Futbol

After a solid two days of being sick I’m almost completely back to normal. I guess it wouldn’t be a true experience abroad without some type of stomach bug or virus that causes you to wake up in the middle of the night with fever and accompanying vomiting. I’m not quit sure what was the culprit but Mariah seemed to have a similar experience the day before. My guess would be that our trip to the San Pedro Mercado gave us something we didn’t intend to bring back with us. Normally, arroz y huevos, lomos saltados and fresh fruit smoothies wouldn’t give me alarm but seeing as though Mariah and I both ate them and became sick….

            I’ve been going a little stir crazy since the day I got a here, watching the locals play soccer in the concrete field only a stones throw away from the clinic. Many days I’ll go to the rooftop to practice juggling and my touch and more often than not I look out and see people on the court playing the sport their country loves most.  Today I finally had enough of watching from the rooftop. The crowd didn’t seem too big at the court so it was somewhat less intimidating to approach them about playing. I knew that I could rely on the little Spanish I’ve learned so far to get me on a team but getting them to actually let me play could be a different story.

            As I nervously made it to the court I sat on the bleachers, catching a good number of “what the hell are you doing” looks from the twenty or so locals who were watching. I didn’t initially approach anyone about playing, I was kind of hoping they would just need someone to play and ask me. Of course, it wasn’t that easy. After about ten minutes of watching I got up enough courage to mutter “amigo, puedo jugar?”.  The young guy looked at me and pointed to the other side of the bleachers, meaning I could play with the other guys. I think he just didn’t want me on his team. I sat there for another fifteen minutes watching before asking again if I could play. This time it was a similar response to the other side of the bleachers. I felt like a fat kid getting the last pick of the kickball team in fourth grade or Smalls from The Sandlot! Finally I decided to ask one of the older guys (call him Benny the Jet Rodriguez) who looked like he had a little bit of street cred and wouldn’t be embarrassed to have the gringo on his team. After catching some grief from one of the young guys for taking his spot, I was put on the six-man team.

            The game had some interesting rules that I picked up quickly but for the most part if was your regular game of first to two goals wins. Winner stays on. I knew I had to prove myself as soon as possible so I took up marking what looked like one of the other teams best players. My goal was to not let him juke my socks off the first time he got the ball. I didn’t have a chance to defend against him first because I was passed the ball immediately. I made quick work and passed as soon as possible. It was surprising to me how different everyone played than I expected. It was a much more controlled game than the flashy Central American soccer that I had predicted and watched on T.V. We won our first game 2-1 and I came away with an assist on the winning goal. Boom. As nice as it was to win, I was dead tired. I hadn’t sprinted like that since I’ve been here and fresh off of being sick didn’t help much either. It was frustrating seeing the locals, some who were even playing in jeans, run constantly without getting tired. As soon as the second game began I started to taste blood, as they say, and also felt the burning of my lungs brought on by the altitude. I kind of hoped we would lose so I could take a break. I managed to score a goal to support my cause for them letting me play but they called a tie in the end because too much time had passed. I said “Cao” to my new amigos and thanked them for letting me play, with a promise that I would be back tomorrow whether they liked it or not…

Lapse in Time

The clouds have been gorgeous the past few days so I decided to try out a some timelapse photography with the iphone. This is from the roof of the clinic/home for the summer. Pretty magical up there. Yes, I have a little free time.

Semana Buena

It’s been a while since my last blog post! I’m sure everyone who reads this is on edge, checking my blog way more than their own Facebook newsfeed to see who got tagged in what. (Okay, maybe only my Mom checks this daily).  Honestly, life in Peru has slowed down somewhat and I’ve been able to take some much needed time to simply relax after a busy first couple of weeks that were filled with early morning campaigns and a few late night rendezvous to Plaza De Armes in downtown Cusco. All of the students, including a group of UGA undergrads that stayed for two nights, are now gone and we have dwindled down to the five of us that will be here all summer (winter). We’re not sure yet, but we think MTV is trying to do a Real World Cusco. We’re still trying to figure out the details and a tag line for the show, so if anyone has suggestions…Ha!

Around the clinic there hasn’t been too much going on. During the clinic hours we’ve been helping with the few patients that come in and also doing a lot of data entry from the previous weeks surveys. Our next goal is to set up some campaigns for June and early July in order to get more surveys completed. One cool thing that we are trying to set up is to be at the local hospital for some twelve-hour shifts delivering babies. I’m excited for the opportunity but want to get a little better at my Spanish before I try to bring a baby into the world.

I’ve really been working on my Spanish this week and have resorted to the method of notecards for all the important verbs and their conjugations (I didn’t even make notecards for med school!) Rosetta Stone has been a great supplement to my learning but I forgot the other levels back in the States and I’m almost through Level 1. Everyone has really been a great help to me in learning the language with the clinic staff and all my Spanish speaking roomies getting a good laugh out of some of my attempts speaking. I’ve found that one of the best ways to learn is to go out by myself and try to talk to people. I love going out with my roomies but having them as a crutch for translating makes it easy for me to sit back and be quiet. It does get frustrating sometimes not being able to express myself but my friends have to keep reminding me that I cant expect to learn a new language in two weeks.

Last night I had a great time meeting some new folks by the names of Liya and Juan who were introduced to me by my buddy Randal J Bourquin via Facebook. Randal met them both on a trek here in Peru and thought we should get in touch. It reminded me of a double blind date having never met these two people before and agreeing to meet up for drinks and conversation but truly, it was a great time! All of their friends were super nice and they took me to a cozy spot to listen to acoustic reggae and sip on Pisco. The place gave me a sense of something that should be in L5P in Atlanta. The sounds of Jamaroqui and Ben Harper let me know I was in the right place, not to mention that half of the crowd of ten or so people were sporting nappy roots. . It amazes me how nice people are and how good people tend to attract others than are like-minded. Once again, I was reminded of how much I’m enjoying South America.

The video I posted is from two earlier campaigns but I just got around to finishing the edit. I didn’t realize that the Rainy Day in Peru video was somewhat sad and depressing so I made sure to put happier music to this one. I was really just wanting nice music to accompany the rain but after watching again I realize it could be used a one of those sad commercials trying to get people to donate money to the needy or rescue dogs from the pound. Either way, this is the HD version of the rainy day video on youtube.    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uf7ETD74dQ&feature=relmfu

Downhill

        Finally got to get on a bike today! I headed off with Sam,  the son of one of the volunteer Docs at the clinic, and a local tour company to do a day in the Andes full of technical single track and some dirt roads that might as well be a downhill course. We were met in the morning by our guide Uri(?) a local pro downhiller and our driver Fidel. Uri’s English was a little better than my Spanish and you could tell he has had his run in with high speed bike crashes by the dazed look he had on sometimes (or maybe he was just stoned). The bikes were as expected, hard tail, 26-inch wheels and minimal front suspension. I wasn’t too concerned with our bike set-up until I saw Uri’s full suspension full downhill rig in the back of the truck.

Uri, our guide....

            

We drove over an hour to get to the first section of trail but not before getting stopped by police and having to bribe them with money to let us continue our trip. I’m still not exactly sure why we were stopped but our guide seemed to think it wasn’t all that uncommon. After getting the pedals on and checking the brakes we followed Uri’s line down the first section of trail only to be met with Sam almost immediately getting a pinch flat. A soon as we fixed his, I noticed my front tire was losing air. I guess it was only appropriate to have a bike ride in true Magner style, with a couple of flats in the first few minutes. We continued the ride passing amazing views of snow capped peaks, salt mines and locals carrying the fall harvest. It ended up being probably 30 minutes of nothing but downhill without any casualties.  

            We waited for Fidel at the bottom of the trail for almost thirty minutes after we were done and it seemed the communication between our two guides wasn’t the best. Uri flagged down someone on a motorcycle and hopped on the back to try and get to a phone. Fidel showed up not too long after Uri left, but we were reunited when Uri climbed out of a bus packed full of people.

            The next section of trail took us through the town of Urutamba. On the way up we passed terraces cut into the mountain used for farming and it was hard to believe the effort it must have taken to put those in the hillside. We ate lunch atop the mountain before getting back on the saddle to tackle what Uri said was some of his favorite single track. The trail reminded me a lot of Pisgah, with some really technical rocky sections and creek crossings. We dropped down the mountain for a good while before hitting the town and loading up for the final section. This was definitely my favorite section of the day.

            We drove for almost 2 hours to get atop the mountain that separates Cusco and Pisac. By this time Sam and I were somewhat comfortable with the set up and realized the limits to our 600 $ bikes. As we headed down, my hands immediately began to throb from the previous trails as well as my lack of riding mountain bikes for the past month. The first half consisted of manageable double track but things changed immediately when Uri cut through to a hidden trail. He stopped to tell us we would be doing the Red Bull course (wtf?) for Cusco downhill competitions and to simply follow his line and lower our seats for better control. Surely this wouldn’t be a problem seeing as though we had bikes meant for sidewalks rather than grueling downhill. We followed his line (when we could see him) for the most part and I was grabbing a handful of break the whole time, doing a controlled slide while going way faster than I felt confortable. During the hardest section I came up on Sam who would was barreled over with his bike laying 10 feet away. He had no broken bones but his bike was not so fortunate. The seat rails were bent, as was his big chain ring. We managed to fix the bike with the Peruvian style of banging it with a rock and we rode the last few minutes back to the car, thankful that the bike took the brunt of the impact. Uri didn’t seem to upset about the bike and I forced him to say that we weren’t bad for a couple of gringos.

whip sticks

f            I definitely won’t forget the experience and I’m glad I got a taste of some of the best mountain biking around Peru. I’m starting to rethink trying to buy a bike while I’m down here. It sounds like I won’t be able to find a bike that is really fit for downhill unless I spend a ton of money and the cheaper bikes may get me killed on some of this terrain. But, who knows, I may be able to find the black market of sweet downhill whips and be able shred the gnar on the Red Bull course. 

Desayuno...?

We got to sleep in today so we decided to try out the local breakfast place two blocks from the clinic. The place was dead empty when we arrived but were greeted by the owner Miguel, as soon as we came into the gate.  We placed our orders of arroz y huevos and café con leche and sat somewhat patiently while nursing our headaches from the previous night of salsa lessons and pisco sours. We realized breakfast might not be primary meal served by the restaurant when we see the owner sprint out the back door, only to come back with supplies from the neighboring Mercado. The meal was served in the usual fashion with the coffee being instant powder, the food coming 30 minutes after ordering and the price being less than three U.S. dollars. Although the food wasn’t the best it was good to check out a new place and know that we should search for a better breakfast spot.

 

The rest of the afternoon consisted of trying to wrap our heads around the research project and what the goals really are. Luckily we do have some data from the past week of campaigns, but I’m realizing that the goal of 5,000 surveys for the summer may be a little ambitious.

Tonight we headed downtown to check out a festival. No one was quit sure of what to call it but it seemed to be an Incan celebration of the city of Cusco. We stayed downtown for a while after and checked out one of the more famous coffee and pastry shops and it didn’t disappoint. Much better than the instant coffee that seems to run so rampant in the country known for its great whole bean coffee.  The bus ride home proved to be one of the more crowded I’ve experienced thus far, with the roof being built for the small build of Peruvians and not the tall lanky gringo. The windows fogged up within 15 seconds of entering the bus and the smell wasn’t too far behind. We made it home safely but not before talking with the group of women in the back row of the bus about the importance of a Papanicolouae. Ha!

Tomorrow. Andes Mountains. Single Track….

Mucho Alto

       Had the day off today, so decided to climb the little hill behind the clinic. We made it 30 feet shy of 13,000 feet! One of the best hikes I've done in my life, besides maybe the Grand Tetons. After the 5 hour hike we were treated to a traditional Peruvian meal provided by some of the local women who work at the clinic. As they say in Athens, "soo goood"! Tomorrow will be the one week mark of my time here in Cusco and I must say there hasn't been a dull moment. I'm picking up new Spanglish everyday thanks to all the folks I'm hanging with including the new guy from Arkansas, Tim (Bill Clinton supporter), who will be here for 6 weeks. Another 6 a.m. wake up for me tomorrow as we travel to a town I can't pronounce but will probably never forget..

Rainy Campaign...

Our campaign was faced with a little bit of bad weather yesterday, so it allowed me to have some time to shoot some footage of the local people, rain or shine...

*trying to figure out how to load the HD video on the blog.