Two Weeks Outside of Potrero

So, as you may have guessed from the title of this post, I spent nearly two weeks in Los Estados Unidos from Dec. 15th until Dec. 28th, which was excellent.

First, I drove from Mexico to Austin on Wednesday, December 15th, and got to go out to eat with my friends Justin and Caroline, who recently got back from a 3-week trip to Tanzania. So we traded stories about our respective foreign countries while eating delicious Brick Oven pizza.

The next day, I flew from Austin to Seattle where mi novia picked me up and took me out for sushi! I was very excited to see her =)

The next day we made breakfast, and went climbing, and got ready for her birthday / holiday party, which was a blast. We had apple vodka + sparkling cider, sangria, guacamole, chicken roll, ugly sweaters, and mistletoe. And we even made a late-night hotdog run, much to my amazement.

Thanks to Brad for lending me an ugly sweater =)

Love this photo =))

Saturday, well, initially Nicole was going to work but we slept in too late and that ended up not happening, which was fine with me.

We left in the evening for Vancouver, super psyched to go hang out in Canadia. Unfortunately, someone stupid (ahem, me) left their passport in Texas because he somehow didn't think about the fact that Vancouver is in a foreign country. So... on the spur of the moment, we decided to change direction completely and book a hotel in Portland (where passports aren't required), and spend the weekend there instead.

It ended up being pretty awesome actually. We were able to recoup half the cost of the Vancouver hotel (for the second night), and got a pretty posh room in downtown PDX as our home base. The room was really nice, the bed was super comfy, there was free WiFi, and even a jacuzzi in the bathroom. So over the weekend, we went out on both Saturday and Sunday nights, we had brunch at Mother's Bistro on Sunday morning (with delicious french press coffee), we had doughnuts at Voodoo Doughnuts, and coffee at Stumptown. And we saw Black Swan, and had some delicious pasta. All in all, it was great.

Nicole had to work on Monday and Tuesday, so those two days weren't as exciting, but we did get her car fixed on Monday night and went climbing on Tuesday night at Stone Gardens. It's good to do some bouldering for a change after so much sport climbing.

Wednesday night we stayed up late with some friends since Nicole didn't have to work on Thursday, so we got to sleep in before my flight on Thursday evening. It was really kinda sad when she dropped me off at the airport, I realized how much I was going to miss her again /-:

I flew to Denver that night, where my brother picked me up at the airport quite late. It was well after midnight when we got home.

I spent a few days in Fort Collins with my family, celebrating Christmas and whatnot, and it was great, except for the part where I had a 7:20am flight on the 26th, and had to be awake at 3:30am for the airport shuttle to pick me up. I didn't trust myself to sleep and get up, so I just stayed up all night and slept on the shuttle / flights. But I was a zombie for the rest of the day in Austin, and got almost nothing done except for an oil change which took TWO HOURS. They were super busy but still, ack.

Anyway, my plan was to drive back into Mexico yesterday, but my buddy Justin was flying back into town in the morning and I thought, oh hey, wouldn't it be cool if I stayed an extra day and we did a code jam together before I leave Austin? So that's what we did.

So I drove back to Mexico today instead. It was completely uneventful of course, even though I crossed directly into Nuevo Laredo this time. The nice thing about taking so many road trips is that it gives me time to listen to all of my audio podcasts. Anyway, now I am here! And it's super crowded! It's hard to get anything done in the kitchen during dinnertime. But at least it's warm and sunny here, and I have a tent to sleep in, and I can climb!

Cast of Characters

I think today, instead of posting yet another multipitch report, I'll just talk about some of the very interesting people I've met here at El Potrero Chico at camp.

Sean and Kris - Some of the first people I met here at EPC. They both drove down from Boulder, and they're pretty good climbers and cool people. Sean is bald and bearded, and Kris looks a little bit like Jesus. They did a lot of multipitches together here, but I never climbed with them. They left a couple of weeks ago.

Sean rockin it.

Shanna and Lesley - I also met these two pretty early on. They're actually from Seattle, and flew into Monterrey, and have been here a bit longer than I have. They left last week or so for Oaxaca, to take spanish classes at the Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca for a couple of weeks. They did their first multipitch climbs here, and like Sean and Kris, I have never climbed with them. Not sure if they are coming back here or not, but they are cool. I kept running into them around town and offering them rides, since they don't have a car. For a while they were renting a house nearby to La Posada and they had a few dinner / drinking parties at their place.

Bjorn - He's Swedish, he wears glasses, and he's really funny. His girlfriend is studying medicine in Monterrey. I've gone cragging with him at least once with him and his Swedish friend Simon who was in town for a bit. He's been here about two months I think, and is leaving around Dec. 15th. He's always up late on his computer, and always makes hot tea before he goes to bed. Good guy.

Bjorn - photo stolen from facebook

Chris - Met this guy a few days after I got here. He drove here on his motorcycle from Kansas City, and he's a young photographer, and he does a lot of weddings. He took some interesting long exposure photos of me at camp where he lit me up with a headlamp. I forget the name of the technique, but it came out looking pretty sweet. We cragged a few times before he left, as he was only here a week.

Chris, Beth, and Dave at Wonderwall

Max - Max has been here since Halloween. He's pretty young, very chill, and climbs hard. I haven't actually had much time to talk with him yet, and initially I thought he was with Sean and Kris, but they left and he didn't. He's still here for the foreseeable future, another longtermer like me.

Dave - This guy has been here over two months, and I knew a little bit about him before we met because he has a blog about EPC. He's a pretty funny guy; he has a huge tarp over his tent, and he adopted a dog named Candela. I haven't climbed with him, or even heard of him climbing since I've been here. Lately I guess he is focusing more on work and learning spanish, and his Mexican girlfriend...

The Quebecoi - Melanie, Veronique, and Oliver are from Quebec, and they primarily speak French, though their English is really good. I haven't really climbed with them, though I have climbed next to them a few times. They are really fun. They drove here from Quebec and arrived around the same time Ames was here, for Thanksgiving weekend. They are leaving around Dec. 15 as well.

Gringo Disco - Max, Oliver, Melanie, Me, Erik, Dave

Siggy - Siggy is from Iceland, and he's a commercial airline pilot. He even has the aviators to prove it. He's pretty new to climbing, so his friend Katelynn has been "showing him the ropes". He's done a lot of ice climbing but almost no rock climbing, so he's learning. He's been here since Thanksgiving or earlier.

Katelynn - She's from Canadia, and arrived about a week ago. She's apparently a full-time climber, and I think she's planning to go to south america for more climbing after this? I'm a little fuzzy on the details. Friends with Siggy, and strangely enough knows a lot of the same people as Erik does.

Way to belay.

Erik - Erik is a blond surfer / climber kid from California. Actually he climbs a lot more than he surfs, but whatever. He spends the summers at Yosemite, working 3 days a week and climbing the other four. During the rest of the year, he likes to travel to EPC, Indian Creek, and other various rock climbing destinations. He's been my primary climbing partner for the last week and a half or more - we've done Space Boys, Snott Girlz, Black Cat Bone, and Satori together. Really solid, and great sense of humor. He's a bit stronger than me, so he's been a good mentor of sorts. He arrived a couple of weeks ago, and will be here for a few months at least.

Erik's best crazy face

Team Yukon - Niall and Emcee are from the Yukon, and their Canadian accents are hilarious. But they are also really cool and laid back and such. They often spend their evenings in the kitchen drinking and playing cribbage. Emcee apparently races dogs in the winter? Not sure when they are leaving - but I think maybe in January.

I think that's about all for now. There are many other people I've met here as well, but these are the people that stick out in my mind the most.

Snott Girlz & The Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Yesterday, Erik and I did yet another multipitch: Snott Girlz, a 7-pitch romp up the Mota Wall. We got started pretty late, leaving camp around 11am, but that's okay since it's a shorter multipitch than some of the other ones we've already done.

I opted to lead the first pitch, a 5.10d that roughly follows a crack line, but about 4 bolts up I got spooked. I'm not sure if it was because it was the first climb of the day and I wasn't warmed up, or the crack intimidated me, or what, but I decided I really didn't want to keep leading the pitch. I just wasn't feeling it - my "head space" wasn't right, so I asked Erik if he'd mind switching leads. He was totally cool with it though, so he stormed up the pitch and I hopped on toprope. I actually found that, even on toprope, I had to work really hard to get up the pitch and I was pretty thankful I didn't have to lead it. But somehow I made it up without falling.

First pitch of Snott Girlz

I was pretty hot and exhausted after the first pitch, so I deferred the next lead to Erik as well, another 5.10d. He linked this one and the next one, a 5.10a, without a problem of course. The second pitch also follows the crack line, and was a little bit easier despite having the same rating, and the 5.10a face climb was really not bad at all.

The fourth pitch was a 5.9 straight up the face, so I opted to lead it. I was considering linking it with the next pitch, except that after the belay ledge you have to do traverse directly right about ten feet, and I was worried about rope drag, so I brought Erik up instead.

The only pitch I led yesterday

Since I already had him on belay when he got there, he kept climbing and led the next 3 pitches, all 5.9. The first of these (#5) was really quite fun and interesting, with lots of cool jugs up a blocky section, and #6 was pretty similar and fun as well. I heard this really strange noise when climbing the sixth pitch though, which turned out to be a palm tree at the top of the climb whose leaves were rustling in the breeze.

Check out this crazy traverse.

The last pitch, if you can even call it a pitch, was pretty short, and summits the gendarme. You kinda climb right around the arete, and into somewhat of a dihedral, and the last 12-15 feet is a right-hand crack that you pretty much have to use to get up to the top. Being a terrible crack climber, I wasn't too excited about it, but I made it up anyway =)

The summit was pretty cool, but also very similar to the summit of Pancho Villa. Which makes sense since it's on the same wall.

Erik's exhausted from too much leading.

When we simul-rapped down to the ground, there were tons of climbers cragging the Mota Wall next to us, so we had to be extra careful not to pull any rocks down onto them. It was pretty funny though, at one point there were four climbers on the wall at the same time on routes right next to each other, at different heights. If my camera hadn't run out of battery, it would have made for a hilarious photo.

Anyway, we cragged another 5.10d, then went back to camp for beer and dinner (in that order).

We caught word of some kind of festival in Hidalgo, so we rounded up some people and drove into town for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. It was really pretty cool - there were tons of people at the church near the main plaza, and inside the church they were doing some kind of Catholic ceremony. Outside the church, they had a bunch of food vendors selling food that could be purchased with tickets, as a fundraiser for the church. There were hamburguesas, tacos de trompo, tamales, enchiladas, and hot dogs. While I was eating my 10-peso hot dog, a bunch of kids came out in Mexican Indian garb and performed a dance for everyone. I'm not sure what the dance was called but one kid was playing the devil, and the idea was that the other dancers were containing the devil to make sure he can't touch the people. It was really cool.

Then we gringos bought some ice cream and went home =)

Black Cat Bone!

Two days ago, Erik and I got up "early" and did Black Cat Bone, a very fun and varied 9-pitch route on the Jungle Wall.

Whoa, that's tall.

We started climbing at 10am, which is really only early for a guy like me. The first pitch was a short and easy 5.8 so I went ahead and led it. In fact it was so short, I wasn't sure the pitch was over.

The next pitches were 5.10b and 5.6, so Erik linked both of them. The first wasn't really too hard actually, except for a few balancy moves, and I don't really remember the 5.6 but it was surely big jugs and easy moves.

The fourth pitch was not really a pitch - it was a 3rd class "hike" with a fixed rope for balance / safety. I pulled myself up on it to get up to the next face, which was an easy 5.9 that I led.

Check out the holes in the roof from rock fall.

Next came the crux pitch, 5.10d, which Erik led. It's a long face-climb which gets really thin and cruxy right before the overhanging roof which you have to clamber over. The roof was really difficult to get to, and I was surprised I could even climb it on toprope, let alone leading, sadly. It's really balancy and technical and pumpy. Fortunately, once you get to the roof there are some sweet jugs you can rest on before committing to pulling through the overhang, which required some fancy footwork and committing to feeling for holds. But once you find them, it's not too hard to top out. Very fun pitch.

Omg the crux.

I wasn't really in much of a leading mood, so Erik led the 7th pitch, a short 5.10b. It was fairly interesting, involving some stemming and cool moves.

Short but fun.

The last two pitches were 5.10b and 5.9, so Erik linked them and I followed. The 5.10b was going up this crazy dihedral, so I had to do some stemming and chimneying, but it felt like I climbed it super awkwardly. The 5.9 was pretty trivial, mostly jugs all the way up, but I was amazed by how run-out it is. Easy sections are often run-out here, but sheesh.

Anyway, we finally made it to the summit, and I checked my watch, and it was 2pm. So we climbed 9 pitches in 4 hours, not bad! The view from this summit is really excellent, much better than Space Boyz in fact. There's almost a 180-degree view of the front side and the valley. There was a logbook in a box up there, which I signed, and one entry was by Alex Honnold (whom I consider my "climbing hero"), who said he soloed it in the dark on his last day in Mexico. What a crazy kid.

Look ma, I climbed something!

After enjoying the view, we started the mostly repetitive process of simul-rapping back down to earth. We reached the ground by 3:30pm, so I guess it took just over an hour to rap down. Overall, the route was really fun and I can't recommend it enough, especially if you can get through the 5.10d crux =)

Space Boyz

Hola amigos!

So last Thursday, I went to the Jungle Wall with a dude named Eric to climb a 11-pitch route called Space Boyz. Somehow I met the guy the night before and convinced him to climb with me, and he suggested we do it. Eric's an interesting guy; he's a blond Californian from Humble County who, post-graduating, apparently climbs nearly full-time, and he works in Yosemite in the summers in order to climb. It's pretty crazy to meet someone whose lifestyle is similar in a sense, but yet so much more extreme. Makes what I'm doing seem so much less crazy =)

Anyway, so this route is a classic line established in 1994 over the course of 52 weekends by two dudes new to bolting. Talk about dedication. It's 1000 feet tall in total. The first four pitches are rated 5.8, 5.9, 5.9, and 5.9, so we decided that we would "link" the first four pitches at least. Linking pitches means that someone leads two pitches in a row, because when you have a 70m rope, you can climb almost 70 meters high until you run out of rope.

We started climbing at around 10:45am, and I led the first two pitches in a row, making sure to carry a ton of quickdraws with me, which was really no problem, except that the first two bolts were way too high. Fortunately it was pretty easy so it was no problem. Then I belayed Eric up to my belay ledge, and he led the next two pitches (since he collected all my quickdraws on the way up), while I belayed. Then I climbed the next two on toprope. I checked my watch, and we had the first four pitches done in about an hour (noon).

Next is when things got spicy. I opted to lead the next pitch (#5), which was a 5.10. It was kinda strange and a bit traversy, and I very nearly fell at the crux, but somehow managed to shake out my pump and move through the sequence without falling, earning the onsight. Woot! The weird thing about this pitch was the belay ledge at the end - it's kind of like a shallow shelf, and to get to the next climb, which is a 5.10d in a dihedral, you have to walk right on the shelf around a corner, using a few cold-shut bolts for protection.

So we had Eric lead the crux (#6) of the route, a 5.10d dihedral, because I wasn't sure I'd be able to lead it myself. It was definitely a really tricky, interesting route, which involved a lot of stemming and some odd moves on overhanging rock. It was fun, but I did have to hang once because I climbed into a position I couldn't get out of. He also led the next one (#7), which was a 5.10, and was somewhat similar in that it followed a crack / bulge, so again there was a lot of stemming and a few hand jams.

The next four routes are somewhat of a blur. I think I led the next 5.9 (#8), and he linked the next two after that (5.10 and 5.9), and we were at the last belay ledge. I was pretty happy to finally be up there because I was getting tired of climbing =)

The last pitch is really fun, despite the fact that it's only like 30 feet tall. It's this easy off-width crack where you can do all kinds of chimneying to get up, and I led it, and it turned out to be even more fun than it looked. The summit was not quite as crazy as Pancho Villa, but I could kinda see down over the other side of the gendarme into a different valley further west. Awesome!

After some rope management, we hooked up our GriGris to the rope and started simul-rapping back down to earth. I think we did 10 rappels in all, since the last pitch was so short. I'm not sure what time it was when we reached the summit, but we made it back down by about 4:30pm. So that's 11 pitches in about six hours. Rockin!

My only regret about this route was that I forgot to bring my camera, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures /-: Next time Gadget, next time.

Pancho Villa Rides Again

So a few days ago, on Friday, my buddy Ames (who is in town for the long weekend) and I decided to climb a multi-pitch here at El Potrero Chico named Pancho Villa Rides Again, a 540-foot route.

For the uninitiated, a multi-pitch climb is a climb that is so high that your rope isn't long enough to make it all the way to the top, so you have to split the climb into a series of "pitches". Generally speaking, most pitches are shorter than half the length of your rope, because when you descend, you rappel on both sides of the rope at once. Most people own 60 meter ropes, which means that a typical pitch is no more than 30 meters tall. However, in El Potrero Chico, most people use 70 meter ropes since many of the climbs are extra long, so the typical pitch is less than 35 meters tall.

Anyway, we got a leisurely start in the morning, getting up a bit late since it was overcast and chilly, eating breakfast and finally leaving camp around 10am. The hike, if you can call it that, is more like a half-mile walk to the Mota Wall from La Posada, the camp where I'm staying. Or maybe it's a mile? Either way, it's basically flat. We arrived at the base of the climb, got on our harnesses and rock shoes, and suited up for the climb.

We decided that we would take turns leading the 5 pitches of the route. The pitches are rated 5.10, 5.10c, 5.10a, 5.10a, and 5.10a as far as their difficulty on the Yosemite Decimal Scale. To explain, the easiest outdoor climbs are usually rated 5.6 or 5.7, where the "5" simply means it's a vertical climb requiring a rope, and the 6 or 7 indicates the difficulty. Most people, if they are reasonably fit, can climb 5.6 with no prior training or practice. Some may even be able to climb 5.8. 5.9 is where the climbs get a bit tricky, and you need a decent amount of experience to climb them. And once you get into 5.10, the grades are split between a/b/c/d, each one more difficult than the last. In other words, a 5.10c climb is four grades harder than a 5.8.

We figured the 5.10 climb meant 5.10a, or perhaps 5.10-, so I volunteered to lead the first pitch, so that Ames would have to lead the 5.10c. I'm a gentleman like that. But as I was climbing the route, which was basically following this hand crack up about 80 feet, I decided that it was awfully hard for 5.10a - in fact it felt more like 5.10c. Perhaps that's because I was leading it, or perhaps it's because it was a crack climb, and my hand/finger/foot jamming techniques are not very well developed, but I had a hard time leading it, had to "take" (rest) a few times, and was very "pumped" (tired forearms) by the time I reached the top of the first pitch. Great. I had my doubts over whether or not I could actually finish all five pitches, considering how hard the first pitch was.

View looking down from the first pitch

I set up the anchor at the first pitch and belayed Ames as he toproped up to me. He took a quick rest, and then led the second pitch, where he got pretty pumped as well. Thankfully, I only had to toprope this one, but it actually seemed easier. Plus I managed to perform some excellent hand/foot jams. I was still pretty pumped though.

My turn again. I led the fairly easy 5.10a face climb, which traverses right about halfway through to a belay ledge at the bottom of a dihedral, and belayed Ames up as he toproped. He agreed it was pretty trivial. The sun had come out though, so it was getting pretty hot.

3rd belay ledge before the dihedral pitch

He led the 4th pitch, 5.10a, which starts out as a dihedral climb, but once you get out of the dihedral you climb some pretty bomber flakes to the next anchor. It was pretty hilarious watching Ames climb out of the dihedral, he looked quite a bit like Santa Claus, the way he was stemming and pushing his back against one wall and his feet against the other. Definitely a strange pitch, but very fun.

Lastly, we arrived at the 4th belay ledge, and looked up. This was a 130-foot monster pitch, up a very odd-looking set of blocky rocks. It was my turn to lead this one, so after a small amount of stalling and complaining about the heat (as the sun had come out), I finally got my game on and started leading. There are actually two variations on this pitch, the left being 5.11-something, and the right being 5.10a, so I had to remember to choose the right bolt line. If you can really call it a line. The route was so blocky that it seemed likely that a fall would result in my bouncing on a ledge. Anyway, there was one spot about halfway up which was really strange and made me super nervous to clip. Didn't like it. But I got past it, and kept climbing. I got about 100 feet up and thought to myself, "This is bullshit, why am I leading this, I'm effing tired." Plus, I noticed the bolts were getting spaced further apart - but in a way that made me feel better because I was guessing that maybe the bolts were further apart because the last part was easier. A man can dream.

Looking up at the 130' monster pitch

Anyway, I told my complaining voice to shut up and kept going. Before long I had actually reached the top, safely, and clipped in two quickdraws at the chains, and yelled for a take. Then I clipped in my personal anchor and sat down. Holy shit. I was climbing shirtless by this point, since I was so hot at the 4th ledge, and I was suddenly greeted from some very cold air to my left, because suddenly I could see the other side of the rock, which was shady, and there was suddenly a very strong breeze. So I was sitting on a saddle of sorts, straddling the sunny (back) side and the shady (front) side of the canyon.

This here's the summit.

I belayed Ames up, enjoying the view and the breeze, and he made it. We took some sweet photos of the summit. Then he talked me into learning how to simul-rap, so we could rappel simultaneously down the 5 pitches. I had my GriGri with me, so I attached it to my belay loop while he explained the theory. Basically, you even out the rope at the chains, then each person coils one end of the rope with a quickdraw, and then we get in "belay position" with the rope in our GriGris and weight the rope, unweighting our personal anchors. Then, we carefully take out our PAs and start using the GriGri handle to lower ourselves at roughly the same time, again being careful not to unweight the rope. Once you reach the next belay ledge, you carefully PA in to the chains simultaneously and lower until the rope isn't holding our weight anymore. Then you pull the rope from the chains above and re-thread the chains at the belay ledge, and repeat, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, before long we had made it all the way back down, and we were overjoyed to take off our shoes and harnesses. I checked my watch, it was 5:20pm at this point, so it took us about 7 hours to do the whole thing and rap down. I was more than a little bit delirious at this point, so it took me a while to take off my gear and organize it. Then we walked back to camp and drove into town for some hamburguesas and two caguamas (liters) of Sol each.

Done.

Yum. I'd say we earned those beers =)

How to drive from Seattle to Mexico

First, sell, give, or throw away most of your possesions, so that you can pack everything you own into a 5x8' U-Haul trailer (thanks to tons of help from friends).

Second, drive to Twin Falls, Idaho. If you find that you suddently have an exhaust leak after crossing into Oregon, causing loss of power and a really bad engine noise, you might need to find a mechanic in Pendleton who can recommend a good muffler shop in town. If you're lucky, they will charge you only $100 to fix your flex pipe and it will only take about an hour. You might arrive at your hotel significantly after midnight because you spent so much time in Pendleton, but it will be worth it (despite the back pain).

A good place to have an exhaust leak.

Third, drive to Fort Collins, Colorado to visit friends and family. Spend about a week there, making sure you get a chance to catch up with old friends you literally haven't seen in years. Don't forget to take your brother out for a fun pre-birthday night of drinking. Also, unload that U-Haul and sort out which things you're bringing in your car and which things you're leaving in Colorado.

Fourth, drive to Amarillo, Texas. Watch the sunset while passing an impressive array of wind turbines just before leaving Colorado. Drive through the largely unimpressive panhandle of Oklahoma, and check-in to your hotel.

Sunset over southern Colorado.

Fifth, drive to Austin. Spend about a week there, hanging out with Austin friends, buying necessary items at REI (such as a tent, hah!), and making sure everything is in order. Go to a rave, do a code jam with a friend, get a Mexican auto permit, go out with friends, and play a decent amount of Starcraft 2 and Mass Effect. After all, you're not bringing your Xbox to Mexico are you?

Reimer's Ranch isn't Mexico, but it's not bad.

Sixth, get up early and drive to Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. You'll want to cross the border long before sundown, both for safety and also so that it's easier to set up your ginormous tent. Don't forget to get your tourist via (turista) at the border, and to turn off "Avoid toll roads" on your GPS, because the only sane way to travel there is via toll roads. The tolls will cost $20 total, but you don't mind, because it's safer and you don't get harassed. Don't forget to bring pesos though, because they don't take USD, and you might find yourself rummaging through your boxes looking for pesos from past trips, which is a pain.

Anyway, once you've arrived in Hidalgo, if you don't have pesos yet you should definitely stop at the ATM to get some. It helps if you actually know your PIN number for the atm card you've been planning to use. Otherwise, use Bank of America and eat the stupid fees. Head down el camino al Potrero Chico, and turn in to La Posada. Set up your tent before it gets dark, inflate your air mattress, lay out your sleeping bag and blanket, and organize your stuff. Then, walk 50 feet down the street to the nearest Deposito, where you can buy a liter of beer on the cheap. Drink it, relax, meet some people at camp, and go to bed =) It's cold at night, but you're prepared =D

The best landmark in Hidalgo.