Somewhere Between The Swings & The Motorcycle Display

What a whirl wind it has been and to now find out I'm actually running out of time the stress of what to do with my last few weeks has set in. I'm not sure why I have had so much trouble keeping up with this. I guess its the lack of drinking. Haha

Let's see, where to start...

I was amazingly fortunate with the help of Tinder to find myself people to climb with literally as soon as I had arrived in "The City". This turned into a climbing on Saturday, drinking Saturday night, and waking up wishing I was dead on Sunday. However, I got an amazing tour of the city and got to experience places I otherwise would not have ventured to. Oh and I should note this only happened the first weekend, being adults we only repeating the climbing & eating portion. There are a few bubbles within the insanity that makes up Guatemala City. One of these is Zona 14 which was where my climbing friend lived practically on the top floor of this jaw dropping view apartment. Looking out the window in the correct direction you would have no idea you were in the dirty poverty stricken capital of Guatemala. After an AMAZING gluten free dinner and a couple bottles of Argentinian wine we made out way "downtown". This means we ended up in this super hipster district known as Zona 4 or is it Zona 10, I'm not entirely sure where the Zona lines are. The brilliant decision to drink whiskey by the mini bottle caught up with all of us somewhere between the swings and the motorcycle display. I never ate any traditional Guatemala food, but this climbing friend definitely knew his way around all the good restaurants in Guatemala and we had some amazing meals.

One of the other guys I connected with, who is in the American Airforce which I'm not holding against him as he is actually Panamanian & Asian. I ended up staying with him on my last weekend in the city in the crazy bubble he lives in known as Zone 16. When we were out climbing on the Sunday he introduced me to a friend who had a friend with an empty room at her place in Santa Tecla aka the new San Salvador. So just like that I was hooked up with the climbing crew in El Sal.

Originally I was going to stay just a couple nights, I ended up staying two weeks. Prince Felipe was my best friend and we went on tones of "walkies" in the guard controlled neighbourhood. The bed & belay as we have decided is what it truly was, was just what I needed. Two weeks with a furry friend to recover from the past five weeks of non-stop. My gracious host took me climbing on Saturdays and on adventures on Sundays. I even got to go on an adventure through the very dodgy capital city. Who the hell in their right mind would live there anyway. What a disaster. It was actually heart breaking to see what years of war, earthquakes, corrupt government & drug fuelled violence with virtually no "good guys" does to a city.

I also got to spend a good amount of time at the bouldering gym there which is amazing. The owners are great, and its this super cool covered outdoor space. I got the humbling experience of watching the top climber in Central America. It never ceases to amaze me the stuff people can hold on to. Definitely feeling inspired to work hard and climb hard as I head into the land of no climbing...