Surfing Ecuador

I hit the eternally overcast beaches of Montanita for some surfing. After a couple of hours of swollowing gallons on salt water, I finally got the hang of things. Lessons learned- if you weigh more than 150 punds, don't bother with the short board. If you have to use the long board, be prepared to get really tired after an hour of hauling the thing around. Quite a dilemna. What's the big metaphor for turning 30? You can learn new things all the time, its just painful and tiring. Who would have known that surfing tears the shit around of your belly and nipples even with the surfing shirt on?

Failure to Summit

I spent the past week preparing for my climb. I was getting pleanty of sleep, hiking small mountains in the area and taking altitude sickness pills. I went out to Cotopaxi on Wednesday and we left to try to summit at 1 am on Thursday. I was tied to the first guide with some Swedish guy while this Aussie girl was tied to the second guide. We got about half way up (about three hours left to the top) when a pretty heavy storm hit leaving powder on the mountain in our path. I was too heavy and kept sinking up to my knees in the snow while my guide and the Swedish guy were able to walk with ease. I was clearly slowing the Swede down and climbing out of these holes was exhausting so I chose to turn around with the second guide and Aussie girl who were ready to go back after she fell in water-filled crevass. 30 minutes later, the Swede and first guide turned back when the weather got even worse. So, climbing Cotopaxi was pretty hellish and ended in failure. Oh well. I think I'm going to head to the coast and sit on the beach for the rest of my trip.