Pink is the Fastest Color

Wilson is spending the semester in Peru - here's his latest:

Cusco, Peru, is of course an incredible city. It is situated in the heart of the Andes at 11,000 feet and was once the center of the Incan empire. The city extends from one end of the valley to the other, probably about an hour long drive. I have been working with a small school that provides a free education and is exceptionally accomodating to the families, many of whom are single parents and all of whom are incredibly poor. My first weekend here I hiked up into the mountains. On the Eastern side the mountains are lower, but completely classical Andean. Just wandering by myself, with no directions, I found myself in a canyon with a small stream that cut completely unique shapes into the side. A solid three hours after starting my adventure I reached the top of the canyon where I saw free ranging sheep and alpacas; a bit further and there was a group of Indian children who were clearly terrified of me.

My second adventure into the mountains occurred not much later and this time on the western side where the peaks are more prominent. Again there were no directions and no trail signs, so I just took the bus as far west as it would take me and that is where I began my hike. I got higher and higher in the neighborhoods, but there was no clear break where I could begin hiking (trail or not) so I just kept wandering. At the top of the houses I thought I saw a way into the trees but as I started in I saw an older woman so I decided to ask for the way. I quickly realized that she only spoke Quetchua (the Indian language) but through signs she was able to tell me that this trail went nowhere and that I needed to backtrack a bit and so on. I found a way that started up and hit a road that resembled the access roads that we have in the mountains in the states, so of course I followed it. Shortly however I saw a pallet of adobe bricks so I got a bit nervous that I was treading on someones property... and of course that was the exact moment that I heard the sound of two dogs standing up. I just ran. Of course I can't out run guard dogs so I picked up some rocks and just started throwing them while I continued to run. It was probably up there in the most terrifying moments of my life. The rest of the hike was fortunately much less eventful, switching from trails to bushwacking before coming out of the trees. The top was a beautiful Andean peak - there is something really gorgeous about the short brown grass that coats all of the mountains here. Everyone talks about how unfair of an advantage the locals have in the mountains because they live at this altitude, but of course I don't accept that. On the way up I caught a group a Peruvians and totally housed them to the top... I'm pretty awesome.

Unfortunately, that has really been the extent of my adventuring. The majority of my time is spent working with the kids at the school here (by the way, I am volunteering at a school called Helping-Hands Cusco). Also I have had a cold that I haven't been able to shake for the past two weeks... probably the swine. And unfortunately I cannot run because the horrible horrible dogs, who are all incredibly gross and chase you if you are so much as walking fast. There is just no way I can run here and it is driving me mad. But today was a bit of an exception. Today the San Sebastian district of Cusco (where I am living) had a huge running race. The master blasters of the states would have been breathing fire. The race started an hour and 45 minutes late. Also about a mile in to the course it took a 180 turn and about 3/4 of the participants cheated and went down the stairs beforehand (about a 45 second advantage). They said that it was 8 K... but it was probably more like 6. They didn't give you a finishing time or place. But we all got shirts. In total I have more excuses than I know what to do with for being slow today, but it was a bit humbling to be running with some slightly older Peruvian men. The three year old daughter of the project manager here gave me some great racing advice however. First, pink is the fastest color. Second, you always need to bring your purse while you race (she didn't tell me that but I am learning by example). Finally it is always important to run your own race, being pushed in the carriage doesn't count (she threw a very large tantrum about sitting in the carriage).

Well with the lack of running and moving in general I am getting a bit stir crazy here. So the plan right now is to head out on Wednesday or Thursday to Arequipa (the second largest city in Peru) and then on to Cotahuasi Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world by some measurements, on Friday. There I'll be doing a solo 7ish day trip through the canyon. But there is a bit more that I have to figure out before I can do that.

Well, I am looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting the freshmen in January! I guess I kinda forfeited the Sophomore Responsibility contest by forgetting to show up to Bowdoin... a bit worse then the classic Sanville-van-chasedown.

I hope everything is wonderful in Maine!