just hit view photos- you don't have to set up an account.

http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=157211216678730844/l=400619235/g=7887130/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB