Spain Rendezvous - April 2003 (part I)

[Canyonette]

~ I had written a report “Canyoneering in a Spanish Paradise� comprising the first four days of my stay in Spain, right after returning home. My intention was to write the “official� portion of the rendezvous report shortly thereafter, but I ran out of steam, and just never got around to it. I promised myself that I would at least finish it before heading off to the second international rendezvous, but it never happened (the TR or heading off to Spain a second time). Well, the years have come and gone and that wonderful experience has finally made it’s way onto paper….enjoy!

EFC/ACA Rendezvous April 2003
(May 1st – Day I)

Rich and a French friend of his named Chris arrived at our room sometime around 3AM. We groggily said our hellos, made quick introductions, chatted for a few minutes as they found their bunks and settled in. Rich tried to throw me out of the top bunk, but John (who stands an impressive 6’ 5�) jumped down from his prioritized “top� bunk, and shoved Rich to the bottom (where he remained for the duration of his stay in Lamiana). I may have imagined that bit (as I was groggy at the time), but facts are facts. John and I were on top of the situation, whereas the new (the bottom bunks) guys had to take the leftovers. Rich told me he never sleeps on the bottom! They settled in quickly, and the next thing I knew Rich was snoring like a wild boar. Soon, it was rise and shine time as we had set the alarm for 7am.

In the morning, everyone tried to blame the snoring on me, but women don’t snore, so I blamed it on Rich. I was the first one into the shower (since I had been up since 3am anyway). One by one, the other’s followed suit. We ate a quick breakfast, and we met up with Koen outside of the bar. He drove us down the mountain in his PocoLoco Land rover. He knows these roads like the back of his hand, but for those of us not accustomed to driving 140km per hour around narrow, twisting cliffhanger roads, it was absolutely terrifying! A small stuffed vulture, which hung from Koen’s rear-view mirror kept smacking John in the head, and various items were flying in all directions from pseudo storage areas in the truck. In between screaming and laughing I admired the scenery. We arrived a short while later (in one piece) at Morillo De Tou, the site of the “official� rendezvous.

There is a nice bar/restaurant where people are starting to gather, and there is a community room across the street where the official stuff will go on: the introductions of various organizations, the slides, and promotions and such. Rich, John, Chris and I were given a tour of the place and an explanation of the events that would take place. We walked over to the restaurant and got some coffee, which we took out onto the Patio. People were stopping by to make conversation with Koen, and we were introduced to many of them. Heads of various Canyoning federations around Europe, comprising various nationalities. Most of them spoke some English, some very little. Koen speaks all languages, it seems. Enrica Paolini, whom I met in Zion last year showed up, along with a friend of hers Francesca.


We had been awaiting her arrival. Now, it was time to go canyoning! There were 4 vehicles, and about 20 people. I’ve never been in a canyon with so many people before, and I figured that it would be very slow going. It wasn’t. Koen and his buddies have rigging, and getting through a canyon expediently down to an art.
We drove up a rugged 4W drive road, parked, slipped into our gear and headed down canyon. I can’t believe I forgot my helmet! I wasn’t sure if Koen would let me go without one, so I asked if it was ok. He’s such a sweet heart, he offered me his. I declined, and decided to go helmet-less, rather than not go at all. What are the chances that it would kill me not to have it on this particular day? Maybe 50-50? The canyon named “Foz-De-Le-Canal� was a short 2 hours. The rappels were sweet and, and there was a nice flow of water too. The rock was dark gray polished limestone? The last rappel was into a small amphitheater, which had water spraying in from all directions. It was like rappelling into a jungle mist. Koen snapped off a group photo at the end of the last rappel, and we headed back to the bar. Seven nations were represented in this photo!

Today was a short day, due to the fact that so many people had arrived so late, or just lately. On the way back to the cars, a couple of guys handed off their packs to myself, and a few others, and they rode the rapids of the river back to the cars (kind of like body surfing on their backs). How exciting for them! It was truly a wonderful feeling to be here in the midst of so many nice people: so many different languages spoken, a multitude of nationalities, all smiling, everyone having a wonderful time! We drove back to Morillo and hung out at bar, which was now nearly overflowing with people.

The atmosphere was the same as that of a concert crowd preparing to watch their favorite band perform. The excitement buzz was palpable. Mike Dallin and Dianne Barrows showed up. They were the only other American’s in attendance. It was nice to finally meet them as I had seen their names on the Canyons e-group, and we have some mutual friends. Communication was suddenly simple again. I was able to communicate without much ado, such as exaggerated facial expressions, dancing, and arm waving. After acquiring a beer from the bar, we made our way to the presentation room and found our seats in the auditorium. I didn’t understand most of what was being said, so I just looked at the pictures, conjectured about what was being presented (I knew it had to with canyons), and I surreptitiously people watched. There were some stunning pictures on occasion and I did gawk at these. The presentations seemed to go on for a long, long time. Had I understood what was being said, it would have been much more interesting, and much easier to pay attention.

After the first hour, I was dying to get outside and socialize. I patiently sat there, alternately people watching without being too conspicuous, whispering jokes to people in the immediate vicinity, and trying to decipher what was being said. Finally, we broke for dinner and a bunch of us headed to the town of Ainsa, about 30 minutes away. We sat at an outdoor patio, where we pulled a bunch of circular tables together to form a large community area. We must have looked like a U.N. delegation. I made a few new friends as well as had a chance to become better acquainted with Koen, Thierry “the singing policeman�, and the “bellissimo� Italian woman, “Enrica�. I must admit, I seem to have the problem of disappearing without warning on occasion. I was invited by Thierry to ride back with him, Enrica & Francesca and I neglected to tell Koen and the others, whom I had ridden with from Morillo De Tou. I heard later that they spent some amount of time looking for me. Oops! A minor detail really, but one worth noting considering a future event that would occur, involving another disappearance.

Back at Morillo it was Rich’s turn to present the American Canyoneering Association. He did a wonderful job of presenting the ACA, and he alternately had the audience laughing and cheering. Not one person fell asleep, and I consider that pretty amazing, since it was later in the evening, after canyons, dinner & beer. Especially, since not everyone spoke English. I had never heard Rich give a speech before and he’s got great stage presence. He’s got this deep, soothing voice, which nearly has a hypnotic quality about it. Note to self: Never look Rich directly in the eyes while he’s speaking!

After the end of presentations, we headed to the bar for a final round, and to say thank- you and goodnight to everyone. It was a long drive back to Lamiana. A bunch of us have decided to visit Mascun tomorrow. I had looked it up on the Internet before coming to Spain, and of all the canyons I discovered on the web, before coming over, Mascun was the highest on my list. I had asked Koen at some point about the possibility of visiting this canyon, as I had engaged fantasies from afar after finding it on the net back in the states. I’m so happy that I’m actually visiting it tomorrow.

[Canyonette]

Mascun says it all!
(May 2nd – Day II)

A bunch of us met over at Morillo De Tou in the late morning hours. We headed over to Mascun. We took the long scenic route, which saved us an hour or two of hiking. Nothing I saw or read on the Internet, prepared me for this. Mascun would soon become one of the most beautiful canyons I had witnessed so far. It wasn’t difficult as canyons go, just incredibly beautiful and diverse. The dirt roads we traveled traversed dreamscape countryside’s of abandoned villages, multitudes of wildflowers, including, field upon field of bright red poppies. Then we came to the high roads. Expansive valleys below dotted with small medieval villages, and a few castles perforated our field of vision. Snow capped mountains transposed their way from the edge of the valley into the fluffy cumulus clouds on the horizon. There were three vehicles, and about 20 people. Rich was driving, and he wouldn’t keep his eyes on the road. My husband had the same problem weeks earlier while we were driving along a narrow cliffhanger road in Death Valley. Lewis had been “oohing� and “awing� out the window as he rounded a corner, and he had slammed into a rock wall, which promptly tore our tire to pieces. Needless to say, with that memory in mind, I was terrified every time Rich commenced to stare in awe out the window while he was rounding corners. He kept chanting “WOW! It’s soooo beautiful!� and his eyes were glued to the mountains instead of the road!

Having barely survived the earlier ordeal with my husband, I kept screaming at him; “keep your eyes on the road, for God’s sake!� Rich in turn, became very annoyed and started calling me mom. We argued back and forth like a couple of bickering old ladies, but we eventually made it to our destination in one piece. We parked our vehicles and suited up. We hiked for an hour (more or less) to an incredible site. Scores of people milling about the area of the first drop! I was intrigued. It’s a very different scenario than here in the states as far as canyoneering goes. I’ve very rarely encountered other people in canyons, beside the group I was traveling with.

We sat down and waited our turn, as there were many groups before us. People- watching was fun. Before I knew it, the time had come for our group to jump. I had never jumped before and I hesitated. I can’t believe I was afraid to jump! I jumped about 15 feet into a pool about 8 feet in diameter, then swam to the edge of the pool and rapped over. The entire canyon is a bit of a blur, but I know there was another jump that entailed propelling oneself “out and away� from the edge to avoid slamming into the rocks below (10 feet maybe?). That was scary too! So we continued on in this manner for a time, and the next thing I knew I was lying on my back, floating (as if though space) across an emerald pool: straight cliffs towering on all sides, a multitude of vultures soaring hundreds of feet above, and such a peaceful feeling. I wanted to float there for a long, long time, but had to move along at some semblance of “keeping pace� with the group. There is a small amount of scrambling, and walking but not much in Mascun. The first half of the canyon is jumping, rapping and swimming, the second half is mostly swimming. I was lost in a dream. At some point we came to a cave! The canyon walls narrowed and twisted to form a dark tunnel. It was so exciting and otherworldly, that I didn’t want it to end. We exited the cave into a narrow slot. A cold, dark, and very long swim. The canyon walls rose an impressive distance above us, nearly blocking out the sun. Very beautiful! The next rap down was the only spot in the entire canyon (besides the first jump) where we bottlenecked. It was very cold! Brrrr! We danced around (yes, we danced in waist high water), shivered and shimmied for a good half hour or so. The last of the rappels included making our way around a huge log, which was wedged into the slot. We came to the point where the canyon opened up, and we were to begin our ascent back into civilization.


The wonderful day in Mascun was to culminate in an untimely and unfortunate disaster. Our caravan of “the American� car and the “European� car (I’m sure that the coincidental segregation had nothing to do with the fact the Rich was driving the American car) headed towards home. Rewinding for a moment; now that I think of it, maybe it did have something to do with that fact! Days earlier, Rich somehow managed to drive up and over a little two foot wall to come crashing down on the other side when he was first learning to drive the land rover. Also, on the way to Mascun, before getting up the nerve to drive up the most gawd awfully steep hill I’ve ever seen, we lost tons of gear out of the back of the vehicle. Someone had inadvertently left the rear door ajar. We had to turn around and collect it all, and the European’s who had already gone up the hill were speculating that we were turning tail and running away! With Rich’s poor driving record to date, I was very surprised that he didn’t roll the vehicle. His 4WD skills were impeccable on the way to Mascun, and he made it up that precarious hill like it was nothing. High fives ensued and we were on our way again with Koen’s vehicle in the lead.

Fast forward back to the tragic news that awaited us at the end of the day: rounding a corner we saw up ahead that Koen’s vehicle was pulled over to the side, and he was on the phone. We pulled over and one of the guys comes running up to us with a concerned look on his face. A man had been killed in Consuza today, and Koen’s help may be needed to recover his body, and to help the rest of the party to safety. Oh, man what a tragic thing to happen. We didn’t know at first if it was someone from the rendezvous, or how many people were involved. We didn’t know any of the details until later in the evening. So the mood became worried and somber as we drove back to town. I felt sorry for Koen and some of the others having to go out again cold, hungry and tired, and my heart went out to the people who were stranded there in the canyon with their friend dead at the bottom of the pool. I said a silent prayer for the poor guy, hoping that he was single and had no children. Most of us stayed at the restaurant and had dinner, while a few went to help with the rescue. The mood was sad, and we didn’t stay to socialize afterwards. Tonight was the night that canyoneers from around the world (myself included) were scheduled to show personal slides from home. This event was cancelled in lieu of the sorrowful news. Back at the lodge in Lamiana we found Koen and some of the others at the bar. Turns out that they weren’t needed after all, and the place was abuzz with talk of the unfortunate accident. I didn’t stay long and wandered off to my room, sad and tired. I fell into a dreamless sleep.

[Canyonette]

Look and Learn
(May 3rd – Day III)

My children & their friends like to make fun of me. One of the running jokes with these kids if I’m late picking them up for a shuttle is that I’ve gone to the beach first. Somehow, on many occasions while driving the kids around, I’ve gotten turned around and ended up on Pacific Coast highway, which coincidentally runs parallel to the Pacific Coast! Generally I’m under the impression that I’m heading West, East, or North when in reality, I’m heading south. It’s almost like I’ve got an internal “head South� homing beckon. My sense of direction isn’t good at all.

OK. You may be asking yourself, “why all the personal information, before she gets to the trip report?� Well, I don’t seem to improve at all over seas. The “look and learn� trip would end up being a “look for Randi� trip. A bunch of us had decided to do a nice short conglomerate canyon today. I could have sworn I heard Koen say that the canyon was going to take us an hour to get through. We had a few very experienced women on the trip, including Diane Barrows (from Colorado), and Enrica Paolini and her friend Francesca (both from Italy). I was the least experienced of the women. Koen decided that the women would lead the men through this canyon, and being confident and sure of themselves, they jumped at the chance. Enrica, rope in hand told the men in her cute accent “ You men, shall look and learn!� I figured I could just squeak by watching, and letting them do all the work. It’s what I always do with the men. After 10 minutes, and two short drops through some beautiful narrow slots, I was handed a rope. “Hurry, go and rig the next drop�, I think it was Diane instructing me. I rushed to a small down-climb (which I later learned was the drop I was supposed to rig) and I climbed down it and kept moving to find the next drop. At this point, we had been in the canyon maybe 15 minutes.

Immediately after the drop, the area opened up and met with a confluence. I mentally noted it for no particular reason (because I didn’t know any better), and I kept moving down canyon. I came to some wonderfully sculpted narrows full of waist deep water. It was so quite & serene here. I had never been alone in a canyon before. I had never even hiked alone. I was thoroughly enjoying this. I kept expecting to hear them at any moment, coming round the corner so I just kept going, knowing full well they would catch up with me. “Where in the heck is that drop?� I wondered. All of a sudden there was a huge spider web spanning the slot. The water wasn’t deep enough here to go under and I dreaded the though of disturbing the spiders home. I found a way to climb up and over it, leaving the web intact. I checked the time shortly after. Maybe thirty minutes had passed since we started. “Where are they?� I wondered. I knew I wasn’t moving faster than some of those young guys could move, and I started to worry a bit, wondering if maybe someone got hurt. “What could be taking them?� Knowing that the canyon was an hour long, I kept moving. I was wading through a waist deep narrow when I spied a small viper laying on a rock near the water. The area was very constricted here, and I was afraid to pass it. I climbed up the sidewall to sit on a small shelf and wait for the others. They never came. A part of me wanted to just keep going. A more sensible side wanted to remain and warn the others of the snake, and to find out what happened to them. Forty- five minutes had passed and nothing. I reluctantly decided to head back, thinking I would meet up with them. I never did. I made it back to the confluence where I found Chris, Enrica and Diane rushing to meet me. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere!� somebody exclaimed!

When the others had come to the drop (which apparently is bolted with an invisible bolt that I never saw) they were surprised. Even more surprising was the fact that I was nowhere to be found in the vicinity of the confluence (where the hike out to the cars ensues). Believe it or not, the hour canyon is from car to car! Wow! I didn’t know that. Chris had wandered down-canyon to look for me, but upon coming to the undisturbed spiders web, had determined that I didn’t go that way. So… the “Look and learn� trip became a laughing matter for the men, and an embarrassment for the women! Luckily, women have no ego to speak of, and no one was mad at me! At least, not that they showed!

Back to Morillo De Tou

After gearing down, we all headed back to the bar at Morillo. Somehow I got separated from everyone I knew and I was just kind of wandering around the place. Diane and Mike found me and asked if I wanted to go to dinner with them before our long drive to the Barcelona airport. I couldn’t go, because I felt I might miss the others, and I couldn’t possibly leave without saying goodbye to everyone. I sent them off. Soon after, I found the rest of the gang: Koen, Rich, John, Enrica, and all the other new friends I’d made. They asked me to go to dinner, but now I had to wait for Mike and Diane or I might miss my ride to the airport. I said my thank you’s, good-byes and I love you’s and off they went. I was alone at the bar with a couple of Euros to my name. I bought a beer and sat outside to wait for my ride to the airport. A young Belgian man came and sat down and we started a conversation. He and his girlfriend run a rock-climbing school in Belgium. He was very nice, but we did get into some type of political discussion and he did say to me that the American’s don’t understand how the declaration of war on Iraq is affecting the European community. He was right, and I understood what he meant by most of America not understanding. I offered to give him a free haircut! We laughed and continued to converse. It was fun. Paul Symons, a Physician from Belgium who had given a wonderful video presentation to the group of his Lowes Gully expedition came over and joined us.
What nice, friendly people they are. I got both of their e-mails so I could keep in touch.
It was not long that Mike and Diane returned from dinner and it was time to start the long journey home.
It was hard to leave this wonderful country and all the new friends I may never see again.


To Barcelona

On the long drive to the airport, I got to know Mike and Diane better. They’re wonderful people, and I do hope to see them again in the future. We arrived at the airport in the wee hours of the morning and tired to get some sleep. Sleep does not come easy on the cold hard floor of the terminal! After a few hours of this, it was time to set off for our respective flights. I said goodbye, called Lewis to let him know I was heading home and I off I went. I didn’t mind the long flight home and I had so much to reflect on during the flight. I feel more than blessed to have been afforded yet another opportunity to travel internationally! I couldn’t have picked a nicer bunch of folks to be friends with. I sure hope that this is just the beginning. I could so easily make this a way of life: Traveling, seeing the world, going on exciting adventures! Until next time, I’ll be dreaming of the next time!

~Randi