Thursday 10.8

After our early start on Ixtaccihuatl (Izta) yesterday, today was a free day. Our official itinerary was to "relax and explore the city," and we took that very seriously. Our alarms were off, our boots were retired for the afternoon, and the only summit we chased was whichever café had the shortest line. It did take a couple of trips up and down the stairs before we could stop leaning on the handrail for safety reasons!

Our hotel has been operating since the mid-1800s, in a building that was built in 1668, which makes the original building older than the United States, the mass production of sliced bread, and most of our knees. It's a block from the Zócalo, so we spent the day wandering the historic downtown and admiring churches that have been standing for centuries. The one sad thing about our neighborhood is how few stray dogs there are, which hit one of our teammates especially hard!

I also want to say that this group is great. We've been up in the middle of the night, above 17,000 feet, and tired in ways most people can't understand, and somehow everyone is still kind, funny, and attentive to each other. It makes the hard parts a lot easier. Two peaks down (La Malinche and Izta), and tomorrow we head for Orizaba, the big one at 18,491 feet. Tonight, though, it's dinner, a real bed, and probably another warm shower before sleeping. Orizaba's challenges can wait until tomorrow.

RMI Climber Roy Kurtz