Rock Climbing Day 1

Wow. Rock climbing. THe gnarliest thing ive ever done. We climbed a huge limestone cliff just to GET to the rockclimbing. I had about 30minutes of safety and lessons before I climbed to the top of this HUGE fucking limestone cliff. STRAIGHT up. There is no "rock wall" to practice on, just the sheer cliff in mother nature. I was so scared, hysterical giggles...but I did it. Theres been a few times in my life that I've felt insanely proud of myself, and this was one of those moments. Wow. For a girl who is terrified of heights I did it. Cut my fingers pretty bad on my second climb {the first was a 5A, my second was a 6B...this is difficult, not for beginners}. My arms were exhausted and my whole body ached, the sunwas beating down, and I just got a bit sloppy, slicing the skin off my fingers on my left hand when I tried to grab one of the JUGS {there are jugs, underhangs, left cling, right cling and pinches}. I called it a day early because I still wanted to have some energy for the next two days. It was awesome. Terrifying and soooo very difficult, but awesome. Tomorrow I use my legs more and rely less on my arms -- I have to stop POWERING my way up. I'm going to tape up my fingers and try to channel my inner "fearlessness". Heading out now with my guide, "john". Hes a few inches shorter than me, with a ginormous smile. He's a 24 year old Lao whoLOOOOOVESSS music. He invited me to the village for a big festival tonight. It's going to be an authentic good time.

Two more days to go....