Sarah and I are currently on a train to Cerbere, which is just north of the Spanish-French border. We will then get on another train to Montpellier. There was a direct train, but it was full so after lots of confusion in the Barcelona train station we figured out our itinerary. In Montpellier we are picking up a rental car. We have it for a week. We will drive to Rome with stops at Pisa and other points of interest along the way. Then we need to drop the car off in Paris on the 21st. We have 4 nights in Paris then we train to Valence for the Youth World Championships. So everything is pretty much all planned out for the rest of the trip. Thank god. It was very stressful trying to plan without a laptop.
Last night we picked Mathilde up at the Barcelona train station. She had been training in Valence for the last five days in preparation for Worlds. We went back to a restaurant that was recommended to us by my brothers girlfriend: La Quinze Nits. On the walk there we were blocked by a policia incident, which must have just happened. The girls sheepishly stayed behind while Sean and I pushed to the front of the crowd to see what was up. We saw some paramedics working on a guy laying on the ground. There was blood pooling beside him and he wasn’t moving. It looked like the medics had given up. Sure enough they covered him up with a white sheet 5 minutes later. The police let some nearby friends approach him and we watched one guy lift the sheet past the victims head to give him five kisses of grief. Then a photographer stood over top of him to snap a few pics, which to me seems a tad indecent. It sounds like the person was stabbed in the chest and another guy was already in an ambulence. I don’t think either one was a tourist. The whole situation was pretty sad, but at the same time surreal to see. We continued onward and half a block away life went on as normal; tourists conversing over beers on the outdoor patios, oblivious to the death that just occured a stones throw away.
A few days ago Sean, Sarah and I drove to Rodellar for two days of climbing. Think of Horne Lake limestone times 1000. The walls are twice as high and twice as steep. Again I didn’t get on anything too hard and I didn’t work any routes. There wasn’t enough time. Instead I just tried to onsight everything. I came close to flashing a 7c+: “El Setes” (I think that’s what it’s called), but even after pulling the lip and resting on the biggest jugs, I couldn’t recover enough to push through the final crux. I forgot how good it feels to be so ridiculously pumped that even jugs feel like 5.14.
So I gotta say that the people in Rodellar are very… What’s the word… Confident: Near the end of day 1 we were climbing by a river. The river is a big attraction to families for picnicking. It splits into lots of pools that are great for swimming. Well, at the pool just 20 feet from us we see this guy stripping down to the buck to go for a dip. He’s not shy. He faced us and dropped his pants in front of about 10 other climbers and one little girl. That was Dick #1. While we were hiking out that same day we come around a corner to see another dude without pants. Dick #2. Then the next night, while doing laundry in the mens washroom another guy walks out of the shower swinging his piece in front of me and two others trying to brush their teeth. That was Dick #3. So in the 2.5 days in Rodellar I saw 3 dicks. On average that’s a Dick a Day! Of course you don’t want to look but you can’t help it; there it is right in front of you. You’re shocked and you wonder: WTF!? On the bright side (where the sun does shine), at least this experience makes me think of a certain V7 boulder problem at North Mountain in Hueco Tanks.
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In your pants = Dick #4
you want see cocks? drop by the west end swimming pool and you surely get your fill!
It’s Europe baby, you got to go with the flow! You know the expression “When in Rome.” I bet a nice swim at the end of climbing day would have done your sore muscles some good. Glad you’re having a great time.