It´s been a while since I´ve had regular internet access, so this is a bit of an overdue update.
Since my last post, I´ve left Arequipa and made my way to Cusco. In Cusco, I spent a few days reuniting with some friends I´d made on the road and relaxing, enjoying the beautiful city, filled with history. There aren´t many places I´ve been where I can go running down narrow streets lined with 500 year old Inca stonework. It´s quite something.
I was a bit sick in Cusco, unfortunately. Usually, I have the stomach of a chanchon - pig - meaning that I can eat pretty much anything without a problem. However, something in Cusco (maybe some dirty looking, but cheap, cheese that I bought off the street) broke my streak. For a few days, I had some very uncomfortable runs, which often involved at least one stop in the bathroom. Luckily, I had brought some perscription anti-biotics with me, which seemed to do the trick. I´ve been feeling better now for almost a week, so I´m keeping my fingers crossed that I´m over it.
After a few days of relaxing and getting over my sickness in Cusco, I packed my things again and made the short, hour´s bus journey down the mountains to the market town of Pisaq. I had made a day trip from Cusco a few days earlier to check out the town and figure out where I was going to stay, so I was at least marginally familiar with the area when I stepped off the bus - a welcome change from my usual pre-dawn arrival to new cities. I walked up the town´s main street and through the chaos of the open air market. Luckily, it was a Thursday - a relatively quiet day at the market - so the chaos was not entirely overwhelming.
I found my way to the Hospedaje Beho, which would be my residence for the next 8 nights as I got organized for Strive and got the lay of the town and the running trails. I found a great network in Beho; the owner was an unbelievably friendly man named Ipolito with various family members wandering through - as is customary in any South American living space - and several animals which seemed to belong to the hostel. An interesting note - one of these animals was a large, super calm, German-Sheopard-Mutt named Luka, which also happens to be the name of my Cross Country coach´s dog - also a very calm, big dog. Strange.
I spent several days exploring the town and the market, finding the best cheap restaurants (Yoly´s, El Sabor), the best produce (Calca), the best bakery (Sofi´s), and the best internet (there is none - it´s all terrible). I also explored the surrounding area´s running routes. There are several dirt roads which go along the river which created the Sacred Valley. The road rolls up and down along the side of the river through Eucalyptus forests, pasture land spotted with cows and llamas, and tiny, rural pueblitos - villages. I´ve run as far as 15M on this road and so far have not found its end.
Other than running and eating and sleeping - which do take up a pretty serious amount of time, now that my training is picking up - I spent most of my time preparing for Strive´s arrival next week. This included making contact with the school at which we will be helping in Cuyo Chico - a few minutes uphill from the city. I´ve been there almost every day this week, meeting with teachers to discuss lesson plans and directors to discuss donations from our organization and how they ought to be spent.
Honestly, I thought that I´d be bored and lonely here with little to do but run for 8 days, but I´ve been feeling quite fully occupied. The organization for Strive has been taking up a lot of time and running 100+ miles per week at 9,700 feet above sea level takes a lot of energy. Besides that, it´s just been nice to get to know a place really well, kind of like in Arequipa. I´ve gotten to know the restaurant owners and fruit vendors by name. I now recognize a lot of the street animals. I even adpoted a cat (or maybe he adopted me) who I´ll give my food scraps to and now sleeps with me at night. Overall, it´s been great.
Nonetheless, I can never have things be too consistent for too long and so it´s now time to spice things up. Tomorrow, I fly to Lima to meet with my co-leaders Nic and Sylvia and then Saturday night, our 17 niños arrive from... all over! Sunday morning, we turn around and fly back to Cusco and then bus to Pisaq where we´ll begin a whole new chapter in this adventure. I am aprehensive - nervous and excited. It´s always a bit nerve-wracking to start something new, but at the same time the possibility of greatness outweighs the fear. I know that this chapter will be its own unique adventure and I can´t wait for it to begin.
PS - I´ve posted a few photos on my facebook page from Cusco and Pisaq, including some of me and some friends at an animal sanctuary where we got to stand next to an Andean Condor. There together with al of my pictures from Southern Peru, so scroll down after clicking on the link to see the new pictures (or you can look through all of them!)
Click Here for Photos
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