Devan brought his fancy camera and took some fantastic photos. All of these were taken with his camera.
I had a cool cultural moment while I was climbing that really contrasted a specific climb I was on in the states. Several years ago, I headed to Richmond, Virginia with my friend Alex to learn to lead climb. Across the river from downtown there are the remnants of the old bridge, including the bridge supports, made from massive stone blocks. Someone figured out they were fun to climb and bolted them. While I was climbing on lead for the first time, a gospel convention across the water began. We spend several hours climbing to gospel blasted across the river.
While I was climbing in RAK, the call to prayer began and echoed through the valley. It lasted my entire climb up the wall and didn't stop until I was safely on the ground. Here, the call to prayer is quite beautiful as most of the men who do it are quite talented singers. We often stop to listen and comment on what we think of the singer. At the tiny mosque down the street we've become accustomed to the several different voices we hear and recognize our favorites.
Devan hanging out observing
Devan climbing
Jesi and her amazing fro
The rock is sharp! Jesi ripped her new pants. :(
Will is a badass and makes awesome faces when he climbs-
Micah-
Mike at the top of the arete-
*a note about updates- the internet cafe here is extremely slow, and has recently been really bogged down by people downloading various things. It has been nearly impossible for me to upload photos in a reasonable amount of time. Now, I spend the majority of an hour uploading 13 photos which leaves no time for posting them on blogspot. We have been a few fun places since this trip and I'll be updating with all that fun stuff as soon as I can. *