Day #84 - Cusco, Peru

Cusco Cathedral

Stone building blocks of the Incas

The Condor, The Puma, The Snake - 3 symbols of the Incas

Red Flag (Peru), Multi-colored Flag (Inca)

Traditional South American band at dinner

Sunday, June 6th

Happy Birthday to my little niece Katie today! Hope you had a great day - I'll have something coming your way very shortly!

Today reminds me why I enjoy travelling so much. It opens your mind to new things and new possibilities.

The day started around 7:30am. We got up and went to mass at the huge Cusco Cathedral in the main center square. The church was amazing. It had been constructed in the 1500s. The place was packed with very little seating. 80% of Cusco is catholic. We stood for the duration of the mass. We would later find out that the reason for the lack of seating was because there were 14 saint sculptures on display during a 2-week religious celebration in Cusco. We couldn't understand anything said, as the mass was given in Spanish. We were building good vibes.

We headed back to the hotel and had a great breakfast on the 4th floor of the hotel. We had views overlooking the town of Cusco. Impressive sites. We could now begin to see the poverty that you would often associate with South America. Cusco has a population of 400,000 people in the city proper with about 1.4 million people in the surrounding communitites.

Back to the room for an hour nap before meeting up with the entire group for lunch at 1pm. Our group consists of 26 peeople: 20 marathon runners, 4 hikers, and 2 spouses that will be riding the train to Machu Picchu. The group was entirely from the US except for a couple from Manchester, England. This was a bit unusual - normally there is more of an international contingent.

We went through a quick debriefing and had a nice lunch - trout, soup, and alot of water. We went around the room and introduced ourselves. My earlier comment - why I like travelling - it's amazing the people you meet. There was a German lady who will be completing her 7th continent this trip, an older gentlemen who will be completing #6 and will be on our Antartica trip with us in February to complete #7, a couple from Kentucky that sat by me (the husband being along for chief athletic supporter as his wife is an avid runner), an engineer from Dartmouth, an engineer from Notre Dame, an ultramarathon runner who works for Facebook, an ultramarathon nurse, a couple vetrinarians, the list goes on and on.

Every single time I put myself in this company - it makes me want to be better. I'll never forget the women I met at a Peking duck dinner in Beijing, China. We were sitting around this table with about 10 people. This lady was there with 2 of her friends. They were older. I remember instantly being inspired just listening to this particular lady talk. She was so very positive. She had done a number of marathons and had climbed 4-5 of the highest peaks in the world. She was going to attempt Everest in the future. At the end of the night, I learned that this lady had multiple schlerosis. I was even more awed. Since this dinner, this lady has gone on to conquer Everest as the first female with multiple schlerosis. Her name is Lori Schneider - google her.

After lunch, we met in the hotel lobby at 3pm for a tour of Cusco - the ancient capital of the Inca empire. Just before we're ready to leave for the tour, a car pulls up with our LUGGAGE. Do you believe in miracles? I have to admit I was skeptical. I don't know if I mentioned that our tour guide told us that our baggage was unaccounted for as early as last evening. Everything is back to normal in the world.

The historical significance of the Incas and the story leading to Machu Picchu started coming into focus today. The Incas began their run in the 12th century before eventually being conquered by the Spanish conquistadors in the early 1500's.

We first visited the Temple of the Sun. We witnessed the unbelievable architecture of the Incas. How they built these structures with eleaborate stone carvings with nothing more than their hands is remarkable. We learned the 3 symbols of the Inca empire: the condor (future), the puma (present), and the snake (past). We learned that Cusco was built in the pattern of a puma. We learned the 3 symbols of the Inca gods - gold , silver, and rock. 4 paths of the Incas lead out of the Temple of the Sun. One of these paths - the Inca Trail which leads to Machu Picchu.

Our next stop was the Cusco Cathedral where we learned alot more about the religion of the area. We stopped at a few other locations throughout the 3 hour tour - mainly pointing out the architecture and buildings in the city. We got pictures with local people, saw some baby lambs and llamas, and witnessed some parade celebrations (each Sunday parades go on in Cusco)

We met the whole group for dinner at 7pm where we got to talk with more people. They had a traditional South American band playing after the dinner was complete. Great night. Liam, Kim, Greg, and I headed back to the hotel. We drank a couple cups of tea while sitting in the lobby discussing the day's events - this is one of my favorite times of the day. I'm now in the room finishing this up and ready for some down time. I feel remarkably well right now all things considering. Tomorrow we go for our first run over 11,000ft - a 4-miler down hill.

Until then - good night from South America!

Day #83 - Lima to Cusco. Peru

Cusco, Peru

Cusco - central square

Baby lamb - Ballycroy reminders

Cusco - impressive

Liam & Kim

Saturday, June 5th

This day starts out in the air on a 5hr, 10min flight from Miami to Lima, Peru. The flight went smooth. I watched the movie Invictus and read some of Digital Fortress (my new book by Dan Brown). All 4 of us were separated on this flight. No worries - time to relax.

We get into Lima. Local time is actually the same as central standard time in the US. It's 4:15am. By now, I'm starting to really get tired. We're about 20 hours into non-stop travelling. We get through customs and passport control. We make our way to baggage claim - as you have to pick up your bags at the first point of entry on an international flight. This is where the tides changed for me. I was happy and dealing with things until we find out that our bags were not there.

I'd be OK with our bags being lost, it's just the way we had to check them that makes me very uneasy. With 2 different airlines in the picture - who knows what will happen. We had to fill out a bunch of paperwork for our bags. We give them our address where we'll be staying in Cusco. We'll be there for 3 nights, so things might work out.

We were met at this point by our guide for the trip - Andes Adventures. Our guide helped us get through the airport taxes and get confirmation of our Lima to Cusco flight. This flight departed at 8:15am. We had about a 3 hour layover in Lima.

We staggered around the airport, ate some breakfast, and basically laid out on the chairs with the other zombies at the airport. So, between the hours of 4:30am - 8:15am -- we talked some, staired into the distance more, all the while wondering if we'll ever see our bags again.

Our flight departs on time to Cusco. We arrive an hour later at an elevation of 11,400ft. Our bodies are instantly given the task to acclimitize to some severe elevations. We got off the plane, no bags to get, find our Andes driver, and make our way to the hotel. A great hotel by the way. We then meet our main guide for the trip - Devy. We sit and enjoy some tea as he briefs us for the day. We're basically given a pass to do our own thing all day.

I hit the bed about 10am and got up about 3pm. We all 4 meet up and catch some late lunch/dinner. After eating, we walked around Cusco breifly. We're all amazed at the makeup of the town. Much nicer and refined than I had anticipated. Cusco has some impressive buildings with a pretty neat central square. We weren't feeling great, so we headed back to the hotel. We pondered the day's events over more tea. Talked it over with Devy some more, then called it an early night.

I'm writing this blog now around 9pm on Saturday night. I hope I'm able to sleep tonight. The rest of the tour group will be coming in tomorrow. We have an extra day acclimatizing - thankful for it.

Day #82 - Raleigh to Cusco, Peru

Friday, June 4th

This may have been one of the toughest travel days I've ever had - but as the same time, it was awesome.

10:30am -- We get picked up at my buddy Greg's house by one of his coworkers in a huge SUV. We head over to pick up our other 2 friends - Liam and my new friend Kim (Liam's girlfriend). We make it to the airport around 11:15am.

We were scheduled on a 1:30pm flight from Raleigh to Miami. We immediately find out that this flight is delayed about 1.5 hours. No problem - we found a lunch spot in the airport. It was great. We caught up with old times, a couple beers flowing, all good. It was getting to be about 1:30pm now. Greg decided to go and check the boards to see how are delay was coming along. He came back with these unfortunate words: "The flight is cancelled". This is not something you ever want to see/hear in an airport. This means instant chaos. As we all 4 are fairly experienced travelers, upon hearing this news, we were up with bags in hand in about 2 minutes, with our minds turning to think of our next move.

We first went to the gate. Already about a 20 deep line. Greg and Kim got on the phones to American Airlines. They both haggled with different options as Liam and I listened. We could have rebooked from Raleigh with 2 stops before Miami. One option through Atlanta and one option through New York. Neither of these sounded great. We had an 11:55pm international flight out of Miami to Lima, Peru we needed to make. Having 2 stops is just too risky. We were told that there was a direct flight from Charlotte, NC to Miami leaving later in the afternoon. Charlotte is about a 2.5 hour drive from Raleigh. We thought about it. Yes - let's do that. We'll get a rental car and drive to Charlotte to catch the 7:05pm flight arriving in Miami at 9:10pm. This was the earliest we could get there with all the options we were given. The 2 stop options would be closer to 10pm (with any delays - we wouldn't make the international portion).

Greg picks up the rental car. Liam and I go get our bags that were previously checked down in baggage claim. Kim waits in line to check out reimbursements for our rental car. The reason for the flight cancellation was listed as 'mechanical' on the board. This clearly represents an Airline problem - we should get compensated for our efforts. Even if the rental car is not reimbursed, between the 4 of us, it shouldn't be a big deal.

We make great time to Charlotte - arriving right at 5pm. Once inside, we find out that the flight to Miami was delayed. The departure time is now showing 7:50pm. We're still OK. Only bad problem, we now must check our bags all the way through to Cusco instead of picking them up in Miami and rechecking. This may sound like it would be the preferred option. Not so much. We're flying American to Miami and then LAN Airlines from Miami to Lima, then Lima to Cusco. Even though LAN is a partner with American - it's never good to merge the 2 if not necessary. We were even told as much by our travel agent. We had no other option because it would be too tight of a connection in Miami.

We had about 1.5 hours of downtime. The flight keeps slipping later and later. We finally board and hit the run-way around 8:30pm. Wow - this is going to be close.

They wouldn't give us our LAN international tickets in Charlotte. We were told that we would need to pick these up in Miami - but we could stay within the secure area, so it shouldn't take long. We land in Miami around 10:30pm. By the time we finally deboard - it's nearing 10:45pm - we have basically an hour. We get on this bus which takes us to the terminal. Once we got off this thing - we try to figure out where LAN airlines was. We're told it's Terminal J. Great -- this is many terminals away. Liam takes off in a jog. We all follow. We're told now that we must go out of security to get our tickets. It's 11pm. Do we have enough time to get our tickets, wait in the security line, and still make the 11:55pm flight?

We ran for a good 1/2 -3/4 of a mile in the airport. I'm 12 hours post illness, I have to keep up because we're on the same tickets and need to check in at the same time. Solid - we finally make it to LAN check-in. We get our boarding tickets. It's going to come down to the security line if we're going to make it. Lucky break. Only a few people. We got through security in 10 minutes and made it to the gate at 11:35pm - 20 minutes before take-off. We all fell into our chairs on the plane. 14 hours after we started our travels - we were in the air headed to Lima, Peru.

I'll quit with today. Even though this was not preferred how today turned out - it was still alot of fun travelling with friends again. At this point - I was feeling good and very positive. Things were about to change tomorrow morning.

Day #81 - Raleigh/Durham, NC

Thursday, June 3rd



Today I spent the day resting at my buddies house. I went to the Urgent Care facility about 9am. They drew blood, took samples, etc. I ended up with a new antibiotic prescription and was told to rest and get fluids in me.



It's about 7pm right now and I'm doing a million times better. I haven't taken any Motrin since 10:30am - and I don't have a headache or fever. That is huge. I've been able to keep some food down as well.



Baby strides here. I know right now my state is not preferred going into this Peru trip. Maybe I shouldn't go. I feel strong about my ability to read my body and what I can handle. The marathon on the Inca Trail is not until next Thursday, June 10th. The first 3 days we are just going to be staying in a small city getting acclimated to the elevation. I can rest these days. I do not need to do the tours. When it comes time for Thursday, I'll need to make that call.



The run/hike is well supported and there are areas you can come off the trail. I've also purchased trip insurance to assist with any flight changes, etc.



Have you ever seen the movie - "A Few Good Men". First of all, if you haven't - you should rent it. Remember the seen where Demi Moore pulls Tom Cruise aside before they go into the last big court seen with Jack Nicholson. She said - "When you're in there today, if things aren't going as planned, if you don't think you can get him, don't go for it, you could get into alot of trouble" I'll be thinking of this quote before I make the call on the run/hike. I have to go with my instincts - if I think I can get him (conquer the marathon) - I'll do it.

I had a great spaghetti dinner, finished packing, and called it a night about 10:30pm.

Tomorrow we'll be leaving for the airport at 10:30am. We'll be flying from Raleigh to Miami, Miami to Lima, Lima to Cusco. We're doing this as part of a tour group. We've been told that internet will be accessible; but I'm not positive if I'll be able to keep up the blog the next week. I will if possible. You can also go the www.andesadventures.com/run2asum.htm, this site lists the itinerary that we will be following through Monday, June 14th.

Keep the faith - we'll be in touch

Day #80 - Paris to Raleigh/Durham

Wednesday, June 2nd

My international flights have been a little challenging recently. A big reason my blogs have been delayed the past few days is because I've continually felt like garbage.

After getting back from the French Open on Tuesday night - I started getting diarrhea. Now, I had fever, body aches, chills, and I couldn't keep anything down. None of these items alone is favorable when getting on a 1-hour flight. All of these symptoms combined prior to a 10-hour international flight - not so good.

Oh boy. How can I possibly be sick again. I've been resting, eating - what's up? Is it a coincidence that both times I had come from the Mediterranean. First time - I got sick in Barcelona. This time, from the French Riviera. I'm currently researching this - but I think I might be on to something. For people who don't know me really well -- I don't get sick that often - I just don't. If I do - it's usually something respiratory

Anyway - I had to be at the airport for a 10:40am flight. I was taking Motrin to kill the headache/fever, and Immodium for the diarrhea. I shouldn't have gone - but I did anyway.
I found some sprite at the airport and took a few swigs before boarding. My goal was just to stay still and somehow fall asleep if possible. It actually worked pretty well. The trip went by faster than I thought. I even started keeping some liquid and a few bites of food down. Things were tolerable.

I made it to Atlanta and then had an immediate transfer to Raleigh-Durham. This was only a 52 minute flight and all was well. I called my buddy Greg and told him not to pick me up that I would stay at a hotel by the airport. He insisted I stay at his place. He's definitely a great friend and got me everything I needed. It's very nice to be in a place where you know people once again -- I can't emphasize that enough. There is no lonelier feeling in the world - than being sick in a hotel room - in a foreign city 10+ hours from your home. I can't even describe it. I've lived by myself for 7 years in Minnesota - nothing compares to the feelings I've had in Istanbul and Paris the past month.

I got in, took some more motrin, and then hit the bed around 8:30pm. I hope tomorrow is a better day. I have 1.5 days to get better before Peru.

Day #79 - French Open

Center Court - French Open

Clay Courts - they rake the clay like a baseball infield

Huge outdoor big-screen between Center Court and Court #1

Rafael Nadal - practicing

Roger Federer - in quarterfinal

Tuesday, June 1st

When I got up this morning, I was feeling better (not great). After taking a couple motrin, I felt pretty good. I decided I would do the French Open Tennis Tourney today. My thinking - the metro goes right to the stadium, there was little exertion involved. I was just going to be sitting down and watching tennis.

I had not purchased tickets. So, I headed to the stadium hoping I could pull off a ticket deal via a scalper on the street. I had done some research work on the ticket prices and I knew roughly where the number stood. It also seemed like there were still tickets available - so I didn't expect too big of a crunch.

When I got off the metro, I followed the crowds and the arrows to Roland Garros - home of the French Open. First off, I'm not a big tennis guy. I do watch the majors and enjoy following them - not like golf - but I still know what's going on for the most part. I checked at the front gate - all tickets were sold out unless purchased on the internet. I had passed a number of scalpers on my walk in. I headed back in the direction I came. Selling tickets for more than face value is illegal. The seller is committing a crime. The buyer - just the unfortunate recipient of the transaction. It was clear to me, that scalping rules were not that strict. These guys were standing right in front of the security guards. I did a few pass-throughs. Got some prices thrown out at me. All were too high. Then, I found this guy and just started to negotiate.

I got tickets to center court - Philippe-Chatrier. My ticket was good for entrance to all matches throughout the day. Big draw -- Roger Federer (#1 player in world and best ever tennis player) versus Robin Soderling (#5 seed). I paid too much for the ticket - but, there's some things I'm willing to pay more than others. Seeing Federer on center court in the French Open quarterfinals - it was worth it for me.

When I walked into the grounds, it was incredible. Roland Garros has 20 courts. The 3 major courts are: Philippe-Chatrier (center court), Suzanne-Lenglen, and Court #1. These 3 courts are all stadiums. The other 17 courts have just small bleachers. You can actually walk the grounds and get some peeks at most of the courts.

There were 53 matches going on today - on 14 different venues. All the smaller courts started play at 11am and had 4 matches each. The stadium courts started play at 2pm and had only 3 matches (except Court #1 - had 4 matches). Because this was the second week of the tournament, the quartefinals were going on in singles. They also had men/women doubles and a mixed doubles tourney. The majority of matches played today were by junior players (fillies & garcons). I didn't have much interest in seeing the youngsters. I had a couple hours to kill before 2 pm - so I decided to check out the 6 courts without scheduled play - maybe someone would be practicing.

Nice call. I walked around the corner - there was Rafael Nadal. He was 15 feet away serving. The #2 player in the world and 4 time Frech Open Champion. I watched him for a little while. I then walked over to Court #18 - there's Serena Williams. The #1 female tennis player in the world. Awesome - I had just seen 2 of the very best tennis players. It's impressive to see the skill and how fast the balls come off their rackets.

I headed into center court. First match was one of the women quarterfinals -- F. Schiavone (#17) vs. C. Wozniacki (#3). Wozniacki is a 19 year old up and coming star. Schiavone is a 29 year old Italian with alot of fire. Schiavone controlled the match - 6-2, 6-3 -- in about 1 hr - 15 minutes. (upon writing this - Schiavone has made it to the finals).

Next match - Federer vs Soderling. These guys met last year in The French Open final where Federer won his very first French to give him the career grand slam. This was not going to be easy for Federer. Fist set - Federer - 6-3. Then, the tides changed. Soderling broke Federer's serve on his first service game of the second set. He didn't look back. Soderling won that set and the next 2. He beat Federer in 4 sets. Monumental. This is the first time in 23 grand slam tournaments that Roger Federer has not made it to the semifinals. That goes back to 2004.

I have a thing about seeing greatness destroyed. I saw Tiger up in Minnesota last August at the PGA Championship lose a major for the very first time when he had at least a share of the lead going into the final day. Now - Federer's loss. I like greatness alot -- so I was routing for both Tiger and Roger on both occassions - bummer.

The last match of the night on center court was a men's doubles match. It had startd to rain. Federer's match was delayed for a while. It was now 6:30pm. I called it a night and got back to the hotel.

It was a really good day to experience something unique in the sports world. I'm glad I did it.

Day #78 - Paris, France

Monday, May 31st



Happy Memorial Day! Hopefully you spent the day at a pool, with a little barbecue, some friends/family - sounds good.



My Memorial Day wasn't all that much fun. I got off the train in Paris and felt like garbage. Aches, chills, fever, whole body hurting -- what's up with me? How much of a wimp can one person possibly be? Saving grace, I have felt like this before, just not in a long time.



The train ride wasn't too bad all considering. The couple on the top bunks went to sleep right away and didn't make any noise. They even had a dog with them - I didn't know this until the morning. On arrival, I thought maybe I was just motion sick or something because of the ride. Nope. I got off the train and wasn't moving very swiftly at all. The train terminal doesn't have Wi-Fi, so I had to walk the streets.



The area around the station didn't have much in line with cafes, etc - so I took the metro to a more familiar area. Very good thing I felt comfortable here because I was not thinking clearly. I didn't open a map - even though I had one in my big bag - it would have taken too much energy. I got off the metro and found a McDonalds. I booked a hotel somewhere north of the Siene. No way was I going to map read to find the exact destination. I just needed to get close with the metro and take a cab. Again, very thankful I was comfortable with Paris. I knew right where to go and where to get the cab. An 8 euro ride later, I was at my hotel. I slept from noon-4pm, 6-10pm, and then 1am-6am. The times I wasn't sleeping, I was drinking any liquid I could get my hands on.



I don't know if this is the 24-hr flu or what - but I was feeling somewhat better upon rising on Tuesday.