Day 2: 25th April
How do french cheese croissants and pain au chocolat stuffed with nutella for breakfast sound? Hot off the oven from the bakery would have been amazing, but somehow, in the land of the mighty bread and pastry (reunion is france
:P ) these things are served cold and almost stale. I'm told that's how the French enjoy these treats! Weird..!!! anyone else with more intimate knowledge if the aforementioned people can confirm that? Cos it's just plain wrong!!! :P
How do french cheese croissants and pain au chocolat stuffed with nutella for breakfast sound? Hot off the oven from the bakery would have been amazing, but somehow, in the land of the mighty bread and pastry (reunion is france
:P ) these things are served cold and almost stale. I'm told that's how the French enjoy these treats! Weird..!!! anyone else with more intimate knowledge if the aforementioned people can confirm that? Cos it's just plain wrong!!! :P
So 8.30 start it is. Plan is for quick stops at the outdoors shop followed by supermarket to get things for lunch later...we end up spending more than an hour and a half!!!
The way to the climbing spot of the day, Niagara, is reminiscent of mauritius. Twisting roads lined with Sugarcane fields, with the occasional random bunch of bamboo outgrowths. Their ‘sugarcane roads’ on the other hand, are tarred throughout, instead of the broken dusty mess that are typical of our homeland.
On one side, a huge gorgeous waterfall, and on the other, 25 odd routes!Quite a spectacular site! Snag, school trip on the day with most of the routes within our reach already taken up as top rope! decide to fall back on the Eve's ‘la montagne site’, which we finally get to, slightly after noon.
Lunch break, and the fun starts.
A 4b, couple of 5s which include impossible crimps! Crimpy 6as are plain out of reach in lead for any one of us, barring some cheating!
Penultimate climb is a pumpy one named ‘t’as de beaux yeux tu sais? Rated 6b ‘, famous amongst us because it also happens to be pascal's favourite route when he was still studying here eons ago! So by now, none of us had managed to complete even a ‘basic’ 6a! So a 6b, is at best...ahem...dare I say, foolish!!!:P
Pascal goes first and quits at the third anchor point. The next anchor lies at the crux of the climb, almost 2m higher up. So any mistake would mean a 4m lead fall! I'm sure he can make it, but the thought of the fall got the better of him. Climbing is a mental game as well after all!
Jules wants to have a go as well...man on a mission sets off, gets to the 3rd anchor, goes all out to get to the 4th, and takes a HUGE SPILL! Leg gets caught in the rope, he back flips, and his back slams against the wall 4m lower… His butt cheek actually takes the brunt of the impact...after moaning for a bit, he decides to put a helmet on:P :P :P just too bad butt helmets for climbing have not been invented ...yet... ... ... :-P :P :P(close call does make you a bit more cautious :P :P :P) and goes for it again! The guy is crazy 
😝😝😝 he somehow makes it and sets up the route as top rope. I have a go, and with lots of help from Rhony, our professional belayer, I somehow make it as well.
Finish the climbing day with a 5b, on which I struggle more than I should. Jules's fall got me a bit insecure! By now shoulders are all stiff and sore. Pack up and head to hotel to shower before heading off to dinner at denis’ and Jules aunt and uncle's, who have kindly invited us over.
Yummy chicken curry, lentils and reunion style Creole rougaille with a chutney made of ground mango and ginger*!!! Homemade Pitayya with basil seeds cold ice tea as beverage! Three servings for me please:P :P :P For dessert, trilogy of banana tart, flan and some sort of chocolate and Apple pie. 
:-)
Completely pooped! Even more so since i hadn't slept well on the Eve, probably because of the extreme state of excitement from the days of climbing ahead! Tonight, I'll hopefully collapse! No, tonight I'll DEFINITELY collapse… … ...
*Correction by the cook, the ginger used is called ginger mango, but no actual mango used to make the chutney...!!!
Lunch break, and the fun starts.
A 4b, couple of 5s which include impossible crimps! Crimpy 6as are plain out of reach in lead for any one of us, barring some cheating!
Penultimate climb is a pumpy one named ‘t’as de beaux yeux tu sais? Rated 6b ‘, famous amongst us because it also happens to be pascal's favourite route when he was still studying here eons ago! So by now, none of us had managed to complete even a ‘basic’ 6a! So a 6b, is at best...ahem...dare I say, foolish!!!
:P
Pascal goes first and quits at the third anchor point. The next anchor lies at the crux of the climb, almost 2m higher up. So any mistake would mean a 4m lead fall! I'm sure he can make it, but the thought of the fall got the better of him. Climbing is a mental game as well after all!
Jules wants to have a go as well...man on a mission sets off, gets to the 3rd anchor, goes all out to get to the 4th, and takes a HUGE SPILL! Leg gets caught in the rope, he back flips, and his back slams against the wall 4m lower… His butt cheek actually takes the brunt of the impact...after moaning for a bit, he decides to put a helmet on
:P :P :P just too bad butt helmets for climbing have not been invented ...yet... ... ... :-P :P :P(close call does make you a bit more cautious :P :P :P) and goes for it again! The guy is crazy 😝😝😝 he somehow makes it and sets up the route as top rope. I have a go, and with lots of help from Rhony, our professional belayer, I somehow make it as well.Finish the climbing day with a 5b, on which I struggle more than I should. Jules's fall got me a bit insecure! By now shoulders are all stiff and sore. Pack up and head to hotel to shower before heading off to dinner at denis’ and Jules aunt and uncle's, who have kindly invited us over.
Yummy chicken curry, lentils and reunion style Creole rougaille with a chutney made of ground mango and ginger*!!! Homemade Pitayya with basil seeds cold ice tea as beverage! Three servings for me please
:P :P :P For dessert, trilogy of banana tart, flan and some sort of chocolate and Apple pie. :-)Completely pooped! Even more so since i hadn't slept well on the Eve, probably because of the extreme state of excitement from the days of climbing ahead! Tonight, I'll hopefully collapse! No, tonight I'll DEFINITELY collapse… … ...
*Correction by the cook, the ginger used is called ginger mango, but no actual mango used to make the chutney...!!!
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