When I grow up...

Ahmad Lopez on Mothership Connection.

Cocina Mexicana

Chips and salsa, green and red, tacos, burritos, rice and beans, not too different by name what we are used North of the border, but it's pretty tasty and very cheap. And it all gets washed down with beer or margaritas. Marie also cooks on the ancient gas stove in our campground. Travelling further South we have tasted a few more local specialties (nogales, molle rojo etc.) and learned how to make spicy salsa on a campground fire.

El Rincon Campground

The birds’ song waked us up this morning. Big birds are eating pecans from the tree near our VW Camper. We also had 5 horses looking at us when we finally made it out of the VW. We are the only campers in this campground located at the food of Potrero Chico. We have full access to the rooming house. Only one room is rented to 2 Mexican brothers who are great climbers. The place is called “El Rincon” (the Corner) and comes with a splendid view on the valley and the Sierra. It costs $3 per person per night. It’s at the end of the road, a little too close to a pig farm; a pig farm of about 3 pigs. When the wind comes from East, we can smell their perfume.
Thomas likes the place; he wants to stay here longer. I want to go south; I have been here for 6 weeks…. We can come back here in February. Potrero and the house will still be here.
Yesterday, we went climbing again. I took Thomas to some 5.10b and 5.10c I like. We also spent a part of the day chatting with Mexicans about the best spots to visit in Mexico.

First impressions from Potrero Chico

Big walls, little of an approach, climbers from all over the world are here, and most importantly Marie knows everybody and everybody knows Marie.

Many days we climbed in the shade, in shorts, no shirt. When there was cloud cover we climbed on the southern exposed walls.

Here is the tick list so far:

Dec. 8, Saturday
Woke up at 10PM, beautiful weather, climbed all day in shorts, no shirt.
Wonder wall - just developed in 2006!
5.8 - Evil Shenanigans*, p1 only
5.9 - One dead teardrop*, top loose
5.10a - Mexican Squeeze Job*
5.10a - Read headed step child*
5.9 - Mr. Hanky, harder than the 5.8 rating
5.10a - Monkey Bizness, sporty, needs cleaning on top
Big handholds, kind off steep with breaks. Many times clipping the anchor was thee hardest.

Dec. 9, Sunday
Cloudy morning, a bit cooler, still climbing in shorts.
Mini Super Wall
Mas Panza Que Pelo, 5.9+
Lamb Nuts, 5.10c, TR
Cat Wall
Cat Daddy, 5.10a
Dirty Screwdriver*, 5.8+
Skary Cat*, 5.9

Dec. 10, Monday
It rained overnight, so we got tips from our Mexican climbing friends what places to visit. It was mostly cloudy in the afternoon, so we went climbing on the sunny side.
Jungle Wall
Space Boyz***, 4 pitches, 5.8, 5.9, 5.9, 5.9, very nice clean streak between cacti.
Mini Super Wall
Cerveza, 5.10b*, TR, delicate
Coca Cola, 5.10a/b*, jugs

Dec. 11, Tuesday
Another cloudy day, just perfect temperature, although Marie had to celebrate a case that came with a couple of phone calls in the morning.
Jungle Wall
Yankee Clipper***, 5 pitches, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10b, 5.7, 5.9 - Marie led the hard stuff, I am not used to the exposure, yet.
Picked up a bag of limes on the way back, now we just need the booze!

Dec. 12, Wednesday
Another cloudy day with perfect temperature.
Jungle Wall
Boys, 2 pitches, 5.8, 5.6. The 5.9+ variation was too hard for me.
Wonder wall
5.10b
5.10a - Read headed step child*

Last week, I Ended Up in the Local Paper

I got interviewed by the "El Sol" journalist as a woman climber, never mind that I am just an average climber.

You can not miss the beer store, you can drive a truck through it.
Service is fast and friendly. The beer is cold and cheap.

How Far South Will We Go?

The journey, for me, started mid-October 2007. I left Ottawa (Canada) for Red River Gorge, Kentucky in my VW Camper 1999. However, when I got there, the weather was so bad, I did not even stop, I kept driving South… all the way to Hildalgo, Mexico for the “grande Potrero Chico”.

I like Potrero, but my destination is Costa Rica. I want to cross Central America with my VW. Yes it’s adventurous, but I have traveled many other foreign countries before. With some luck and awareness, such a journey can be so rewarding.

Now, I have been at Potrero for one month, saw many climbers coming and going. Potrero is Mexico’s biggest rock climbing spot. Here, you don’t need to know any Spanish. Here, climbers are from all over the world; we communicate in English. We are 3 hours away from USA, lots of locals speak good English.

I am waiting for my German friend Thomas, who after 18 years working in California, retired last week at age 49. He has never been to Mexico. I will pick him up at the Monterrey airport next week. I wonder, if he will like Mexico; how far south we are going to go… or if we will end up on a calm Pacific island.

The adventure is about to begin!

It's not too often that you leave a good corporate job with a one-way ticket to Mexico in your pocket. Well, something interesting might happen on the way, so we created this blog to report on our adventures.


First stop: Potrero Chico, Mexico