#include <bits/stdc++.h>
#pragma GCC optimize("O3")
#pragma GCC target("sse4")
using namespace std;
template <class T>
bool ckmin(T& a, const T& b) {
  return b < a ? a = b, 1 : 0;
}
template <class T>
bool ckmax(T& a, const T& b) {
  return a < b ? a = b, 1 : 0;
}
mt19937 rng(chrono::steady_clock::now().time_since_epoch().count());
const int MOD = 1000000007;
const char nl = '\n';
const int MX = 100001;
int main() {
  ios_base::sync_with_stdio(0);
  cin.tie(0);
  int N;
  cin >> N;
  vector<pair<int, int> > A(N);
  for (int i = 0; i < (N); i++) cin >> A[i].first;
  for (int i = 0; i < (N); i++) A[i].second = i;
  set<int> in;
  vector<vector<int> > graph(N);
  sort(A.begin(), A.end());
  int p = 0;
  for (int i = 0; i < (N); i++) {
    while (p < N && A[p].first == A[i].first) {
      in.insert(A[p].second);
      p++;
    }
    int X = A[i].second;
    in.erase(X);
    if (in.lower_bound(X) != in.begin()) {
      int Y = *(--in.lower_bound(X));
      graph[Y].push_back(X);
    }
    if (in.lower_bound(X) != in.end()) {
      int Y = *in.lower_bound(X);
      graph[X].push_back(Y);
    }
    in.insert(X);
  }
  reverse(A.begin(), A.end());
  in.clear();
  p = 0;
  for (int i = 0; i < (N); i++) {
    while (p < N && A[p].first == A[i].first) {
      in.insert(A[p].second);
      p++;
    }
    int X = A[i].second;
    in.erase(X);
    if (in.lower_bound(X) != in.begin()) {
      int Y = *(--in.lower_bound(X));
      graph[Y].push_back(X);
    }
    if (in.lower_bound(X) != in.end()) {
      int Y = *in.lower_bound(X);
      graph[X].push_back(Y);
    }
    in.insert(X);
  }
  int dp[N];
  dp[0] = 0;
  for (int i = 1; i < (N); i++) dp[i] = N + 1;
  for (int i = 0; i < (N); i++) {
    for (auto& a : graph[i]) {
      ckmin(dp[a], dp[i] + 1);
    }
  }
  cout << dp[N - 1] << nl;
  return 0;
}
