Espana es Dulce!

Matt and I at Makinodromo!

The title of my blog for today, for those of you who don't speak Spanish, means Spain is Sweet! After delays, near missed flights and very little sleep, I finally made it to Spain, and found my baggage and met up with Matty and Aaron yesterday (Wednesday). I don't think I've ever been more relieved to see someone I know more than I was when I walked out the exit of the baggage claim and saw Matt standing there waiting. It was so great to see him, and the three of us have been having a great time since I got here. 

The drive to the Finca La Campa (the hostel we're camping at) was so beautiful. The scenery here is so breathtaking. I feel like I am constantly looking around in awe that I am here. It feels almost like a dream. We are camping up on top of a hill, surrounded by grey and orange cliffs on the horizon. We wake up and walk out of the tent, and there are views that people pay millions of dollars to have. We've got them for a mere 9 euros a night. Along with the campsite, we have access to all of the common areas including the kitchen and showers (which are both key). Another great thing is that there is internet! So I will be able to update often!! 

Last night I didn't sleep very well despite being exhausted from the trip over here. I think it was the combination of being in a new place, and also the dogs and other animals that decided to make themselves heard in the valley throughout the night and morning. It will be interesting to see if this is something that happens every night. 

Today we went to a cliff called the Makinodromo. There are two ways to get there. The first way (and apparently more legal way) is to park in a communal lot and hike in and across the train tracks, to a trail that then takes you to the top of a mountain, across a ridge line to the top of another mountain and down into a valley where you then have to hike up the majority of another mountain to get to the cliffs... This all supposedly takes between 30 and 60 minutes according to the guidebook (but when Aaron and Matt tried to do it before I got here, they hiked for longer and didn't find it). The other way to get there, which during the weekend is guarded by la policia and ok during the week, is to park and hike to the train tracks, and then walk through three tunnels to the trail head where you then hike a nice 30 minutes up to the crag. This was our chosen route today, and it was pretty sweet. We only saw two trains the whole time we were hiking by the tracks, and we were completely safe from them. So unless it is the weekend, or we're going to a different crag. we'll be hiking in through the tunnels. 

Snoozing at the Makinodromo.

I was feeling pretty tired once we finished our hike in. So when I finished climbing the warm up route, I decided to take a nap. So I lay out my pack, and put on my puffy coat and slept for about an hour, maybe more. It was really nice to get some rest and I woke up feeling much better and very refreshed. 

After the nap and some food and water, I watched some sending by Aaron who onsighted a 7a+ (5.12a) then it was my turn to climb again. I got on a climb called Life is Sweet (6c or 5.11b) and I flashed it with a little beta from the boys! It was the most incredible climb I have done to date, and my first lead of the grade! It entailed pulling on to the wall and then climbing up this crazy hanging tufa! Once on the tufa you continued up and laybacked it through the next clip and then traversed out to the right to get some really nice pocketed climbing. The moves were all pretty big up there, but the holds were all good, and it felt so nice to be up there! The limestone here is so cool (this is my first time climbing it) and I think I could grow to really love this type of climbing! 

That was my last climb for the day because I am pretty tired, but Matt and Aaron climbed for another couple of hours with more onsights and Matt almost sending a 7c+ (5.13a). We are going to go back there again tomorrow. There are a lot of other routes that look really incredible and I think I might even get my first 5.12 if I try hard enough!! Crushing! I am really excited about being here! I've got another 10 or 11 days of climbing (we'll rest for two or three of those days) and there are so many crags it is hard to choose where to go. This looks like it has some of the coolest lines on it though, so we are all pretty psyched to spend another day or two or three there! 

So it looks like all of my training has paid off. I felt really solid on that climb today and really enjoyed it a lot. I feel comfortable on lead, my head is very calm while I am up there, and my body just feels strong in general, which can never hurt in this sport. We'll see what the rest of the trip has in store, and if today is any indication of how it is going to go there will be a lot more sending to tell about!!