#include<bits/stdc++.h>

using namespace std;

enum{
    MINIMUM, SAME_INC, SAME_DEC, MAXIMUM
};

int main(){
    cin.tie(0)->sync_with_stdio(false);
    int n; cin>>n;
    vector<int> a(n);
    for(auto &x : a) cin>>x;
    vector<vector<int>> dp(n, vector<int>(3));
    dp[0][MINIMUM] = dp[0][MAXIMUM] = 1;
    for(int i = 1; i < n; i++){
        { // increasing
            dp[i][SAME_INC] = dp[i-1][MINIMUM];
            if(a[i] > a[i-1])
                dp[i][SAME_INC] = min(dp[i][SAME_INC], dp[i-1][SAME_DEC]);
            dp[i][MAXIMUM] = 1 + min(dp[i-1][SAME_DEC], dp[i-1][MINIMUM]);
        }
        { // dec

            dp[i][SAME_DEC] = dp[i-1][MAXIMUM];
            if(a[i] < a[i-1])
                dp[i][SAME_DEC] = min(dp[i][SAME_DEC], dp[i-1][SAME_INC]);
            dp[i][MINIMUM] = 1 + min(dp[i-1][SAME_INC], dp[i-1][MAXIMUM]);
        }
    }
    cout << *min_element(dp.back().begin(), dp.back().end()) << "\n";


    return 0;
}