The Eagle Has Landed!

Bianca and I are now in the beautiful Andean city of Cusco, Peru, and we take off in about an hour for our 4-day adventure to Machu Picchu.  We start off biking, then hiking through the jungle the next two days, then the final day we hike up to MP, with the option for additional hiking in the surrounding areas.  I planned to blog last night but was too busy getting my ass royally kicked by this altitude.  We are at over 10,000 ft and my head felt like it was going to explode.  Today´s a new day, and getting better.    Anyway, here´s a little pictorial of The First 24 . . .

Can´t escape McDonalds, even in Cusco.  This eyesore greeted us as soon as we got off the plane in this gorgeous mountain city. 

Bianca and I, happy to be here!

The BEST part of the trip so far… we went straight to the Peruvian Institute of Sport to deliver the shoes we brought.  The director and head coaches were so grateful, and we got a tour of the facility. This is like a training center for Peru´s top runners, age 13 to 18.  Many of them come from the surrounding small mountainside villages, and essentially began their training at a very young age, tending to the livestock or simply walking or running an hour to school everyday . . . all at over 10,000 feet altitude.  There are 18 kids selected to train here, and they live and go to school here as well. The Peruvian government provides $7000/month to cover facility expenses, food, administration, and basic supplies, but they are definitely under resourced.  They get one pair of shoes per year. Many come to the competitions running barefoot, and WIN.  Coming to Cusco is like going to NYC for these kids, who otherwise would never have left their small towns.  This is a new opportunity for them.   This was an amazing program and we were overwhelmed by their gratitude. I would like to pass that along to you for helping. Thank you. I admit that the big bag was a pain to haul around, but now I wish I had brought 10 bags. More on this program later, but for now, I just want to tell you how incredibly grateful they were, and how wonderful it was to see the determination and drive to help these young athletes achieve success.  The head coach is a triathlete himself actually!  He didn´t understand why we would think to do this on our vacation, but we told him that we are athletes in the States, and that so many of our athlete friends also wanted to help.  It was an incredibly personal way to start this awesome trip.  Here we were on the way to the program, and then outside the facility with the directors.

This is the view from our adorable little hostal in Cusco. 

While I was in Altitude Hell last night with the most raging headache ever, all Bianca was stricken with was CANKLES!  (Is it a calf? Or is it an ankle?)  And yes, we both pack heat with our money belts around the legs.  Rambo style.

And for a parting shot, I´ll leave you with the little Peruvian princess and her alpaca.  Precious.  She kept asking if we´re from Brazil, which of course Bianca and I ate up (clearly she confused us for Giselle… happens all the time).  Smart little girl.  Could you imagine that thing just sitting there on the narrow cobblestone street? Quite a site!

No time for spell check or editing so my apologies for a rambling post, but I wanted to get some pics up before we take off in a few minutes.  It took forever to get these loaded!  More to come… thanks for checking in!