using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Numerics;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using static System.Math;
using static Math2;
using static io;
using static Utils;

public class CompetitiveProgramming
{
  public void Solve()
  {
    var N = Int1;
    var A = Longs;
    int ans = 0;
    if (N == 1) { Write(1); return; }
    for (int i = 0; i < N; ++i)
    {
      if (i + 1 < N && A[i] == A[i + 1]) continue;
      if (i + 1 < N && A[i + 1] > A[i])
        while (i + 1 < N && A[i + 1] - A[i] >= 0)
        {
          ++i;
        }
      else if (i + 1 < N && A[i + 1] < A[i])
        while (i + 1 < N && A[i + 1] - A[i] <= 0)
        {
          ++i;
        }
      ++ans;
    }

    Write(ans);
  }
}


public static class Math2
{
  public const int INF = 1 << 29;
  public const long INFL = 1L << 60;
  public const long MOD = 1000000007;
  public const int MOD2 = 998244353;

  public static long Power(long i, long N, long MOD = 1000000007)//i^N
  {
    long res = 1;
    while (N > 0)
    {
      if ((N & 1) != 0) res = res * i % MOD;
      i = i * i % MOD;
      N >>= 1;
    }
    return res;
  }
  public static long Power2(long i, long N)//i^N
  {
    long res = 1;
    while (N > 0)
    {
      if ((N & 1) != 0) res = res * i;
      i = i * i;
      N >>= 1;
    }
    return res;
  }
  public static long GCD(long i, long N)
  {
    if (i > N) Swap(ref i, ref N);
    if (i == 0) return N;
    while (N != 0)
    {
      var r = i % N;
      i = N;
      N = r;
    }
    return i;
  }
  public static long LCM(long i, long N) => i * N / GCD(i, N);
  public static long Comb(long N, long R, int MOD = 1000000007)
  {
    long ret = 1;
    long x = 1;
    for (long i = N; i >= N - R + 1; --i)
    {
      ret = ret / x * i;
      ret %= MOD;
      x++;
    }
    return ret;
  }
  public static long Comb2(long N, long R)
  {
    long Nume = 1;
    long Deno = 1;

    if (R > N - R) Swap(ref N, ref R);
    for (long i = 1; i <= R; ++i)
    {
      Deno *= i;
      Nume *= N - i + 1;
    }
    return Deno / Nume;
  }

}
public static class Utils
{

  public static void Swap<T>(ref T A, ref T B)
  {
    T x = A;
    A = B;
    B = x;
  }
  public static int DigitSum(int N)
  {
    string s = N.ToString();
    int ret = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < s.Length; ++i) ret += s[i] - '0';
    return ret;
  }
}
class Program
{
  static void Main(string[] args)
  {
    var CompetitiveProgramming = new CompetitiveProgramming();
    CompetitiveProgramming.Solve();
  }
}
public static class io
{
  public static string Str => Console.ReadLine();
  public static string[] Strs => Str.Split(' ');
  public static long[] Longs => Strs.Select(long.Parse).ToArray();
  public static int[] Ints => Strs.Select(int.Parse).ToArray();
  public static char[] Chars => Str.ToArray();
  public static double[] Doubles => Strs.Select(double.Parse).ToArray();
  public static long Long1 => Longs[0];
  public static int Int1 => Ints[0];
  public static char Char1 => Chars[0];
  public static double Double1 => Doubles[0];
  public static long[] VerticalRead(int N) { long[] A = new long[N]; for (int i = 0; i < N; ++i) A[i] = Long1; return A; }
  public static void Write(string a) => Console.WriteLine(a);
  public static void Write(params object[] i) => Write(string.Join(" ", i));
  public static void Write<T>(IEnumerable<T> a) => Write(string.Join(" ", a));
  public static void Verticalwrite<T>(IEnumerable<T> a) { foreach (var z in a) Write(z); }
  public static void YN(bool i) { if (i) Write("Yes"); else Write("No"); }
}


Measured memory_bytes: 22880