f is for Fake, F is for Fact: 04.2012

fresh page, new day.

I might turn out to be the world's most terrible writer....or maybe I am just bad at commitment. It seems like many times when I decide to do something I don't always stick to it. Last time i posted for real around here was more or less 4 months ago. 4 months seems like a long time when I don't write. The truth is its been an odd year or so. Its been a time to change and adapt and try to figure things out, maybe to try to find myself (not that i have accomplished or even gotten close to that).

I've been back home for a year more or less, and although I love Quito and Ecuador, for some reason I haven't been handling moving back here very well.

Its also the first time I actually have a real job. A bit less than a year ago I finished college and started working, and its the longest time i've been in one job and well, its not easy.

Going to work at the same office every day, without major vacations or breaks isn't easy when you are used to the great life you can have as a student. But I'm here and that's what it is.

Of course for a whole year, although i have been here, I haven't really been here. I've been dreaming of buttercups instead going out and planting some real ones. Mostly I've been living in my head, maybe in denial and probably in the past.

But it seems like maybe the time to move on has finally come.

So today I made a pretty big decision...or at least its a pretty big decision for me.

I decided that I need to start climbing up some mountains, because I need a break. I need some change. And of course, I need some distraction. If not I might just go crazy. So I've decided to join a group of mountain climbers here in Ecuador. They go out every weekend to climb a mountain and they have more or less 3 programs every year where they train to go up to different peaks.

I start next weekend and hopefully I will be able to go up Cayambe and the Iliniza Sur at the end of the training. We'll see how it goes. I'm not the most fit person and I'm definitely not the strongest, but I am healthy.

Next sunday I should be going up to the Pasochoa (4199 mt). Its not the highest mountain of course since its just the beginning of the training. We will also be learning a bit about rock climbing since both the Cayambe and the Iliniza Sur require a bit of rock climbing to get to the top.

The truth is the rock climbing is what worries me the most. Last time I tried to go rock climbing with my brother it was a horrible experience. I don't know how I expected to pull myself up a rock wall when I can't even do a full push-up or pull-up, but I guess I am hoping that I will get fit in some magical way and I will be able to go up the final mountains. If I do manage to do this I will be incredibly proud of myself (and so will my brother I am sure). To prepare I decided I am going to do the 5 tibetan rites every morning. And I also installed a pull-up bar in my bathroom doorway (I'm hoping by the end of this I will be able to do at least one pull-up).

We'll see how it goes. Here are a couple of pictures of the mountains I might be climbing in the following months.