Mexico: the first climb

Check out the full photo album at http://homepage.mac.com/ryan.roberts/PhotoAlbum13.html.

Adios amigos.

On Saturday, August 6th, 2006, we reached the summit of Pena de Bernal, the pinnacle of our trip and the result of six months of training. Jorge had completed it before. But for me, it was the first time I climbed to the 450 metre perch high above the town of Bernal.

With an early morning start, we reached Bernal by 10:30 am. There were three of us on the climb – myself (Ryan), Jorge and Jorge (2). The Jorge’s were climbing partners in university. After they fed (literally) their Ritual de Bernal, eating a Tacos from Christina’s, we geared up and began a 20 minute trek to the base of our route. Once climbing, Jorge led the first pitch and Jorge (2) led the second, which positioned us on a belay station well over 100 metres in the air. While Jorge (2) and I sat belaying, he turned and asked me if I wanted to the lead the third pitch. For those who don’t climb, leading a pitch is the person who climbs first, protecting the route as you go. The second and third person who climb that same pitch are then top roping, which means a fall would be quite safe and short. In this particular pitch, if you fall while leading between protection points, you’d tumble down the rock for 6 – 10 metres. This was a big deal for me, as it was the first lead climb ever! It’s all in the psyche - calming the mind and doing what you’ve trained to do. It’s important not to think about a fall. And in the end, I didn’t. I successfully lead the third pitch.

On the fourth and fifth pitch, light rain started to fall. Dark clouds formed around us and we saw heavy rain in the distance. Luckily, every time I climbed, the sun came out just a bit (weird). Every time the Jorge’s climbed, it rained. And finally, we reached the summit after four hours of climbing. The view was amazing. The feeling of accomplishment was incredible and our trip was complete. We climbed Pena de Bernal.

We made it. We climbed Pena de Bernal! WOOOOOOOOO! We've been in transit over the past few days. So we haven't blogged. But we're back at work now. We'll tell our final tale soon and upload some pics of Bernal.

Adios.

The last few days in Querétaro have been awesome. We've been handing around Jorge's amigos and living a bit of the 20 something Mexican life.

The first friend I met was Chepo. Chepo is large, loud and fun. He's a doctor by profession and pours massive three finder drinks like water. With all types of tequila in his house, he wanted us to try the very best with sample after sample. Last night we were suppose to hang out again, but our plans fell through. He wanted to take us rabbit hunting and then cook it at a local geyser in the dessert (hmmmmm – even Jorge thought this was shady).

Next we met up with another Jorge, who we will climb Bernal with. He still attends Jorge's university, so we met up with him there and climbed the schools rock wall. We also did some practice climbing at a crag called La Cañada (how fitting). Check out the pic below.

Then we hit downtown Querétaro with Jorge's friend Mona and her fiancé Alex. We had drinks at a great little patio bar/restaurant with live music. Check out the pic below. The old city of Querétaro is very beautiful at night with cobble stone roads, town squares, bustling sidewalks and church steeples towering over head. Below, we've added a couple of pictures from the streets.

Yesterday, Angie was our tour guide for San Miguel de Allende. The town is very old and very congested. If you want to feel apart of old Mexico, this is the town to visit. Apparently the movie Once Upon a Time in Mexico was filmed here. The town is so congested that one of the parking lots was in an old courtyard with two-level elevator style parking. Picture below. While we were there, thunder storms rolled in and flooded the town. Seriously, the main square was a river, as all of the water ran down hill through the tiny cobble stone streets.

Alright, we're getting ready to go exploring again. We will post again later. And if we don't post tonight, wish us luck as we climb La Peña de Bernal tomorrow.

Adios.

Okay, so we’ve been bad at posting, but we’re ready to make a comeback and fill in the blanks over the past few days.

We left Mexico City on Monday afternoon by bus headed to Querétaro. Getting out of the city was a mess, as political protestors supporting the PRD stopped all traffic on the cities most important avenue, Reforma. This also happens to be where our hotel was located.

Anyhow, we made it to Querétaro by Monday evening to stay with Jorge's family. That night, we hit the town, only to find ourselves locked out of his house at 3 am. The houses in Mexico are gated, so there was no easy way in without waking up his entire family. Luckily, we drunkenly believed we could transfer our rock climbing skills onto the gate. See picture below. It didn't work. We woke up his mom after all. (note to self, Jorge´s parents house is a fortress).

Over the last few days, we've been touring around Querétaro and the countryside. We'll talk about that in our next blog.

Since we finally have internet access that can download pictures, check out pics below.

1. Our huge executive suite that Jorge negotiated
2. Teotihuacán - the pyramids just outside of Mexico City (Hungry? Grab a Snickers)
3. The view of Mexico City from Chapultepec Castle
3. Ryan trying to scale the gate into Jorge's house

Adios.