Flyin’ Shoes

Last week, I took a morning out from the job-hunt regimen to gain a little bit of personal focus, by climbing Mt Si. Yes I could have chosen an easier target but hey, good for what ails ye, right? The hike itself ended up being closer to twelve miles, due to the bus only stopping in North Bend and two miles shy of the trail-head, but no matter; makes for a nice warm-up before hitting the incline.

This time out I’d set myself a tighter target – two hours or less to reach the top of Haystack rock. Ultimately, I made it to the top in exactly two hours (to the minute) and succeeded in not suffering any ill effect that day or after, for cutting 30 minutes off my last hike. So, what new insights did I have for myself that I could apply to life in general? It turns out, more than one.

Understand the mechanisms that best work for you, to get the job done.

Does running as fast as you can until you get exhausted and then crawling the remainder of the way, really benefit the job in hand? That really depends. If all the variables are in place and nothing can be overlooked, the short sprint can be most exhilarating, but then the long, slow, winding down can be frustrating and invoke stumbling into other distractions. Burnout is a big danger and fatigue can cause a multitude of factors to creep in. What about a slow, steady approach? Lack of excitement can again lead to distraction and a mind that isn’t sufficiently stimulated, will often wander off to find it’s own remedy. For myself, I’ve learned that I operate best when I achieve just shy of a sprint. Pushing myself fast enough to constantly need to be aware, yet not so fast that I lose grasp of what I’m aiming for and, more importantly, don’t fade out before I have a chance to achieve my goal.

Set a hard but realistic target, but subconsciously allow forgiveness for not quite finishing everything on time.

The two hour target was something I considered reasonable, based on my previous hikes and my current fitness level. I almost didn’t quite make it, but continued to push myself forward, making adjustments along the way on the sections I needed to fight to control, and the milestones I needed to reach. If I hadn’t made it, I wouldn’t have been unhappy, as I had given my all. While walking the two miles in to the trail-head, I gave myself a pep-talk on what was expected and assured myself that, as long as I tried as hard as I could, I wouldn’t harbor guilt, if I couldn’t make it in time. This immediately took pressure off me to go beyond something I was capable of, and gave me enough breathing space, to not make costly mistakes. Targets are very important to keep a level of focus, but forgiveness of ourselves, changes the end effect from feeling like a pointless punch in the face, to a constructive understanding of being nearer to getting it right the next time.

Give time to savor the victory and reflect on what it took to get here.

I’m often guilty of trying to get the job done, just to check it off the list; this method yields zero life lessons. We need the opportunity to sit back and admire the good work we’ve done, understand our own processes that took us there and reflect on the parts that didn’t go to plan, so we can adjust for the next project.

These lessons are not just for inner growth but are applicable to work, business and relationships also. Finding the mechanisms that enable us to understand how we function, is another step toward personal enlightenment and better translating the manual for our individual lives. I’m fortunate enough to have found hiking as the Rosetta Stone for the manual to my life.

Making a note of this cheat sheet so I don’t lose it. Some text notes from a long time ago, on recommended settings for shooting the Moon:

ISO: 100 (or the least sensitive setting.)
Shutter speed: 1/100th second
Aperture: f11
Lens size: 200-300mm

I am too alone in the world, and not alone enough
   to make every moment holy.
I am too tiny in this world, and not tiny enough
   just to lie before you like a thing,
shrewd and secretive.
I want my own will, and I want simply to be with
   my will,
as it goes toward action,
and in the silent, sometimes hardly moving times
when something is coming near,
I want to be with those who know secret things
or else alone.

–Rainer Maria Rilke (Translated by Robert Bly)

It became obvious after the past couple of arrangements for the Peru trip, that the country has an advertised tourist agenda on-line and attempting to divert from that goes initially ignored, or there’s just never any response. Arequipa was to be no exception.

Arequipa has some notable tourist attractions in the main city and two locations I just had to visit. Both the Juanita exhibit and the Santa Catalina Monastery are within walking distance of our hotel (La Casa de mi Abuela) and will be a perfect way to spend one of our days there. As we didn’t really have the luxury of spending more than a couple of days here, the usual tour of the Colca Canyon was bypassed, as it required a couple of days at least, to get a decent sightseeing tour. Something that caught my eye while checking out a few other websites, was a smaller day tour to a place known as the Sumbay Caves. The tour itself is the same across the websites with only the price differing so I’m assuming, the private tour is from the same operator. I tried to book through the hotel initially, just to see if we could get a better deal or at least a recommendation but the contact details they gave me, failed to respond for a few weeks, then when they did respond, the cost was almost double of what other operators were charging.

Scouring the net to find other operators for this tour, I eventually settled on Peru Adventures Tours who were only a few dollars more expensive than other guides. These were the first and only operators that didn’t give me a runaround with other options, so after checking Trip Advisor to see if there were any warning alarms about this particular group, I made the reservation.

I can only assume that the tour itself is not a frequent visit, which is why it’s a little difficult to book. I’m sure that I could have grabbed a guide when I arrived in the town and had a cheap private tour but this was something I wanted planned in advance. I can only hope that it’s an overlooked gem but nevertheless, it will be a great day out to see some Peruvian terrain, wildlife and volcanoes.

The reference earlier to the tourist agenda, was applicable to all the other operators I contacted, who sent me back a price for the itinerary from Lima to Arequipa and then a few days in the Colca Canyon, when all I asked for was a city tour and Sumbay Caves tour. This is despite my very straightforward Email, detailing the exact locations I wanted to visit. Even after responding with only wanting the Sumbay Caves, a couple of replies tried to re-price the Colca Canyon, without the transport from Lima. It can drive one a little crazy with the back-and-forth of the whole affair but I re-worded my Email, and made a list of places I didn’t want to see under the ones I did – this seemed to do the trick. Coming from a tourist nation, I’m just used to things being easy to arrange, and often forget than I’m communicating directly with companies that sometimes don’t speak much English, or even have a well developed infrastructure. That’s my own failing and a perception I’ll need to quickly change; I’m the first to state that going to another country requires you to do everything to make yourself behave as a local, and not expect the locals to engage on your terms.