Climbing

This weekend was one of those weekends where the world seems very small. Celine and I went with Gina and Cristal (two Puerto Ricans), Hannah and Megan (two Canadians), Omir (another American), and Yasis (a Venezuelan) back to Vinales to rock climb. This climbing trip happened to fall on the same weekend as the Pitt Outdoors Club big semester climbing trip to Seneca Rocks, West Virginia. The thing that ties everything together even more is that at the first crag we hiked to there were three Americans already climbing there. These were the only other people we saw during our two days of climbing. JJ, one of the Americans, was from Keene Valley, New York. We talked for a while about the Adirondacks… I’ve been to Keene Valley a bunch of times since it is only a few towns over from Newcomb, New York, where my family cabin is. Then, when I told him I went to the University of Pittsburgh he replied by saying, “Oh, like the Pitt Outdoors Club.” He had lives in Seneca Rocks for a few years are knows of the POC’s semester trips there. All of this timing was crazy.

The amount of time I spend outside is directly correlated with my happiness. I needed this trip for my sanity.

We took the Cuban bus, or Astro, from Havana to Vinales. The ticket was $38MN. Once we arrived we got ourselves situated in a Casa Particular, Villa Nery and Felix. Nery is the self proclaimed “jefe of Vinales.” She has a glorious back porch with views of the magotes, wooden Adirondack rockers, fresh juice, and a cool cat named Romeo. After a quick lunch we walked to the Oscars Casa… THE climbing guy in Vinales. He has the guide books, equipment, and knowledge of all the climbs. He hooked us up with a guide and off we went.

Besides the swarms of mosquitoes, the climbing was great… beautiful scenery, fun routes, and cool people to hang with. We climbed until sunset and then got up the next day to do it again.

Getting home was a little more of an ordeal. There was no room on the only Astro bus back to Havana and we were too stubborn to pay tourist prices for the fancy bus. We spent an hour or so finding a car to take us to Pinar del Rio, a larger city nearby. We went to the Astro station here, but there were over 100 people on the waiting list. Two hours and lunch later we were boarding a camione. We got our wish and paid $20MN for our 3 hour, smooshed, bumpy, and very Cuban ride. It dropped us off outside the city so we followed the masses that had also just gotten off, crossed some highways, and waited for a city bus to get the rest of the way home.

I guess my sanity (or my version of sanity) is restored for now… but next week it’s off again :)