Adios amigos.

More pictures! remains copyright of the author RyanR, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

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.

Pena de Bernal remains copyright of the author RyanR, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Adios.

Done and done remains copyright of the author RyanR, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

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.

Santiago de Querétaro remains copyright of the author RyanR, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

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.

Catch Up remains copyright of the author RyanR, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Anyhow, we´ve kept touring despite stomach problems, but we´ve been without internet for days. We´re sitting in an internet cafe in the town of San Miguel de Allende. We should have more internet access tonight when we return to Jorge´s house, so we´ll tell our stories then. For now, we suggest skipping La Gruta if you´re ever in Teotihuacan.

Adios.

The Revenge of 'La Gruta' remains copyright of the author Velis, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

We've seen a lot already. We've toured Mexico City by tour bus, foot, subway and taxi - Chapultepec Park, the Reforma financial district, Polanco (like Yorkville meets Robson Street) and Condesa (like Queen West meets Liberty Village). The sights are great. The bars are fantastic. We found an Irish pub last night - it was like we never left Canada. We'll check out more bars in Querétaro - leaving tomorrow morning by bus.

We toured the Teotihuacán (the pyramids outside Mexico City) today. We decided to go to the pyramids early - leaving at 6 am - with a taxi, then shady bus connection, instead of taking the typical tourist bus. We fell asleep and almost missed our stop. The bus driver was yelling in Spanish to “wake up and get off the bus”. Once we were awake, we realized it didn't open until 9 am. We were not happy. Anyhow, the pyramids were amazing after all. Pictures will follow tomorrow once we reach Querétaro.

Se ven, hasta luego. Ryan y Jorge.

PS - we bitched about our very small hotel room on the first night and are now staying in an executive suite with private access. The suite is bigger than Jorge's and my apartments combined. I'm not sure how we managed that, but I'm guessing Jorge is a good negotiator in Spanish.

¡Saludos desde México! remains copyright of the author RyanR, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

The Northwestern ledge led the way to Bernal’s summit. That old, poor secured route better known as ‘El Filo’ (The Edge) tought me the hard way why the rock must be respected.

I was 19, the youngest of a party of five (Jorge, Temo, Poncho, Mel and I), had the strongest arms in team, and explosive leg power. I was cocky and extremely confident. I was everything but experienced. Poor footwork and lack of patience in the second pitch gave me my first fall. A memorable fall known among friends as ‘el vuelo del zorro’ (the flight of the fox).

‘El Filo’ used to be a tricky route: you free climbed a 30 metre rock before jumping –literally- to mount onto the north face of Bernal. You couldn’t help it but feeling on top of the world after that. Not exactly the best thing for a freshman before attempting one of the most dangeous moves from any sport route in Bernal.

A pitch after, the infamous ‘Z’ –a part of the rock that HAS to be zig-zaged no matter what- secretely awaited for you. The ‘Z’ is the official point of no return. Once mounted on it, there is no way you can safely rappel down.

I never read the ‘Z’ correctly, I was quick to use my arms thinking they would get me out. I never realized footwork was the key. ‘De ladito y de reversa’ (backwards and sideways) my friend Poncho yelled at me.’How stupid is that’ I thought… so kept muscling myself up. I fell 6 metres just over a cactus and crushed my shoulders against the sidewall. After reincorporating in front of Mel’s look of incredulity, I tried to muscle myself again –no backpack this time.

Second fall in the same move. Second visit to the cactus. Second time my back and shoulders suffered the same hit. It had been so hard that even being 60 metres above my head, Jorge could hear it. The result: two broken ribs, a dislocated hips and a huge contusion in my back.

Next Saturday will be different: Neither Ryan or myself depend on pure strength, we just can’t! I’m fat and heavy. Our climbing style is clearly based on footwork and grip power. Which is better, makes us more patient.

The most interesting part is the fact that this is my first multipitch climb in almost 3 years and the first with Mr. Roberts. Should be fun. My favourite playground raises 400 meters above the ground and is waiting for me.

Bernal awaits remains copyright of the author Velis, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Follow me as I explore the countryside with my Mexican friend, Jorge (hore-hay). Landing in Mexico City on Friday, July 28th, our plan is to visit the sights, restaurants and bars until late the next evening. On Sunday, we'll be going out of town to visit the pyramids, which is lucky because i just learned that a major political rally will be held in front of our hotel. It seems the PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution) is protesting the recent Presidential Election results. A few hundred thousand politically charged Mexican's and me. Should be fun.

After that, it's off to Queretaro City to stay with Jorge's family. We expect a lot of food, drink and rock climbing in this region, which should last several days at least. From this point we're not sure what the trip holds. However, we plan to finish the adventure by climbing Pena de Bernal, the second largest monolith in the world. Soaring over 400 metre out of the desert like surrounding, this climb will be one to remember.

Anyhow, I'm off to pack now. Check back for updates and photos starting this weekend. I'll be posting as much as possible. But it may only be every few days.

3days:9hours:42minutes:02seconds remains copyright of the author RyanR, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs