Sunday: BBL Long Run and Empanada Class

Although the previous day’s activities and trip to Cusco wore us out, the STRIVE crew responded well Sunday morning. Ben the high schooler accompanied the Sunday long run group consisting of Paul, Tyler, Megan, Curtis, and I for a Big Bridge Loop, or the Big Black Llama route as we like to call it. After a chilly first hour, both the temperature and pace heated up. Tyler, Paul, and I closed the last 6 miles hard along the paved road. It was satisfying to finally reach the orange bridge in Pisac after covering the 14.5 mile loop. The next event of the day was empanada class with most interns and high schoolers. In the meantime, one smaller group, led by Tyler, was off hiking up Mt. Doom for the day. The class was yet another interesting and fun Peruvian experience for all with a delicious end. First, we rolled out the dough and then filled it in with a variety of toppings and may or may not have eaten a few of the toppings during the process. I created a banana-cinnnamon empanada. The rest of Sunday was relaxing. We chose to have free time until dinner at El Sabor. At dinner, we met back up with the trekkers and filled each other in on the highlights of the day.

Cuy Day:

The much anticipated Cuy day began with the interns meeting the high schoolers at the dirt road in Taray. After Tyler’s uplifting pep rally, we started running. The top group went all way to the next town of Calca while the other groups were taxied part of the way by Hector in the van. By 9:00 A.M. everyone except poor Ben and Kat survived the run and met at a Peruvian family’s house for Guinea Pig preparation (both must have been distracted gazing at the beautiful mountain scenery because they tripped on rocks!). Two brave souls each killed a guinea pig with their bare hands. Then, we experienced the process of how a guinea pig is prepared into the traditional Peruvian dish known Cuy.

Next, we walked to a farm house to listen to Paul’s STRIVE talk before the big meal. There were mixed reviews of Cuy. I was impressed with how good the cuy tasted, but others found it unappetizing. Overall, the takeaway was positive. It seemed like so much had happened already, but the day was barely half over at this point. It was time to head back to Pisac for STRIVE center service work.

Thursday: High School Track Workout and High Schoolers Cook Dinner

With the annual STRIVE mile rapidly approaching, the kids needed some tune up track work to get ready. Tyler, Megan, and Mariana all paced different high school workout groups for one set of 400s and one set of 200s. A few interns and I jogged around the track for a recovery run during the workout. Most of the kids handled their first intervals at 9700 feet well. We will see how well they handle STRIVE mile, however, and more importantly the STRIVE 4x400m relay.

The other main event of the day was cooking dinner at Chaska by several high school girls. They made spaghetti with red sauce and garlic bread. I approved of the sauce after sampling it. They managed to get the meal ready after about 5 hours in the kitchen. Thankfully, no messes, injuries, or fires took place. The interns also enjoyed a home made spaghetti dinner at Willcamayu. But, since we cook for ourselves most nights instead of eating out all the time, it did not take 5 hours to prepare. By thursday night, it was already time to go over the weekend schedule. I find it hard to believe, but our time at STRIVE Peru is winding down. The last weekend is just about here. We are excited to put on our field day at the Tambohuasca track for the Peruvian children, and then of course compete our hearts out afterwards in the STRIVE mile and 4x400m relay. Sunday will be another big day as well with the first annual Ruta de la Kiwichi 5k. It’s been as good as an experience as I could have imagined in Peru and it will only get better. We are excited to depart Pisac to begin the Machu Picchu trek on Monday next week!