Learning continues: Spanish and Iridium 9555

It's two weeks before we're on a plane to Lima, and the learning continues. Got my last few private Spanish lessons underway to finish up Basic level 3 and keep my brain in Spanish mode.

Been reading the Iridium 9555 manual to figure out how the phone works (pretty straightforward in terms of calls and will try out the SMS function) and what we need to do for power while off the grid (solar vs battery pack charger).

The 9555 is pretty amazing technology: Compact, handy and rugged. It looks like a slightly bulky cellphone from a few years ago. Not like the huge box it used to be in the movies (remember that scene from Under Siege?).

I  am about to go for a walk, point the antenna toward the sky and call Jan at home to try it out live.

Iridium 9555 Satellite phone has arrived

Thrilled to have received the 9555. Thanks to Iridium for making that possible!

Now we have a few days to learn how it works. Of course, when I got it home I promptly turned it on and got no reception. Took me a minute or two to realize why it couldn't locate a network ... I was inside my house, ie no sky. First lesson learned!

Fine strokes

We rely on the web for much travel research, user reviews, client testimonials and so forth. Lonely Planet guidebooks are good too: we'll cut out the pages we'll need for the 4 countries we'll visit; these guidebooks will be working hard for us :)

And despite all the tips and tricks and destination knowledge we have gathered, it's the little things that puzzle me: like where are the day time buses from Lima to Huaraz? I mean they are there before we need one but not when we want it! What's up with that? Peru looks to have a very solid bus network, and we're intending to use it a bunch, too. But it'd be great if the supposed day time departures were on your website, Movil Tours and Cruz del Sur!

We need to finalize the big Cordillera Real traverse (near La Paz in Bolivia) which will take 12 or 13 days and may even include a summit above 6,000 along the way (!) I think we've found a guide company I like and they are great with email now, since their not so useful UK rep is out of the picture.

Today, we had brunch at a friend's house and got the lowdown from a health expert on travelling; everything from food safety to water purification to vaccines. We learned that we appear to have done a fine job preparing :)

Our friend  who will live at our house while we're gone has been moving a few things in and getting to know how the house - and most important the cats - work. Jan's finishing the list of our lives, you know: banking info, passport numbers etc, to leave behind just in case.

Onto doing laundry and deciding which 4 T-shirts I'll be bringing along.

3 weeks to lift-off.

Four weeks to the Andes

Ottawa 45 degree North.
Ushuaia 54 degrees South.

Today marks the 4-week countdown: we will be on our way to Parque Nacional de Huascarán  via Lima. It will be the first stop along an epic adventure that will see us travel great distances (from 45 N to 54 S) to explore some of South America's stunning landscapes.

We've spent most of 2010 preparing: backcountry camping, weight-bearing hiking, equipment buying and evaluating, vaccinations, reading guidebooks and online about possible destinations, getting advice from people we know, studying Spanish, finding someone to live at our house for 3 months (thanks Carolyn!). By itself, an uncommon focus.

We will trek in the tropical parts of the Andes (Huascarán lies at latitude: 9 degrees South) at the very beginning of the rainy season and experience the subpolar oceanic climate of Ushuaia where temperatures average 1°C in the coldest month, and 9°C in the warmest month. We will walk through arable mountains and the highest mountain ranges in the tropics, visit Colca canyon which at 4,160m (!) is twice as deep as Grand Canyon and meander around the driest place on earth. Most of these 3 months we expect to be at altitude.

Naturally, we also follow the news from our chosen destinations: from the major flooding during the last rainy season destroying access to Machu Picchu, to the devastating magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile, to the joyful news of gay marriage becoming legal in Argentina, to the unexpected discovery of 33 miners alive after being trapped underground and now awaiting a lengthy rescue. There is such a sense of resiliency and tenacity.

With the final preparations underway for our departure, I am feeling excitement mixing with a sense of almost dread. That pit of the stomach feeling in the end is exhilarating: with this journey we are embarking on an entirely different way of being. An adventure.

Final camping tune up done!

We spent another back country camping weekend in the Adirondack High Peaks.

Jan playing with the wind on
Marcy - cold, fast and fun

Earl brought lots of rain so we now know for sure that our tent stays dry and I earned my "cooking in the rain" badge.

We also got in some great hiking. We tackled Mount Marcy with super light day packs making this 16 km hike seem easy. Once we entered the alpine arctic zone, which starts at the tree line, we put on our softshell jackets (what a great invention!); the wind blew with 30 to 50 km/h gusting to 70 km/h. Cold but great for that flying feeling!

As for blisters: I didn't get any on the hike in or when we hiked Marcy. On the hike out on our last day however, both my heels lost some skin (I don't actually get blisters, it's more like the skin gets chewed up and torn off). All that to say, that's progress, but still not ideal or reliable for long trekking excursions. I think a big issue was the added warmth stemming from waterproof hiking boots and gore-tex gaitors. It'll work out fine as long as I can keep my feet drier and cooler as well as liberally using the appropriate first aid materials. (aka time to buy stock in moleskin/second skin manufacturers)