Running

This past weekend I put my recent marathon training to the test. There was a huge marathon/half-marathon/10k event in Lima sponsored by Adidas and the main cell phone company here. Since I am a little over half way done with my training, I decided to run the half marathon to see how fit I am. What I found out is that running 13.1 miles is very tough. I had run up to 15 miles successfully in training but the race was quite a bit more trying. During the first 10 miles of the race I felt pretty good and was running on the spirit, energy, and adrenaline of the event. The last three miles my main thought was "I just want this to be over and I have no idea how I will run twice this distance." I was inspired and a bit embarrassed when the elite marathoners (who had started their 26.2 mile race only an hour before us) came blowing by me to finish their race in not much more time than it took me to run half that distance. The satisfaction that I felt after the race was quite overwhelming and I determined that it was well worth the 3 or 4 miles of pain that I went through. The question now becomes am I willing to endure 13 miles of pain for an exponentially more satisfying accomplishment. I have heard about marathons my entire life but never had I realized how incredible of a feat just completing the entire race is let alone running 26.2 consecutive miles faster than I can hope to run even 1 mile. I like a good challenge but I am now getting seriously nervous about the challenge that I have signed up for in July. In the upcoming weeks my training runs will start kicking up a few notches and I will try my best not to blow out my shins, knees, back, and every other part of my body. Luckily two of my fellow volunteers are also preparing for the main event and we have made a tradition of having sleepovers before our super long runs and then following them up with good food and beers (after a few liters of water and Gatorade of course). I must say that, while I appreciate the sense of accomplishment and the therapeutic aspects of running, one of my favorite parts of marathon training is the carbo loading. I may be taking this a bit too far as I have not lost any weight even though I am running around 30 miles a week.
From here on I will be working hard to keep up the motivation to get up and run before my work. At the same time I am also jumping into some big projects. Thanks to all the donations from friends and family we have funded an environmentally themed leadership camp for adolescent boys and are in the planning phase. Aside from this, I am also working on planning the second annual calendar project recognizing women leaders in communities where volunteers are working. Last year's calendar was so successful that we are really looking forward to replicating the project. Since there have been major budget cuts for Peace Corps, we are making some changes in how the project is executed and we will have to raise funds from friends and family once again so keep an eye out for my email begging for your support. I find these larger scale projects to be very rewarding and I look forward to working on these in addition to the projects that take place in my site.
In site, I am working with a group of recycling promoters going house to house and giving everyone sacks to put their recycling in. This is pretty fun work because almost everyone we talk to is excited to start collecting recyclables to sell so that they can help clean up the town and earn a little money at the same time. I think many of them aren't so excited about recycling as they are to figure out what it is that I am doing here besides hanging out in the market eating the tasty street food. I think the door-to-door aspect of my project is something that I should have done earlier on in order to explain myself more thoroughly from the outset.
I am feeling pretty successful lately but I am still in a constant battle to avoid the perils of the Peace Corps. The most recent of these potential obstacles is a tropical disease called Dengue. I have talked about this before but now it is here in Pacora and even my host father got it. Dengue is transmitted by a particular mosquito and the symptoms include flu-like symptoms and body aches so severe one feels as if their bones are breaking. It only lasts a week and goes away on its own but I would still rather avoid anything that doctors refer to as "agonizing." I will be doing all I can by putting on repellent, sleeping under a net, and wearing long pants and sleeves but those mosquitoes are sneaky little buggers and I cannot be completely safe. Wish me luck!

Welcome to the Jungle

Since I work in a Catholic country I get a four-day weekend for Easter and I decided to go all out with my chosen vacation. Four friends and I headed south to the Manu Biosphere Reserve to look for the elusive national bird of Peru, the Cock of the Rock (obviously this caused never-ending innuendos which originally annoyed our guide but eventually he was the one making raunchy jokes). We flew into Cusco for some awesome touristy food and left before dawn the following morning for the drive to our first lodge. The drive that day was grueling to say the least. The first couple of hours were on paved roads and we got to stop at some picturesque villages along the way but when we pulled into the Manu national park, the roads got a bit treacherous. The Hyundai mini-van we were riding in was not made to wade through mud pits and ford streams. We ended up getting out of the car at the muddier spots so that the car could pass through. With about two hours left in the drive we came up on a long line of cars and went to investigate the holdup. What we encountered made the reality of our situation much scarier that the harmless adventure on rough roads we had thought it to be. The road ahead had collapsed under a lumber truck sending the truck sliding into a ravine. Luckily, no one was hurt and apparently this happens all the time, but it was incredibly nerve wracking to come across this scene. I had no faith in the estimate that we would be on our way again in about an hour but all I could do was wait. Amazingly enough, one bulldozer and one tractor was plenty to pull the truck out of the ravine relatively quickly (they had already been working at it about 4 hours when we showed up) and then carve a new road out of the side of the mountain. Luckily, there were a bunch of cars that had to pass over the new section of road before we did so the integrity had been well proven. Still, I waited on the far side of the collapse site and hopped in the van once I saw that it did not go sliding into the ravine.

After our harrowing 13-hour drive, I was thrilled to get to our little haven in the cloud forest, San Pedro Lodge. The lodge had big outdoor sitting areas with the noise of the river, the birds, and insects in the background. Although we were close to the little mud road we had ridden in on, there was not a car to be heard the entire night. I can't think of the last time that I found a place where there was no evidence of motor vehicles but this was it. The next morning after a successful bird walk where we spotted the cock of the rock and a few other beautiful species, we climbed back into our minivan and headed to our next activity, rafting. On the drive we spotted a pack of wooly monkeys, one of five species in the area. The next lodge was only accessible by boat so we rafted half way and then took a motorboat when the river got a bit bigger and flatter. The second part of our adventure took places at the Erika Lodge and began with a nature hike through the quicksand. In an effort to reach an enormous tree with a root so big it looked like a dinosaur trail, we had to move cross a patch of ground that sucked three of us in up to our knees before we found a spot solid enough to make a stick bridge and cross. I think it sounds so Indiana Jones to sink in quicksand so I am pretty proud of myself.

The next day we had to arrive at the clay lick before 6 am to watch flocks of amazing birds arrive for their morning feeding. The clay lick is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, a wall of clay where birds come to get their minerals. We ended up seeing four species of birds and a beautiful sunrise over a tributary of the Amazon River. After a breakfast of delicious pancakes, we hiked up to the zipline for a day of cruising through the canopy in harnesses. Our full day of activities continued with a typical jungle lunch cooked in banana leaves followed by a hike and paddle around a beautiful lake where we spotted the Hoatzin or "stinky bird" (called this because its digestive system operates like that of a cow complete with three stomachs). This bird looks like the archaeopteryx dinosaur with a feather Mohawk. We looked for the capybara (the world's largest rodent) but were not lucky enough to find it. Despite this, we did get a glimpse of our second species of monkey, the squirrel monkey. Overall, this was an amazing final activity for our trip.

The last day of our jungle experience did not disappoint on the adventure front. After a quick ride up the river we got back in our minivan for 13 hours of alternate riding and trudging through the mud. Late that night we got into Cuzco and headed straight for burgers and imported beer with the rest of the tourists. One of my favorite things about Cuzco is the amount of high quality pub type food. After an Easter Sunday that involved hiking up to the giant white Jesus overlooking Cuzco and spending lots of money on food, we headed back to our sites. Remembering these experiences makes me a little sad as I sit in my room watching episodes of House and planning my next trip to the jungle as mice literally scurry in under my door. Being a tourist is pretty awesome.