Viva el Cojitambo

I've been in Ecuador for a week now and I'm finally getting settled, meeting people and starting to feel a little more at home. Everyday I add Spanish words to my vocabulary and I am understanding more and more of peoples conversations. For the most part, people have been super patient with me and super understanding of me as I try to speak spanish. 

The 3 days ago I woke up in Cuenca, did some last minutes things in town and the caught a cab to the bus terminal with an English guy who was staying in the same dorm as me. The termínal de autobus en Cuenca wasn't anything special. There's like 5 different companies all with booths inside and I actually didnt make it to any of them.. Right when we got out of the cab a bunch of different dudes started yelling names of cities at us. I told them in Spanish that I was going to Cojitambo and they pointed me in the right direction.. I passed through a gate at the back that you have to put 10 cents in.. I'm not sure why haha and then I was quickiely ushered onto a waiting bus. The bus was the classic third world style bus..hard seats, sweaty stale air and of course the mandatory crazed bus driver. I made it to the town of Azugues where i got off the bus and chased down another bus which I was told was the one heading for cojitambo. (I learned today that tambo means " valley is Spanish.) After an embarrassing run through the parking lot of the bus terminal of Azugues I went and sat with the locals who were staring at me. The bus came, I made it to Cojitambo and I had a moment to brethe. Oh yeah , the cost of each bus? Like 45 cents.. Bueno!!

The day before when i talked to Juan Gabriel, be told me to call him when I arrived.. When Juan answered he told me he was in Cuenca. Juan is a man who was born in Ecuador and plives in cojitambo is this beautiful house on a sleepy country road. He's about 45 and is responsible for a good portion of the route deveopment here. He is a dedicated climber and has many extra beds that he rents to roaming climbers like me.(5 buks a night) what I also came to learn in the past few days is that he likes his smoke. Maybe this is why be was in Cuenca when I showed, or maybe the fact that English is his 2nd language is why. I forgot to mention, when he was a kid he spent time in the USA, hence his English is fluent.

I spent a few minutes in a little shop with a slow Internet connection. In a matter of minutes after I googled Juan Gabriel, I found a blog with photos of Juan and his house. A couple of local kids were looking over my shoulder and with some broken Spanish I learned they knew the house. The kids happened to be walking that way (I think) and walked me the 5 minutes to his house. As we walked up, Juan arrived in his land cruiser. He showed me to my room and informed me he had some stuff to do. I ate some lunch and took a siesta. I woke to my alarm at  330pm and realized I could see the bluffs from my bedroom. Super stoked way to wake up.. Juan got back at 4 and suggested we go to the mountain. We drove his cruiser up the backside of the mountain, past some pre inca "canary" ruins and summited the mountain easily in the truck. We  simel-rappeled down 70 meters. We climbed an 11b sport which I onsited, 10c mixed OS, and a 5.4 2nd pitch and a 5.6 3rd pitch  which was covered in dirt and  flora. We climbed the last pitch in the semi dark evening. What I didnt know was that when the sun goes down it goes down FAST because we are on the equator. We made it back to the truck and called it a day. Super good introduction to the volcanic rock of Ecuador. Lots of little pockets and huecos,sharp little crimps and mostly good sharp friction. 

The next morning I woke up in cuenca. I didn't realize that cojitambo is so small and there is no groceries  here. Lucky Juan was going to see his girlfriend and I caught a ride to cuenca after climbing the night before..  I went for a walk down the main street in search of the vegetable and fruit market Juan had pointed me to. It dirt take me long to come up on the big building open air style. The first lady I saw was selling manderines, oranges, apples, onions, and tomatoes. I bought a bag of each which I think were weighed to 1kg. A dollar for each bag! 

After I finished shopping Juan picked me up and we drove back to cojitambo. And went climbing.  From his house we hiked up the road past he village and up a trail to the base of of the climbs. We climbed a 5.10d sport a 5.11 sumthing and           I redpointed a 12a second try. We finished the day with a brisk walk down the mountain and stopped by a tiny general store for some cervezas. A litter of beer costs 1 USD.

The next morning  I woke at 700 only to realize I couldnt see the bluffs from my window.  It was pouring rain. I promptly rolled over and went back to sleep. I awoke again at 9 and the sun was trying to make an appearance. I went Down stairs, said my buenos dias to Juan and made some food. After food I had some coffee and stretched In the sun room.. I was really feeling sore after the last 2 days of hiking and climbing.. Once we came to the mutual decision that it wasn't going to rain anymore, the ritual of packing up the gear commenced and we hiked back up the road on route to the cliffs. We talked about what to climb and decided on a 5 pitch route that goes from the ground to the top of the mountain the first pitch was a 511 mixed climb with a roof crack crux at the top that is protected with trad gear and required me to jam both hands in it and stem my feet out to holds that were virtually non-existent. It took me a few ups and downs before my nerves finally allowed me to do it. I was sure I was going to fall but I didn't.. (i was kinda hoping I'd fall because I've never falling on gear and I think I need to so I Learn to trust it.) the next pitch was easy sport climbing, the 3rd was a 10d and at the top I built my first anchor in 4 years with gear. Hah, just a little sketched out. Nobody died though. The last 2 pitches were a continuous crack in a dihedral. I didn't lead any of this and 2 things became super apparent. 1. I suck at climbing cracks. 2. My shoes are hell to crack climb in!! La sportiva solutions really are only good for bouldering and sport climbing. After we made it to the top we rapped off, grabbed a few beers and when Juan went to Cuenca for the night I made a massive dinner. When I'm climbing every day I eat sooo much! Later in the evening, Pablo benidatao and his girl friend Margarita rolled in. We talked climbing for a bit, watched a movie called Commited (it features the hardest scariest trad climbing in the world, and had multiple scenes of gear ripping out and people hitting the ground) great.....

We woke in the morning and the 3 of us drove to the top of the mountain. Pablo tied my 9.2 mumut rope to an anchor, tossed it off, and used his Grigry to rappel off. I went second but I was using my atc. From  the top it looked like an easy rappel but once u go down about 10 meters the nice grassy slopped hill turns in to an overhang and I quickly found myself hanging a few hundred meters about the ground. I'm not going to lie. I was scared. I could feel my ATC heating up on the single piece of rope and I couldnt help but imagine my rope melting in half. Nothing bad happened of course but I was defiantly shaky when I made it the 40 meters down to the shelf which had a horizontal line running the length of it for us to secure to. Basically we were going to climb the last pitcher the top of the cliff. All sport routes and all hard. 512a was the easiest and it went to 13c. "Were going to do this one for warm up" Pablo ponis to a 12a called helados helados. Omg I think to myself.. For one, I'm not used to climbing so high off the ground and 2 I've only redpointed a few 12a's in my life. So this is my maximum and werengoing to warm up on it. Pablo climbed it easily and set up an anchor to take photos while margarita and I climbed it. I went first and it went with no problems. I made it to the top and helados helados became my hardest onsite to date. Yuuuuuuukkkkkkkkkkin!!! Margarita climbed it after me and after we made it back to the shelf Pablo worked on his 13b project. After that I tried a 13 a varation of the one Pablo was on, made some good progress, took some long falls and wore off all my skin on my left fingers until they were bleeding. Margarita climbed it after and almost did allthe moves. She couldnt get the last few moves but it was also windy and rainy. We finished the day with a wet rainy rappel off to the ground. That night I slept better then any night I've been in Ecuador. 

The following morning was a Sunday and the big Colonial church blares music at 6 am.. We had decided to wake early anyways and I go the most beautiful sunrise on film... We headed up the mountain, rapped down to the shelf on two ropes and our day began. Margarita worked her 13a and made it to the top!! Pablo worked his direct variation of the route and linked it. I tried a 12c but my skin couldnt handle 
it so I decided not to climb at all. Marga climbed the 12c easily but took one fall at the crux. Before we finished I tied in, ran and jumped off the shelf and did this massive pendulum.. If you can't climb, at least fuck around and scare yourself right? We finished the day, I packed my stuff at Juans house and got a ride to Cuenca. Today I'm going to go for a hike up a mountain with a guy I met from buenos aires and after I'm meeting Juans girlfriend Chiva for a massage. I'm also hoping to squeeze in a few Spanish lessons during my rest days. So my conclusion? Ecuador is extremely under rated in the world of climbing as a destination!! The weather is not too hot, the bluffs are empty and the locals are more then willing to crank. To my family at home.. I miss you soo much( not the weather though) and to my girlfriend.. I miss you and I love you!!! See you soon. Chau Chau for now...