Spain Rain

Rainy day today, so no climbing for this group. Instead it looks like a day of books by the fire and hunting for coffee makers. Tip: Italian coffee makers are not for the weak, or those not addicted to caffeine. Just ask The Grizz, who after his first encounter with Italian coffee shook like he had been electrocuted.

A reflection on the trip...

Spain has been an unbelievable experience. I did my best to go into this trip with no expectations, which wasn't hard seeing as this is my first time in Europe. I expected to have a good time, and what I got did not disappoint. I have come to love the Costa Blanca, with its terraced hillsides, ancient towns, and towering mountains. Spain still confuses me (bars are closed on Fridays but open on Sundays?) but everyone has been very nice to us, despite my fantastically failed attempts at speaking Spanish. The Orange House in particular has been an awesome base of operations. Climbers are fun people, plain and simple. Climbing is a test of strength and endurance, but in an incomparably fun manner. There is nothing quite like the joy of reaching the top of a route, calling "take!" to your belayer, and finally sitting back and enjoying the view, muscles pumped. Everything is beautiful from a couple hundred feet up.

And yet with all the time we spend up in the clouds, the climbers I know are, to their essence, down to earth people. Perhaps it's because we spend so much time being dwarfed by towering rock, but the climbing community is the most supportive group I have ever encountered. They are also hilarious; we have gotten ourselves in trouble laughing ourselves off routes. However, there is as much joy in sending a route yourself as there is in seeing your friends send them. The best climbers I know (I'm looking at you, C-Dawg and The Bod) are the ones who have the most fun. Who can't send a fantastic route without pausing to tell their friends how good it is half way through. "It's so good!" has become the catch phrase of our group.

And it is so good. We've all had an experience we won't forget, and will probably drive our friends and families mad with stories and pictures. When my fellow saints head back to the cold upstate New York winter, I'll miss them, but I hope they keep sending. It's too good not to.