MSR, Therm-a-rest, Platypus ...

I had no idea that one company, Cascade Design, is responsible for all these great outdoor brands. Great founding story about how layoffs (Boeing) can be the beginning of great things ... legends even. I own a bunch of stuff they have designed, including the DragonFly camp stove we just got and are about give a good workout.

Amazing places, amazing moments

Salt Creek in Grand Canyon was an amazing moment. Day 2 of our hike in the Canyon. There was not another soul there, so Jan and I and our guide Scott spent an amazing afternoon and evening together.

The day had started kind of rough due to Jan's bronchitis, but by the evening it had turned into one of the most magical days. Salt Creek felt like a cocoon with all its undulating rocks and layers weathered by time and natural forces.

The moments we live fully are also the longest moments. They stretch out to be experienced almost apart from time.

First full gear test while camping

We've just booked ourselves a spot at Lac Phillipe in Gatineau Park for their season opening weekend. Here's the info from the NCC on overnights in the Park and here's the site for the bookings.

I got my back pack!

Both Bushtukah and Trailhead had VIP club nights and as Alpine Club of Canada members we got to take advantage of 20% off sales on all the new stuff.

We made it count: we got our new Dragonfly single burner, multi-fuel stove and white gas, 4 l waterproof compression packs for our amazingly low volume sleeping bags, super light weight 15 l day packs from Marmot and North Face, Jan got gore-tex gaiters, and I got my new hiking back pack, a Gregory Deva 70 series. It's beautiful and totally designed for our trip!

Next up, practice cooking with the new stove and pots in the backyard. So much to learn and get used to.

Thanks Trailhead and Bushtukah for having these excellent special sales events!

Sleeping bag shopping

We got new sleeping bags to cut down on weight. To try them one must get in!
The one we both got is 800+ fill-power grey goose down, rated to -3, and most important, it is super light with 690 gr (regular for me), and packs down to 3.8 l. That's less than a third of the weight and volume compared to the one I own.

It is the MEC Merlin.. No frills on this bag.

Our target weight for everything we will take with us is 20 kg each. Then we add food, water and fuel when we are out hiking.

Lunching in Chile

Here's another fine cultural moment from Chile: Superb Pisco Sours and olives. This was but the beginning of a fine lunch up on a hill (there are many hills) overlooking the ocean in Valparaiso.

Chilean Puma

One day in Chile, we went on a hike up in Maipo Valley (Las Cascadas de las animas) not far from Santiago. When we first met our guide said something like: "Do you mind if we take the puma along for the hike? She could use the exercise. We usually don't take her with tourists, but it'll be fine." Not quite believing our ears, we agreed.


Here, our puma, Weelah is tired at the end of our 3-hour hike up the mountain, across water falls and back down into the valley.


Also in this pic one of the five dogs that came on the hike and our guide.

Flow -Training has begun

Last year, we trained diligently over about 3 months to be well-prepared for our Grand Canyon hiking adventure. And it worked. Since then I've been working plenty, exercising little and eating more calories than needed. So, I am back to training.

I know that in order to get strong for something one must do the thing: to get strong for climbing, one must climb, for hiking and carrying backpacks one must do that, for running on roads one must run on roads. I am looking to get very strong hiking with heavy pack, reasonably strong climbing and aerobically very fit.

Luckily, last weekend, the weather in Ottawa was an amazing 28 degrees and sunny. (Normally, we would be looking at skiing that weekend ...) So, I got the official start early on the 4 next 6 months of training.

First, we went for a 44k bike ride along the pathways of Ottawa (nothing too hilly yet). The next day, we hiked 14 k around Meech Lake (with about 25 lbs of weight on my back, ie light to start to reach 50 to 60 lbs in a few weeks), starting at O'Brien parking lot, followed by a 5 k run the next day. In between was garden clean up (6 weeks earlier than usual!) and some painting around the house. (Jan even squeezed in an inline skate, while I painted some.)

I am planning a bike ride or run tomorrow and a few hours of hiking with my backpack on Sunday. That is shaping up to become the weekend routine. Except when we go on extra long weekend trips a few times this summer where we will tune up on gear as well as weekend distance and elevation hiked.

The great thing is that I get to be outside while building up a whole new level of strength to get ready for 3 months of Andean exploration, and whatever follows it.

Home, Sweet, Carolyn

Lilly and Theo, my two lovely grey cats, have figured prominently into my trip planning. Anyone who knows cats is aware of just how particular they are about space and home. So taking the cats out of the house for three months was a no go from the very beginning. I have made a number of different arrangements over the years around trips and cat care. Lilly and Theo require 'logistics', too, and they come with a really nice house!

We've just found out that our friend Carolyn and Talulah, her intrepid canine companion, will be staying at our house while we travel. Perfect!

Spanish lessons

I am nearing the end of Básico Uno; final exam takes place on April 19. I did well on my mid-terms and hope that'll go for the finals, too. Studying a new language is interesting and fun, plus the October deadline is making me highly motivated to study regularly. Even though I understand Spanish OK due to my knowledge of Latin and French (and knowing the complex grammar of German doesn't hurt either), it's something else to become able to speak.

Active expression is entirely different from passive understanding.

The next step is Básico Dos.

UNAM offers this course during the Spring session as a 6 week intensive, from May 3 onwards. Intensive means 10 hours in class per week, i.e. 4x per week, from 7 to 9:30 pm, plus homework. I am planning to take it; hopefully there will be sufficient enrollment.

During the summer UNAM doesn't offer any Spanish classes. Hence, Jan and I are planning to take Spanish privately.

At UNAM there are 4 levels for Basic, 3 levels for Intermediate and 1 level for Advanced for a total of 8 levels each at 60 hours for a total of 480 hours. My goal is to complete - and be proficient in using - all 4 of the Basic levels by October. Ambitious, I know, but it's an essential part of preparation in my view that will make our journey more enjoyable and probably safer, too.

Aconcagua, the Andes, Argentina

Penitentes, particular to Aconcagua

The (legible) itinerary: overview

• Oct. 11: Ottawa to Lima, Peru (fly)
• Oct. 12-15: Lima to Huaraz, Peru (land)
• Oct. 16-31: Huaraz - Cordillera Blanca
• Nov. 1: Huaraz to Lima (land); Lima to La Paz, Bolivia (fly)
• Nov. 1-6: La Paz (meet up with friends)
• Nov. 7-17: Cordillera Real, Bolivia
• Nov. 18-21: Lake Titicaca, Bolivia
• Nov. 21-22: Lake Titicaca to Peru (Puno)
• Nov. 22-28: Puno; Arequipa, Peru
• Nov. 28: Arequipa to Iquique, Chile (land)
• Nov. 28-Dec. 5: Atacama Desert, Iquique/Arica, Chile; Sala de Uyuni, Bolivia
• Dec. 6: Iquique to Punta Arenas, Chile (fly)
• Dec. 6-12: Punta Arenas
• Dec. 12-26: Torres del Paine, Chile
• Dec. 27-Jan. 5: Ushuaia, Argentina
• Jan. 8: Head north to fly home (via Buenos Aires) Based on my early ventures into airfares, it looks as if we would be going through Buenos Aires.

Here it is -- the itinerary

There is something quite wonderful about planning an adventure on a Saturday morning, coffee in hand. With the weather data spread out on the bed and a calendar in hand, I scribbled down our ideas. (There is something equally wonderful about writing ideas down on a piece of paper.)

Another iteration

The planning process for something that I have never undertaken entirely before can, to say the least, overwhelm you. Once the initial shock was over of truly believing that I was indeed going on a three-month adventure, Inga and I settled into planning.

Given that we want to play in wonderful landscapes as much as is humanly possible, weather is a key trip planner. I found http://www.weatherbase.com/ and Inga jumped in and printed the data for areas we wanted to spend time in.

Rainy season is not something that we really think about in Ottawa (although, after last summer, one could argue to the contrary) but it was certainly part of the considerations when thinking about when to be in Costa Rica, in particular. The previous iteration of our plans had us flying into San Josee from Ottawa, but now with the precipitation data in hand, we would have to go to Costa Rica at the end of our trip. Et voila, the iterative nature of planning, and our next thoughts.

When we were first blowing our minds about the idea of "where would we travel for three months", traveling to South America figured early on. Because I have never been to Central America, I thought that, given we have three months, let's also go to Costa Rica. I am drawn to Costa Rica because of the lushness of its landscape and the diversity of its flora and birds. There is nothing understated about the intense and saturated colours of Costa Rica's nature.

(And so it begins: the idea of travelling to Central America.)
(Next time.)