Friday June 13th, 2014

Those that know me know I'm pretty tall.  I mean I don't like to brag about it or anything, but it's a fact.  At 6'4" tall, I am by no means some giant freak of nature.  However, sometimes when traveling in Central or South America one does get the feeling.  I'm not saying that Peruvians are overly short either, but I'm definitely the tallest person I've seen here so far.  Being tall in a country where the infrastructure has been designed for a population whose height average is significantly less that of our own comes with its challenges (and advantages).  For one, getting on those tiny buses that transport far more people than recommended, called combis, means either having to fold in half and sit or lay on the ground.  Also, the  quarter-stuffed Oreos here are bit disappointing to say the least.  Yet, despite my struggles I still manage to get by, and have shown my usefulness time and time again to reach items on the top shelf.

Today we went on a route scouting mission down to Playa Herra Dura, a local surfing beach to the South of us in the district of Chorrillos, Lima.  After having a bus drop us off at the coast we walked down Camino de la Araña, which was a beautiful seaside drive along the Pacific coast.  Along the way we met fishermen, an ice cream vendor, bird enthusiasts, and a lot of surfers.  We gained some beautiful views of the waves crashing into rock, cutting wedges and arches into the cliff.  Then we heard the beautiful clattering sounds of stones being drawn back be the receding wave, slowly pulverizing each other into sand.  As we passed under a large statue of Jesus Christ a top a large hill, we finally caught glimpse of the Playa Herra Dura and the several hundred foot sea cliffs looming above.  We were at first very excited to come across such a find, but after a bit of inspecting it slowly became clear that these cliffs were Choss City.  By that I mean that the quality of the rock was very low due to its tendency to crumble and break under any stress.  We also noted that had we found any workable lines to ascend, the top-out looked hellish and there weren't any decent spots to rappel; that means leaving gear behind and neither of us were willing to make that sacrifice, or sacrifice our safety for the first chossy ascent on some random sea cliffs.  Despite our disappointment, we both resolved that we had achieved what we came to do, which was to scout the area and determine whether or not there are climbable routes.  We also got in a good hike during the process.  On the way home we picked up some curry powder and chorizo from a super market, and a whole coconut from a vendor on the street. Now we are ready to make some delicious curry!