The Nakeds

Picture this...you're walking down the streets of Barcelona...

Wall to wall people: look left- there's a mass of German tourists straight of the bus, look right-there's an even larger mass of Japanese tourists shooting pictures blinding you with their camera flashes. Everyone looks the same: heads, shoulders, arms, legs, hair or no hair, glasses or no glasses, clothes....

or no clothes?????

Eye stimulation was everywhere. Cam, Elise and I had spent the past two days walking around the city gathering an arsenal of beautiful pictures of all that the city of Barcelona had to offer. Between the enormous market just off the side street of the Ramblas and the Sagrada de Familia- the church that Gaudi designed and is under permanent construction to be finished in the distant future- our heads were overflowing with Catalunyan culture! It was spectacular.

At the particular moment referenced above, we had just spent an entire day walking all over the city. Our brains were saturated, and brain function took a couple seconds longer to process than normal. Elise and I were walking next to each other with Cam trailing a few steps behind (although Cam can out-hike most people on any mountainside, when you get him traveling he walks slower than any snail I've met). ;)

We were walking down the Ramblas (a famous tourist street in Barcelona) and I was observing all the funny fellow tourists around me, when I noticed a couple of men that somehow just didn't fit in with the rest of the crowd. Focusing in on them, I wondered, "Hmmm....something is different about those guys. What is it? It looks like that old man has a lot of tattoos...is that it? No, though old guys with lots of tattoos aren't totally normal, there's something even stranger about these guys." As I reflected on why these two men struck me as looking so strange, it hit me like a ton of bricks...: "I see their penises!!!! They have no clothes on!" Then I realized that they had no body hair either...they had definitely prepared for this moment for a while! I knew there was something different about them! There was an older man and a young man just trompsing down the most crowded street in all of Barcelona totally buck naked!

Suddenly, when I realized what was happening, I turned to Elise, "Elise, do you see their weeners??? They have no clothes on!" Of course, Elise had realized this fact without my help. After the initial shock waned I noticed that there was a crowd of people following the naked men snapping pictures of the onlookers (Elise and me included), who must have had their jaws fully ajar coupled with hilariously shocked expressions on their faces. I immediately picked my bottom jaw up off the ground and passed the "Nakeds". I had to get just one more glimpse after I had passed them (I mean how often do you get to see two naked, completely shaved men walking down the middle of the street) and noticed the old man had what looked like the butt of a swimming speedo tattooed on his butt! At least he covered his bottom for us all, how proper of him.

Needless to say, Cam, Elise and I laughed the whole way home remembering that scene...crazy naked people in Barcelona! ;)

A Glimpse of Cathar Country

Ariège has a ton of interesting chateaus, castles and ruins that date back to the 13th century.  Although these sites have long archeological histories, many of them were defined by a short period of time of religious persecution, the effects of which may still be seen on today's landscape.  

Catharism was a sect of Christianity that contradicted certain fundamental Catholic doctrine during the middle ages.  As a result, Pope Innocent III declared Catharism a heresy and authorized a crusade in order to eliminate the opposition to the Catholic Church.  The Cathars, a great many of whom lived in the southeast of France, were hunted down and brutally murdered (usually by being burnt alive).  In order to fend off the crusaders, many Cathar fled to seemingly impenetrable fortified chateaus atop rocky buttresses.  

Living in this Ariège, it is impossible not to notice these buildings towering over the landscape below.  Many of them have fallen into disrepair of the centuries, some were destroyed by the crusaders, and fewer still remain relatively intact (or were reconstructed), but all of them have a fascinating story which has been awesome to explore.  

Elise and Hanan exploring and imagining what the Chateau of Roquefixade, a Cathar stronghold near Foix, might have looked like 700 years ago.  

Elise and Hanan trying to imagine what it would be like to get a clear photo of the elusive Colorado mountain troll. 

Fêtes des Fleurs - Cazères

Continuing the tradition of local festivals, last weekend was the annual Fêtes des Fleurs in Cazères, which consists of a variety of activities, including a parade of floats adorned with flowers.  Despite being small, the parade was fun and entertaining. In sharp contrast to American parades, where the parade route is guarded vehemently by police and barriers, the Fêtes des Fleurs parade was relaxed, low key and hardly regulated. 

In fact, much of the parade seemed to consist of people just enjoying themselves, like this group of ladies, who were walking along, laughing and having a good time and seemed somewhat oblivious to the fact that they were in the middle of a parade.  Here they stopped for a quick snapshot, before continuing on to the next camera person who was waiting another 5 feet down the road.  

I milled in and out of the paraders for most of the time, which was far more fun than just standing in a crowd of sweaty people, trying to look over someone's shoulder to see the floats roll by.  Granted, we were in a small town, with a small parade and this may not be representative of the greater French culture, but I would say that it was refreshing.

Lots of stuff going on...

Things are a bit hectic around here for the moment, but we've been doing lots of cool stuff and will post things in more detail as we get more time.  But, for now, a few pics...

A weekly market in Rieux Volvestre. Steph and Elise picking through the produce and learning how to manage market crowds/lines.

We also went to a "Vide Grenier," which translates literally as "empty the attic".  It is basically the French equivalent of a town wide yard sale, where people try to sell all the random junk that have been collecting dust for the last who knows how long.  Needless to say, there are a ton of intriguing and slightly bizarre objects that appear...everything from clothes, to climbing shoes (size 42 Mythos if anyone is interested), to religious relics, dishes, rusty tools... the list is endless.  This ice axe thermometer caught my eye because it seemed lonely and out of place among all of the other, very clearly non-climber objects. 

The Vide Grenier is also excellent for people watching.  We happened to see this couple dressed up as clowns, who proceeded to randomly approach people and do clown things much to the amusement of everyone around, especially Elise and I.  In fact, we both stopped at the exact same time to take a photo of them.  I would say that clowns are not a normal occurrence, but it was indubitably entertaining nonetheless. 

Back on the Wagon Again...Sort of...

Living in Castex has been awesome for a lot of things, however, climbing has more or less fallen by the wayside.  In many ways, it has been liberating to see a variety of different things and to experience a completely different facet of life.  On the other hand, it is incredibly frustrating to go climbing, only to be able to wheeze your way up a warm up, with no hope in the world to climb the 30 meter line of tufas out the middle of a beautiful cave.   

Without a doubt, gardening, home improvements and eating complete baguettes smothered in Nutella are not effective cross training methods.  In fact, if you eat enough baguettes and kill enough time pushing a law mower around, you will indubitably turn soft and get bizarre tan lines. 

Uncomfortable realization of the day:  doing any number of pull-ups is really hard.  Remedy: Steph's brand new B-day present... A pull up bar. 

Thus, we begin at the bottom once again:
Tonight's workout (barely achieved): 

• 3 sets of 10 pull-ups
• 2 sets of 3 lever lifts

On the up side... The Flight of the Concords skits helped add a little more humor to our humorously pathetic workout.  Thought we should share one of the skits...

Impressive vid of Iceland

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.