Change of location...

Hey Chicken Diction fans, I have moved to Wordpress for indiscernible reasons, and soon enough I will have new posts up there to make it even more interesting. To see it, follow this link:

www.chickendiction.wordpress.com

See you there.

matthew

People.

Tshilo, Mari, Julito, in the Plaza de las Armas.

This picture is specially chosen for my mother. She loves it when I make this face.

Tshilo.

Mari.

Julito.

Doors and Windows - Peru.

StarPeru flight into Cusco.

Qoricancha. In Cusco.
Incan walls with Spanish cathedral built on top.

Qoricancha.

Qoricancha.

Sacsayhuaman ruins. Above Cusco.

Sacsayhuaman ruins.

Cusco at night...

So I got back from over two weeks in Peru on Sunday. It was some sort of a crazy whirlwind trip to get back that included a 22-hour bus ride, four airplanes, a night in Los Angeles, sleeping on an airport floor, and a gnarly cold that felt like my throat was about to melt right out of my neck. But now I am back and mostly rested and getting over the cold. This is the first installment of pics from the trip. We spent pretty much all of our time in and around the town of Cusco (elev. 3,300 meters) which was a fabulous little mostly adobe construction town that is a bit overrun by tourists like me, but yet, not like me. Anywhoo, here are some shots at night from the Plaza de Armas.

Pictureless Peru update.

So here we are in Cusco, a quaint little (not so little anymore I suppose) town after hiked five days to Machu Picchu. Here is the update:

Camera broke on the third day of hiking, just in time to have captured the amazing views of Apu Salkantay, the mountain we were beneath at 4,600 meters, and to not capture anything of Machu Picchu with our camera.

Shit evidently does happen.

Machu Picchu while brilliant and amazing is sinking under the weight of tourists like ourselves. There were too many people me thinks to fully enjoy it as people should. I also came down with a bum knee which made it more difficult to appreciate, but we did go up to Wayna Picchu which was spectacular.

I am now walking around Cusco with a cane looking like a mix between Charlie Chaplin and some old man. The knee is taped and I am sucking down ibruprofen regularly. But it seems to be getting better.

No one has gotten really sick. Amazing.

Our hiking group, while still a tourist group, was pretty much fantastic. Four Argentinians, two Spaniards from Basque country, a Canadian, Mari, brother Tshilo, friend Julito, and me. Near permanent laughter and fun ensued. More will probably ensue tonight.

Alpaca is tasty.

That´s all for now. What pictures we have will soon follow.

Peru.

Today I leave for Peru, so who knows what will become of this chicken blog for the next two weeks. So here are some pics from the last time I was in Peru for last xmas. Be well and for those of you in the Sonoran Desert enjoy the sweet smell of creosote and the feel of the monsoons in the air.

Huaraz.

The Way Inn. View from our room.

Me and the dog, Mumbles, at the Way Inn with some lovely mtns in the background.

Sunset in Chaclacayo.

Xmas with our chullos.

Pollo in the market.

Chickens in the News! #9

Chickens are in! Here is one strutting its stuff on the Sao Paulo fashion show runway.

Lately it's been...

...hotter than the inside of a live chicken!© And for those of you who didn't believe that this fantabulous saying would ever make it's way into the jargon of pop culture, here is verifiable proof that not only has this saying become ever-so-popular, but that it has spread out of the chicken mecca of Tucson, AZ all the way across the state line to California. That's right, if this trend was a crime, it would now be federal. My friend and co-worker from Los Angeles, California sent me this picture just this morning, as she witnessed temperatures in Pasadena at 6pm on Saturday rise exactly two degrees hotter than the inside of a live chicken!© Thanks to all those committed Chicken Diction aficionados out in the world.

First ascent.

Confessional.

Hi, my name is Matthew. And I'm addicted to my climbing wall.

Climbing wall - Part 5.

Sunday was nearly as hot as Saturday. Made even hotter by the fact that we now have all the panels on the bouldering wall, and all we have left is to finish screwing the pieces in fully, fill three small gaps with plywood, and attach some holds. It is far sturdier than I could have hoped for and the Metolius grit paint that I paid too much for turned out to be a worth while expenditure as it adds a level of texture that makes this so much more than a wooden wall.

Let's go climbing.

Prepping to hoist the highest of all panels.

Grrr.

Safe and secure.

Let the race to the finish begin...

. . . . .

Megan and David putting the finishing touches on a panel.

At some point in the day, we announced that David deserved the title of "one who saved the weekend!" Megan and I would have had some trouble getting those panels up all by our lonesome selves. And one or both of us just might have died in the process. So thanks David!

Megan contemplates the distance to the top after we placed the final panel and the light that would envelop her when she reaches the top right corner...

The view from the ground.

Very first tomatoe!

Climbing wall - Part 4.

A lot happened today - way more than can be told here. These are the important highlights:

- We started at 8am.
- There were donuts.
- We ended at 8pm.
- We realized we worked long and hard for 12 hours straight with little rest.
- There were veggie burritos.
- There was a high temperature of 107 degrees in Tucson today.
- That's pretty damn hot.
- The climbing wall is all framed up and ready for the plywood.
- The plywood is all cut, primed, and painted, and ready for the wall.
- Tomorrow it is going to be hotter than today in all likelihood.

Yeah, nothing like toe-nailing screws in. Over and over and over.

And over.

Honestly, this is trick photography. Chris is strong, but not like this picture would lead you to believe.

Jonathan with his famous behind the back drill move.

My friend David showed up at our door last night and we somehow conned him into working long hours in the sun all day today. He says he looks like Popeye here. "I'yam what I'yam!"

A bit of a siesta...

Proud David keep on rolling.

Jonathan dreams of a climbing wall.

Final supports for the wall.

Chris got artsy at some point. Or the sun got to him.

Still artsy. Nice moon.

Yeah, shortly after this the pizza came and we were done for the day.
Oh so done.

Climbing wall - Part 3.

No better way to spend a Friday night than piecing together the supports for a backyard climbing wall. The only thing that might be better was the 10 o'clock showing of the mid-season finale of (warning! geek alert) Battlestar Galactica. Oh yeah. So in honor of the supreme comfort we all feel with our over abundance of love for this scifi drama that rules far too many of our conversations for anyone to think that we are even remotely normal, here are some eery-scifi-esqe-climbing-wall-at-night-pics that help to detail the progress we made last night.