Nightmares and Dreamscapes

Where to start?  So much has happened just in the past few days since our last post.  

I guess maybe with the climbing?  I can't speak for the both of us, but I definitely felt like I was off to a bad start.  Not at all climbing confident, second guessing everything, getting spooked on things I'd expected to do with my eyes closed, doubt quickly replaced skill and it felt like my self esteem was looking for a crutch.  

At night, sleep was full of long puzzling dreams and 1 nightmare that brought up everything from family to people I hadn't thought of in almost a decade.  

But not all is as down as i'm making it seem.  A rest day in Monterrey proved to be a great way to distract a preoccupied mind.  Marie and I walked a plaza from start to finish eating all snacks in sight.  We caught a great movie and had some really good pizza for dinner.  I even looked up an old barber and got an old fashioned straight razor shave.  

Yesterday was quite possibly one of my best days ever at Potrero.  Even though I had ticked a 12b on Thursday, nothing could have topped the feeling I had when I lowered off my new mini project.  Enter Celestial Omnibus!  

Picture this:  you walk up to an 11c slab, but instead of blankness it's filled with pockets and edges that make up near perfect movement for about 100 feet.  This brings you to the entrance of the Bronco Bowls.  The steepest climbing in Potrero and sight of the most perfect overhung 12a I've gotten on so far.  

The Bronco Bowls are orange and stained with large streaks of black from water runoff that give it an impressive tiger striped look.  Celestial omnibus starts about 100 ft off the deck climbing at at least 45 degree angles on jugs, mini jugs, and both fat and paper thin tufas.  The exposure alone was
enough to shake my concentration since I'd never climbed this grade higher than a pitch off the ground. Next was the pump factor due to over gripping because I've never taken a REAL lead fall on a second pitch or higher and didn't want to start then, and throw in a rope (9.2mm) that looks a shoe string, and you've got a recipe for one spicy taco.  Can't wait to go back and redpoint...
-Juan