Day #85 - Cusco, Peru

Greg, Liam, Kim, Kyle

They divided our group into 2 groups of 13 people

Overlooking Cusco

Huge stones at 'sexy women'

Finishing up the 4 miler

Monday, June 7th

The day started out with some struggles for me. I awoke with a pretty bad headache. I wasn't feeling the best. I continued to drink a ton of liquids throughout the day. By days end, I was feeling normal again.

After an early breakfast, we left the hotel around 8:30am for our tours around the archeaological sites of Cusco. We started in a place called Sacsayhuaman (pronounced 'sexy women') at an elevation of 12,136ft. It's a mystery how this fortress came about. It's amazing to see the stones, some weighing 125 ton, and how they were precisely placed.

The tour continued with visits to other sites: including the semicircular shrine of Kenko, Puca Pucara, and the Royal Baths of Tambomachay (ceremonial bath adorned with waterfalls flowing for over 500 years).

One of the interesting things I learned today concerning the Inca dynasy, they had built a pyramid shaped peak overlooking the hillsides around Cusco which coincided with one of the summer/winter solstice. During this particular day of the year, the sun would rise directly over this peak. The dates are sacred in their culture.

After the morning tours, we drive the bus up to a peak well above 12,000ft. We get out and ran over 4 miles back into Cusco. At this point of the day, I still wasn't feeling great at all. I had alot of anxiety going into this run - can I do this - how will I keep up. Then we all got started. There were about 20 of us running. I hung in the back of the pack. Then, something amazing happened - it was the one point where I felt like I belonged. I come around this curve and I see this hillside ahead. I notice that alot of people are walking. They were struggling, breathing heavy. I even passed a few people along the way. It was like Rocky had just cut the Russian in Rocky IV. These people weren't machines. They were just runners. Most of which do not have high altitude experience. They may be able to run faster and longer on flat land, but I have just as much experience as them on climbing hills at altitude. I finished the run about the middle of the pack but I gained a wealth of confidence. I'm not the fastest guy (bringing up the rear in our party of 4), but I feel like I can hang with these people.

After the run, we had lunch at a restaurant near our hotel. Then we went back for an afternoon nap. We met at 5:30pm for a lengthy debreifing session. We had dinner after the talk and called it an early night around 9pm. This tour group has been very good because they have allowed alot of time for rest as our bodies to acclimitize.

I hope I feel better tomorrow. We'll be packing our suitcases and leaving Cusco after a morning tour and a 5-6 mile run. After another couple cups of tea with the gang - I'm off to sleep.