#![allow(dead_code, unused_mut)]
#![allow(non_snake_case)]

macro_rules! input {
    (source = $s:expr, $($r:tt)*) => {
        let mut iter = $s.split_whitespace();
        input_inner!{iter, $($r)*}
    };
    ($($r:tt)*) => {
        let mut s = {
            use std::io::Read;
            let mut s = String::new();
            std::io::stdin().read_to_string(&mut s).unwrap();
            s
        };
        let mut iter = s.split_whitespace();
        input_inner!{iter, $($r)*}
    };
}

macro_rules! input_inner {
    ($iter:expr) => {};
    ($iter:expr, ) => {};

    ($iter:expr, $var:ident : $t:tt $($r:tt)*) => {
        let $var = read_value!($iter, $t);
        input_inner!{$iter $($r)*}
    };
}

macro_rules! read_value {
    ($iter:expr, ( $($t:tt),* )) => {
        ( $(read_value!($iter, $t)),* )
    };

    ($iter:expr, [ $t:tt ; $len:expr ]) => {
        (0..$len).map(|_| read_value!($iter, $t)).collect::<Vec<_>>()
    };

    ($iter:expr, chars) => {
        read_value!($iter, String).chars().collect::<Vec<char>>()
    };

    ($iter:expr, usize1) => {
        read_value!($iter, usize) - 1
    };

    ($iter:expr, $t:ty) => {
        $iter.next().unwrap().parse::<$t>().expect("Parse error")
    };
}

macro_rules ! max {($ a : expr $ (, ) * ) => {{$ a } } ; ($ a : expr , $ b : expr $ (, ) * ) => {{std :: cmp :: max ($ a , $ b ) } } ; ($ a : expr , $ ($ rest : expr ) ,+ $ (, ) * ) => {{std :: cmp :: max ($ a , max ! ($ ($ rest ) ,+ ) ) } } ; }
macro_rules ! chmax {($ base : expr , $ ($ cmps : expr ) ,+ $ (, ) * ) => {{let cmp_max = max ! ($ ($ cmps ) ,+ ) ; if $ base < cmp_max {$ base = cmp_max ; true } else {false } } } ; }

const MOD: usize = 998244353;

fn main() {
    input!{
        n:usize, a:[u32; n]
    }
    let mut ne = vec![0; n];
    let mut se = vec![0; n];
    let mut nw = vec![0; n];
    let mut sw = vec![0; n];
    let mut buf1 = Vec::new();
    let mut buf2 = Vec::new();
    for i in 0..n {
        while buf1.last().unwrap_or(&1_000_000_01) <= &a[i] {
            buf1.pop();
        }
        se[i] = buf1.len();
        while buf2.last().unwrap_or(&0) >= &a[i] {
            buf2.pop();
        }
        ne[i] = buf2.len();
        buf1.push(a[i]);
        buf2.push(a[i]);
    }
    let mut buf1 = Vec::new();
    let mut buf2 = Vec::new();
    for i in (0..n).rev() {
        while buf1.last().unwrap_or(&1_000_000_01) <= &a[i] {
            buf1.pop();
        }
        sw[i] = buf1.len();
        while buf2.last().unwrap_or(&0) >= &a[i] {
            buf2.pop();
        }
        nw[i] = buf2.len();
        buf1.push(a[i]);
        buf2.push(a[i]);
    }
    // println!("{:?}", ne);
    // println!("{:?}", nw);
    // println!("{:?}", se);
    // println!("{:?}", sw);
    let mut ans = 0;
    for i in 0..n {
        chmax!(ans, std::cmp::min(se[i], sw[i]));
        chmax!(ans, std::cmp::min(ne[i], nw[i]));
    }
    println!("{}", ans);
}