The days have become a lot busier in Pisac now that STRIVE Center English and PE lessons are in full swing every day at 3pm and we have begun assisting English classes and leading PE at the Tambo de Gozo private school; not to mention one to two daily run and exercise sessions, service discussions, and lesson planning. The kids we have been working with have generally been between 2nd and 4th grade with a few older or younger and it’s been such a blast!

On Wednesday we celebrated the 4th of July with hamburgers at Ulrike’s for dinner and brought our own cupcakes with homemade frosting (courtesy of Katie and Sierra)! Thursday was the first day that the whole intern crew went to Tambo. Will and Sierra took on an energetic group of 26 2nd and 3rd graders for 90 minutes of PE and successfully kept everyone moving and engaged without breaking into a soccer game. Katie and Calvin started off the day reading with kids in the Tambo English classes. On Friday we hit the hills for short hill sprints, followed by some work at Tambo and STRIVE center.

In the evening we’ve been enjoying “family” dinners like quinoa stir-FRIDAYS and plenty of pasta carbo-loading for long run days. Plus, new card games like “Heavens to Betsy” and a relaxing movie viewing of “Wedding Crashers!”

To round out a productive week, we headed up to the mountains on Saturday post-run. About a 40-min drive up out of Pisac, we made it to Lake Kinsacocha nestled below rocky, steep mountains. We were immediately greeted by some friendly pups, a mama, probably a papa, and a little puppy. They proceeded to follow us on our entire walk around the lake area. We stopped for a beautiful picnic and shared some bread with the dogs, before continuing our walk and scoping out a good place for a little ice bath! The whole crew was refreshed by the freezing mountain water and sad to say goodbye to our new pup friends, especially the puppy named “Sofi” after our favorite Sofi’s Bakery in Pisac. Now it’s time for that pasta, because tomorrow is long run Sunday!