Dance, Dance, Dance!

Over the past four days, I've had the privilege of viewing 3 distinctly different dance shows.  This chain of events began on Wednesday night when I was presented with 2 free tickets to an event designed to raise funds for the Bolombolo community, and the ongoing development projects in the area.  Since it was D's last night, we were more than thrilled to accept the invitation and were treated to a night of "Folkloric Ballet," which translates to a variety of traditional dances from all across Colombia with interludes of ballads sung live by a woman with an incredibly rich voice.

They probably did at least 10 different types of dance, and they were all fantastic. I was too busy enjoying to get snapshots of all they offered, but I did manage to snag a few clips to give you all an idea of the evening's entertainment.  The shows ranged from beautiful to silly to sexy and everything in between!

On Friday night, a friend's dad was playing in a Flamingo band at the local brewery, so of course I had to go check that out!  Apparently the brewery does concerts every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month.  If they're anything like the one I saw this week, I'm most definitely going back!

The group was made up of a flutist, a guitarist, a stand up bass, a drummer and two singers/percussionists.  The flutist and the female singer took turns getting up to show off their dance steps in traditional Flamingo style!

This was definitely the first time I had ever seen Flamingo music or dancing live, and until last night, I had been under the impression that it is exclusively a female dance.  Boy, did the flutist prove that wrong!

The whole show was a riot of sharp percussion beats and haunting melodies.  Flamingo is a truly beautiful and wildly energetic form of music, which kept us all enthralled and cheering loudly for the entire show.  The fact that they give you 5 free beers with the $10 cover, and you only have a couple hours to drink them might have also helped ensure a properly festive mood!

After so much energy, there was no way we could call it a night, and it was soon determined that we would all head across town to a bar that I had yet to visit, but which turned out to be my new favorite.  It's only been open a couple years, and is situated in a large old house, complete with an open air patio at the back.  Compared to the other places I've been to dance in the city, this was incredibly spacious.  There was a main dance floor about the size of the entire Tibiri bar, and several adjoining spaces that could be utilized by the dancers.  The house atmosphere meant that there were also several side rooms where one could simply sit and enjoy a drink without being overrun by the more energetic members of the crowd.  I have a feeling I will definitely be ending up there more than once in the months to come!

After a full night on Friday, Saturday proceeded rather slowly, but a friend had recently discovered a bar/restaurant that presents live tango music and dance every weekend.  He'd already made reservations for Saturday, so despite the once again ominous skies, we headed out to the Patio of Tango in what is not exactly the best neighborhood in town.  Hoping out of the taxi, we took our reserved table directly next to the stage, and sat back to enjoy another evening of live entertainment.

I apologize for not having good pictures or video of this particular event, but given the location, I wasn't particularly tempted to carry my camera around.  My friend did manage to snap a few photos on his phone to give you a blurry picture of the place, but you'll just have to take my word for the fact that this was also a wonderful evening.

The performance shifted between the core musicians (who looked like they'd had an instrument in their hands for at least 50yrs each), the announcer/singer, two different pairs of dancers, and a pair of musicians visiting from Argentina.  Much of the music was very traditional, and my friend and I were the youngest audience members by at least 20 yrs.  However, one of the dance pairs were of the younger generation and they danced to more upbeat, modern renditions of the traditional songs.  The couple from Argentina were truly fantastic and sang heart wrenching ballads filled with emotion and technical mastery.

 

I must say, I haven't been out to this many shows in such a short time for many, many years, but have been thoroughly content to experience it all.  Don't know if I can keep up a pace like this, but something tells me the opportunities are not going anywhere.  =)

Friday Finale

We had a morning in the countryside and an afternoon in the city, but the day was still young.  On our journeys we had come across a flyer announcing a free performance of African rhythms and dance at a local community center. Didn't sound like something we should miss.  So, after a good meal at home, we braved the rain and headed across the river to the Moravia Center for Cultural Development.

When we arrived, the place was teeming with people.  Kids ran around the grounds, or used the computer lab, or learned to juggle, or practiced their break dancing while adults of all ages milled about chatting, teaching, or waiting for the show to begin.

The building itself was quite impressive as well, with open courtyards and layers of rooms for all kinds of purposes.  The entire building and all the activities that happen there are completely free and open to the public.  There were a few guidelines for respect posted on the walls, but otherwise it appeared as though this space was used much as a second home to the residents of the area. 

We didn't have long to wait before learning why so many people had gathered on this particular evening.  As the auditorium opened and the seats filled, we were greeted by the musical and dancing talents of Afrotronix.  They group hailed from France and Canada with a focus on mixing African rhythms with electronic beats.  Quite an interesting combination and one that did not fail to disappoint!

As the evening came to a close, we were informed that only about half the participants were actually from Afrotronix.  The rest were local artists and residents who had been working with the visiting artists for the past week or so in order to put together this fantastic presentation of music and dance.  The evening rounded out with an audience participation number where we finally got to get up out of our seats and enjoy the dance music with all the appropriate body gyrations.

By the time we got home, we were exhausted, but fantastically content.  The day had held a little bit of everything, and each experience had only been better than the last!

Further Fun on Friday

By the time we got down off the mountain and back into the city, our tummies were grumbling.  I still had a little bit of time before that meeting started, so we stopped of in the city center and perused the streets for something tasty.  We ended up walking around in the heart of the commercial district where row upon row of shops sells everything from doorknobs to bustiers, but apparently very little food.  By the time we had found somewhere to eat and were plowing through a massive pantacon, it had gotten too late to make it to my meeting on time.  However, by that point, I was thoroughly enjoying being out on the town during a weekday, and figured I might do better actually seeing the city than just listening to people talk about it.  So, we set out through the light drizzle that had commenced and were greeted with exciting architecture and wonderful examples of well designed public space.

A four story mall we stumbled into with a huge central atrium and funky angles.

Park of Lights_randomly scattered spires evoke the feeling of a forest and light up in a magical display at night

Government square, "Monument to the Race"

As we walked through the towering government buildings, there were people everywhere and works of art scattered across the square.

And to one side was a conspicuous little house that looked strikingly out of place in the middle of such grand structures.  However, the strangely familiar design soon struck a cord and I realized I was staring at a prototype of the the government houses I'd been instructed to use for the urban planning project I'd been working on in Bolombolo!  Sometimes this city really does feel like a small town. =)

From there, we wound through a series of plazas and walking streets admiring the myriad of public art, public spaces and public buildings that comprise this area of town.

Plaza Mayor

Barefoot Park

Bamboo grove at Barefoot Park

I really can't think of a single city in the US that has anywhere near the percentage of public space that I've found here in Medellin.  Not only are there small parks dotted through the city, but there are huge plazas, and walking streets, and gardens, and playgrounds, and so much more.  It's true that there are some neighborhoods where this is most definitely not the case, but the government understands the importance of providing not only housing and workplaces, but places of connection and recreation and relaxing and partying and play.  They've already proven the power of transformation that can come from carefully integrated, well designed, and well supported public projects, but they're still intent on spreading that power to as many areas of the city as humanly possible. 

Incredibly inspiring.

Fantastic Friday

Having completed all my current tasks by about 4pm on Thursday, and being informed that I couldn't meet with my boss until Monday for further instructions, I quite happily gave myself Friday morning off and tentatively agreed to attend a meeting of tangential interest in the afternoon.  Not wanting to waste such a precious gift, D and I decided to make the most of it.

Waking up early, we made our way to the metro and rode out to the north end of town.  With less than a week until D departs for the US and nice weather for a change, we had decided to head to Park Arvi and see if we couldn't get a bit of a feel for the nature preserve.  Remember how I said I unfortunately forgot my camera last time I took this ride?  Well, I'm gonna make up for that right now.

It dawned a little grey, but without the ominous rain clouds we've become accustomed to around here. Fortunately, in this particular instance, that made the journey all the more interesting.

 

As we crept up the hillside in the morning light, everything started to fade from view until all that could be seen were the floating metro boxes slowly appearing and disappearing in the mist.

A few moments later we emerged from the mist as we crested the hill and were greeted with a beautiful view of rolling forested hills for as far as we could see.

The car swung gently over the landscape as we drifted along towards our destination.  Everything but us was still for miles and miles around.  Quite a surreal feeling, which, assuming this video uploads correctly, I'm hoping you can all share.

About 20 minutes after boarding the metrocable extension, we were dropped off at the yet-to-be-finished welcome center were we bought a tasty traditional snack and inquired as to where we might encounter some horses for hire.   =)

Since at this point I was still planning to attend a meeting in the afternoon, we didn't have a whole lot of time to explore, so we figured we'd have some fun and cover a little more ground all at once.  After a little bit of wandering and lots of asking, we were soon situated atop our new friends for the next couple hours.

We were informed that we couldn't go off on our own, so our guide mounted up with us and we let him lead the way.  For the next hour or so we rode through the forest along logging trails until we came to a pretty little clearing with a happily bubbling brook coursing though it.  Dismounting to stretch our legs and explore, we follows the brook far enough to realize we should probably come back on a warm day with a whole day to waste in order to enjoy the place properly.  

Instead, we soaked up as much as we could in our short stay and then headed back out to our 4 legged friends who happily trotted us back to the metrocable.

By the time we made it back to the metro, we were treated to beautiful blue skies and a gorgeous ride down.

 

Not a bad way to start the day!

Edible Fun

I know I haven't talked much about the food here, but that's because I keep thinking it deserves it's own entry and hence I keep putting it off.  However, it's time to put that aside and tell you that almost everything I've eaten here has been delicious!  I'm sure I still have lots of things to try, but so far I've encountered several 'traditional' items that I thought you all might like to hear about:

_Arepa:  kinda like a cross between a tortilla and a pancake, these can be made from either flour or cornmeal and are served with nearly everything.  They can also be their own meal when piled high with meet, veggies, guacamole and pretty much anything else you might like. 

_Cazuela:  a stew-like dish with a base of beans that are then smothered in corn, meat, cheese, potato strips, and any number of other goodies depending on where you're eating.

_Mondongo:  a soup traditionally made with cow stomach, ...um...and lots of other things I don't remember at the moment because I was focused on the chewy stomach bits.  Was super yummy other than those parts, and is served with rice, avocado and banana, all of which you scoop up together while you're slurping up your stew.

_Pantacones:  Squashed plantains fried in oil and served with various toppings.  These are what I really want to talk about since I had the pleasure of learning how to cook them the other night.  We had invited a friend over for dinner and mentioned that we'd like to learn some Colombian cooking, so that's what we got.  Really quite a simple recipe, but oh so much more delicious when made fresh at home.  For those of you coming to visit, I'd be happy to show off my newly acquired knowledge with an edible exhibit.  For the rest of you, you'll just have to make do with a couple mouth watering pictures.

City Sunday

After such a busy week, which included all of Saturday, there was very little incentive to make big plans for the weekend, so D and I decided we'd go spend Sunday at the Park Explora which is a hands on science museum with an aquarium, lots of reptiles and all sorts of cool toys.  Since it was mother's day we didn't expect the place to be too packed, as most people spend time at home or in the country for this particular holiday.  So, we had a lazy morning with a yummy brunch before catching a taxi across the river.

I had had the luxury of a brief tour of the building a few days before when my boss (who designed the place) took us through the back door so that our conference guest could get a feel for the place.  However, that had only really served to wet my appetite even more as we scampered quickly through a couple exhibits and back out the front door.  This time around I was determined to enjoy everything the place had to offer.

The first discovery, situated in the upper plaza, was pretty sweet:

Take a real close look at that photo...what appears to be nonsensical swirls in a vaguely artistic pattern reflects into familiar faces on the vertical metal pole in the center.  Like I said, pretty sweet!

All around the front of the museum are various little things to entice people and give children a place to play.  This means that the square is always full of people.

We skipped excitedly down the ramp to the ticket booth, anticipating an entertaining afternoon.  Only, when we got there, all the windows were closed and the guard kindly informed us that the place was closed for maintenance today.  =(

Quite shaken but determined not to be let down, we crossed to the street to see if maybe we could snag a show at the planetarium.  Also closed.  =( 

But, the scene out front was rather priceless.

Bummed to miss the museums, but equipped with a picnic lunch, we retired to the botanical gardens for a more mellow afternoon.  As we were enjoying our food beside the lake, we heard a bit of a commotion and suddenly saw the tree above us begin to shake.  Apparently we had an uninvited, but adorably cute guest.

 This little guy, who was no more than a foot long, hung out for a good ten minutes before the screaming children finally scared him off.  As we were left in peace to finish our meal, I heard a few notes that sounded as though there might be a concert occurring in the Orchidrama, so we finished up, bought some kettle corn and headed in.  We were not disappointed.  Not only was there a concert, but it was a chamber music group performing Tango music with various invited guests.

Now, I know the picture doesn't do them justice, so I very diligently recorded an entire song in order to share with all of you.  Unfortunately, I recorded in a format that my computer does not currently recognize, so due to technical difficulties, you're'll just gonna have to use your imagination for now.  Hopefully I'll sort that issue out soon so I can share properly.

However, after being thoroughly disappointed by the closure of the Park Explora, we ended up spending an incredibly enjoyable afternoon lazing about the gardens listening to excellent music.  Gotta say, I really love this city!

Oh, and on the way out...I stopped by to use the bathroom and was shocked to discover it happened to be one of the coolest, most beautiful restrooms I have ever come across.

Crazy Week

Ok, so it's been a little while since my last post, but with good reason.  The last couple weeks have been jam packed with all sorts of goodies.  

First off, there was a big party called Vibra mi Tierra a few weeks ago that was held in the Orchidrama at the Botanical Gardens.  It was a combination of good music, overpriced but delicious food, and beer tasting.  We really went for the beer tasting, but the rest was a welcome bonus.  

Turns out there are quite a few aspiring brewers in Colombia, and they all had the chance to come out and strutt their stuff on this particular evening.  For the cost of about $5 you got a glass and 9 tastings from various booths.  Each booth was manned by the brewer themselves and most had pictures and explainations of their processes.  All of them were eager to tell you about their particular brew.  

Unfortunately, there's not much of a tradition of beer making in this part of the world, and the typical offerings are on the very light, corona end of things.  So, despite some very good efforts to dive into the realm of real beer, and a welcome respite from the typical, none of the beers on offer really lived up to the styles they were attempting to achieve.  The best by far was called a porter, had a dark color and more flavor than most, but definitely still fell short of the full bodied texture evidenced in other parts of the world.  Nonetheless, it was a wonderfully entertaining experience, and you really can't beat the Orchidrama as a setting for a party. 

The week following the festival was jam packed with lots of work as we prepared for a weekend conference and tried to push through a few other projects at the same time.  Luckily, one of those projects requried that I accompany our guest from a very well known US University to see 2 of the major Urban Integrated Projects the city has done or is in the process of doing.   

The first day took us out to see the Metrocable, the Biblioteca España and all the parks, bridges, housing and urban reconstruction they've done in the area.  We also took a beautiful ride out the Metrocable extension that drifts over a nature preserve named Park Arvi.  Quite unfortunately, I forgot my camera that day, so I'm afraid I can't share the visuals with you at the moment. However, I promise to go back at some point during my stay and will update accordingly.  In the meantime, please accept this substitute image found online.

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/4449/5061180g.jpg

After our adventures in the city, we all came back to the office and started discussing the possibility of creating a joint project between EAFIT and our guest's university.  As this has not been finalized, nor publicized, I can't say much more, but I can assure you, if it goes through, this partnership will create some really amazing opportunities and hopefully a fascinating body of work. 

The second day involved a tour of the Centro Oriental, or Central-East district of the city, an area I had yet to come even close to visiting.  Apparently one of the poorest and most violent neighborhoods at the moment, this area is slated for another Metrocable extension in the coming years, and is the site of a series of government sponsored community partnerships.  

Our tour took us through a park that was once the site of many ramshackle homes, but had been cleared when a fire destroyed nearly all the buildings in the area.  The surrounding community had petitioned the government to develop a park rather than allow resettlement due to the extremely steep slope and precarious conditions evident in this area.  The government obliged and for the past 10 years, this area has been a welcome green space within a densely packed residential area. 

As we walked through the neighborhood, we came across various recent projects including playgrounds, community gardens, roadway improvements and numerous walking paths, stairways and plazas designed to make the pedestrian experience that much more comfortable.  

The final site we visited will soon be a memorial park and was situated on a portion of the hillside that had once tumbled over numerous residences and trapped 500 people beneath it's unstable ground.  Most of the bodies were never found, so the site was designated as a cemetary and the community built a monument to the tragedy.

Today, community members are being put to work by a government sponsored project to build a memorial park on the site.  This particular project is one of many small interventions being planned along the border of the city in an attempt to build pride and ownership within the community.  The concept is part of an attempt to dissuade further informal (and often dangerous) development through a combination of community action, government attention and economic development. 

Once we had seen our fill of this particular project, we caught a taxi down the impossibly steep streets and found our way back to the University.  The afternoon held further discussions of how a joint research/design project could aid in the current development initiatives and what new perspectives might be brought to bear on the incredibly complicated issue of informal settlements.  Fascinating stuff if you ask me!  Hopefully I'll get a chance to share some more of the details as soon as they are confirmed, but for the moment, let's suffice to say I'm really hoping to get a change to work on this as it develops. 

That evening, starting at 5pm and ending at 10pm, we held a conference, with several prominent invited guests, to discuss the possible formation of a new school here at EAFIT which would focus on urban issues through design.  Being the only native English speaker other than our guest, who didn't speak a lick of Spanish, I had the incredibly challenging task of attempting to be a simultaneous translator.  If you've read my previous posts, you'll already know how much respect I have for people who do this particular task as a profession.  In my opinion, they are nothing less than miraculous.  Our conference continued through all of Saturday, so I got plenty of time in which to come to an even greater level of respect for simultaneous translators as a frantically attempted to keep up with all that was being said.  Fortunately, our guest was very understanding, and my Spanish is now good enough to at least get the gist of everything, if not every single word, so we made it though.  

When the conference was over, several of us went out for a well deserved celebration that included beer, leftover catered food and salsa dancing.  Not a bad way to wrap up the week!

Doors

Alright, after this post I won't be able to hide the architectural geek inside, but I just have to share...

While I was in Bogota, wandering about the historic sector, I couldn't help but notice the beautiful wooden doors that adorned nearly every building.  So, I got a little shutter happy and brought home a few to share. 

Enjoy!

Suesca

Stepping out the front door of our new home for the week, little could be seen but the mist that filled the valley.  Nonetheless, it was immediately clear that we had landed in an intensely beautiful location, the mist was just there to ensure a slow and enjoyable unfolding of all the splendor that Suesca has to offer.  Sitting in front of a small house built solely with the intention of housing climbers during their adventures in the valley, we watched the mist rise and the cliffs were revealed.

Just as I was thinking that things couldn't get any more magical, I detected a faint note of music drifting across the valley.  Much to my delight, as I turned to search for the source of the haunting melody, I was greeted the sight of a lone figure seated at the top of the hill gently blowing tones through his digeridoo.

By this point it was obvious we had landed as close to paradise as humanly imaginable.  I ducked back inside for a traditional climber's breakfast of scrambled eggs wrapped in tortillas and inquired as to the plan for the day.  Apparently the clouds that were hovering so close around the mountaintops meant the chance of rain in the valley was fairly high for the day.  So, rather than risk a soggy afternoon, our friends were headed to a nearby site called Macheta where the cliffs were overhung, and the routes ridiculously steep!  The lowest rating in the whole place is 5.10a, and there's only one of those.  After that there's a couple 11s and a plethora of 12s and 13s.  Knowing we wouldn't be able to keep up with all of those, but happy to explore new places (and lacking transport of our own), we cheerily piled into the car for a very bumpy ride down into the valley.  An hour later we were driving past hotspring resorts when we took a sharp turn up a winding road and reached our destination.

The hike up to the cliffs required some acrobatics in order to avoid becoming entirely covered in slick mud, but the journey was well rewarded.

View from the cliffs

Think this one speaks for itself!

We spent the afternoon working on the hard 10s and easy 11s in the area while our friends, who happen to be some of the strongest climbers in all of Colombia, projected 12ds and 13s.  I did get on toprope try a 12, and was able to make most of the moves, but didn't get past the crux.

Luckily, the rain held off for most of the day, and we were able to enjoy the place thoroughly.  It seems as though each valley creates a bit of a micro climate, so certain ones stay dry and sunny while others are habitually drenched.  This turned out to be the case in the valley of Suesca, where it was drizzling steadily as we drove back, and had apparently been raining most of the day.  A little worried for our next day of climbing, but too tired and happy to be particularly preoccupied, we enjoyed a hearty dinner followed by a well earned night's sleep.

The next day dawned a little gray, but we were informed that due to the afternoon's soccer game between Madrid and Barcelona for the King's Cup, none of our friends would be straying too far from the valley's pizza pub, so any climbing that was going to happen would have to be here in Suesca.  Excited to see the cliffs up close, but apprehensive about the weather, we took that wonderfully bumpy ride back down to the valley and started our walk in along the railroad ties that act as a trail into the valley.  We stopped at the very first cliff and one of our friends started gearing up for a hard 10 that was a mix of trad and sport.  Not wanting to miss out on the fun, D spotted another enticing bolted line just to the right that was in the hard 10/easy 11 range, so we got out gear out and went at it.

Turned out that our route had one very tricky move on it, so we ended up spending quite a while trading leads trying to get past the move.  Eventually I managed to work out a footing that got us past the crux, but was too burnt to finish, so D used by beta and stitched up the rest of the route.  We came down a lunch of bread and cheese as most of our crew headed off to the tavern, leaving their gear up so we could try the mixed route as well.  Just as we swallowed our last bite, the skies opened up in what was by now a rather familiar gesture, and started dumping down with rain.  Luckily, part of the cliff was overhung, so we were able to move all our gear into a dry crevice.  Unfortunately, we had gear up on 2 routes, both of which finished in fully drenched zones.

As we debated whether to try and wait it out or grin and bear getting wet, our final friend took off, sighting his need to keep his dog dry as an excuse to go watch the game.  Since the rain wasn't really letting up, we ended up having to suck it up and do some very sloppy climbing through the downpour to retrieve our gear before hiking back to the pizza bar to dry off.  At least we'd gotten some climbing in for the day...

The following morning dawned clear, but there was something a little different about the landscape this time around...

Where the previous morning we had barely noticed the lazy river that meandered along the valley floor, today it was obvious that the water had thoroughly overflowed it's banks and flooded into the adjoining fields.  From our perspective, it was hard to tell whether the old railroad lines that serve as a path to the cliffs were also inundated, but we were going to have to find out if we wanted to climb there today.

When we got to the cliffs, our friends stopped off to try the same routes as the day before while D and I went off to scout out access to the rest of the cliffs.  For the most part, the slightly raised railroad bed was dry, but the water lapped up on both sides through thick jungle brush.  At one point, the only way to continue with dry feet was to balance precariously on the rail lines and use them as a balance beam to cross through the otherwise saturated ground.  We saw plenty of people climbing all along the cliffs, but it was not really apparent how they had managed to reach their sites, as all visible pathways were evidently flooded.  Nonetheless, it was a beautiful walk with some very enticing routes, so before reaching the end of the cliffs, we turned back to go retrieve our gear and get some advice on how to reach the climbs.

We had been back with our friends for less than 5 minutes when 4 police officers trotted up in reflective vests and kindly informed us that everyone would need to evacuate the valley immediately.  I didn't understand the rest of the message, but our friends translated as they scurried to get their ropes and gear off the wall.  Due to the enormous quantity of rain in the region, the authorities would be opening a dam further up the river in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure upstream.  This would result in the water rising even more than it already was in the valley of Suesca.

Disappointed that we wouldn't get to sample any more of the fantastic looking cliffs today, or most likely for the rest of the week, we tramped back to the car.  After much debate, everyone finally reached the consensus that since it was still a nice day, we should try another cliff that was apparently directly behind the house we were staying in.

We drove up the every so bouncy road with at least 7 people per car and parked at 'home'.

'home' for the week

A few minutes later we were slogging up the path and through a gorgeous valley with cliffs on both sides.  I'm gonna have to say that I think mother nature really had our best interest at heart when she flooded the river, because this place was spectacular!

In the 2 hours or so before it started raining again, we go to sample some really fantastic routes, full of huecos and beautiful friction-filled slabs!

The next day the rain was still coming down, so we accompanied our friends back to Macheta for a day of delightfully strenuous climbing.

My attempt to lead an 11d.  Didn't make it past the crux, but had a lot of fun trying!

Saturday was to be our last day in Suesca, but the river had yet to subside, so our only options for climbing were Macheta or the Valle.  We'd pretty much tried everything we had a shot at completing in Macheta, and I'd kinda fallen in love with the Valle, so when the day dawned fairly clear, we figured we'd press our luck and head for the hueco filled walls behind our abode.

We saw our friends off and set out just as it was beginning to drizzle.  Fortunately, the rain let up a bit as we approached the cliffs and we were able to check out what was available.  Unfortunately, with all the rain of the past 2 days, nearly all the routes were seeping from above, even if the lower section was still dry.  After much debate we finally settled on what looked to be the only option for a completely dry accent.  This required linking 2 routes in order to stay out of the minor rivers running on both sides, but the huecos provided good hands and fantastic feet the whole way up.  Not very challenging in the end, but it was worth coming out just for the chance to be part of this stunning landscape.

On the way back across the valley, we decided to take a slight detour and check out the view from the other side. We were very happy to have done so.  Don't get a view like this everyday!