Rock Climbing

Troy had never been climbing before, and had expressed an interest in doing it.  Huaraz is famous for great climbing, so we got up early, found a local guide then jumped into one of the local colectiva buses and made our way about an hour out of town, before catching a Taxi to take us the rest of the way to a great climbing rock.

We had two guides, one to set the ropes and another to help us get into our gear and set up.

Tutu has some good climbing experience, and I have climbed quite a few times with my friends Zack and Cody back home, but it has been a few years for both of us.

We set up and got right to it, Troy first up on his very first climb ever.  We were all very, very impressed with his ability, as he made the initial route without too much trouble at all.  Troy isn't scared of heights, which really helps when you are dangling from a rope in a foreign country with no medical help for miles.  :)

We each did 3 routes, which while not hard, were challenging.. especially after it started to rain.

We finished the day by taking a quick taxi further up the road to another amazing Volcano Thermal pool, where we were treated to our own private Thermal bath.  Hot and cold running water into a tub about 3 times the size of a normal bathtub.  They brought us soap and shampoo, and we spent a good hour or so playing in the hot thermal spring water.

Glorious.

Troy, on his first climb ever, making it look easy.

It must be the Elf pants.

Tutu on the wall

Tim taking a break. 

All the locals were these tall fedora hats.  It's more a mountain thing, as we don't see it as much on the coast.