American Invasion, and on to France

We left Margalef on Tuesday and headed to Oliana.  We had to stop at Chris's house because Ethan has some stuff stashed there.  We drove up and opened the gate and looked around but nobody was home and all of the doors were locked.  Apparently some Americans were staying in Sharma's guest house, but they'd locked up and there was no key to be found anywhere.  Since we had nowhere else to go we just decided to hang out.  These are some pictures I took there:

Spring is full-on here, even though it feels like summer.  I went back to our car to put on some shorts and I heard a car drive up.  Chris and Daila drove up and looked at me like "who are you and what are you doing in our driveway?"  I just said "uh...I'm with Ethan!" and then they were like "oh oh ok."  I'd met Chris before but not Daila.  It was an uncomfortable moment..I felt kind of bad.  Chris probably gets weird people talking to him all the time. Anyway, it was all good and we had some cold beers, chatted about climbing shoes (well, Chris and Ethan chatted, I zoned out and tried to tan my legs), and then talked about how hot it was. Unfortunately there was no key to the guest house, so Ethan still couldn't get his crap. We were offered a spot on the floor in a room attached to the guesthouse, but it's still under construction and neither one of us really felt like sleeping on the floor.  I mean, I have a job, I have money and I'm going to spend it on this trip.

We drove on to Oliana and looked for camping, but we couldn't find anything and ended up in a hotel in Coll de Nargo, the next town North of the town of Oliana.  The next day we tried to track down some camping but had no luck, so we drove up to the crag.  Lo and behold, an American invasion. The crag roasts in the sun until about 3, so that's when everyone shows up. I was a little taken aback to see so many Americans!  Clay and Rosi, Joe and Collette, Emily and Same...plus Andrew, Jen, Elly and Keith at Chris's house. It's a full-on American invasion. Our German friends from Margalef showed up yesterday and were like "I can't believe there are so many Americans!" Apparently we (Americans) say "like, like, like" all the time.  I know I do, and I'm not even going to try to fight it even though Ethan tried not to say "like" for about half an hour before giving up.  Like, it's what we do.

We drove BACK to Chris's house after not climbing (too hot, we wanted to rest) and stayed in a campground near his house.  After cooking dinner and relaxing it was already midnight so it was too late to try to get Ethan's crap.

Keep in mind the whole time we're talking about how we need to find cooler weather because it's fucking hot here. Oliana is awesome, but it goes into the shade so late that you don't get much climbing in - mostly just sitting around all day waiting for shade. Chris wanted Ethan to stay because he's working on his house, so it works out for him to work on his house and then climb in the evening.  But it's too hot. So we took Joe's advice "Power decisions man, gotta do it. Power decisions are the way!" and decided to go to France.

We decided to go to Oliana because Ethan needed to get his draws off of a route he was working on. So I got to climb at Oliana for an afternoon.  It is AWESOME! I'm so in love. Love love love.  Jugs, buckets, steep long routes. HUGE feet.  It rules.  In fact I had a great climbing day: I onsighted a 7a, flashed a 7a+ and then "pretty much" onsighted a 7b/+.  So after not climbing well at Margalef, this was great. I think that Keith Ladzinski got some photos of me on the 7a+, so I'll try to get some and post them  here.  Here are some crappy photos that I took of Oliana yesterday:

 View from the crag

 view of the crag

 Ethan eating yogurt and cookies and doing his best ET impersonation

 American shit show

 The obligatory Sharma shot. Everyone else was taking photos of him so I jumped on board.

 Another view of the crag

German astrophysicists. The guy studies black holes and the girl studies gamma rays

So that's it for Spain. I'm sitting in a cafe right now and we are about to pack up and head to Ceuse, which Ethan guarantees is the best sport climbing in the world. I am psyched. There is a big hike every day up to the crag so you get super fit. It's supposed to be awesome and beautiful and muy tranquilo.  I'm psyched.

Off we go!