The Horse Race (San Pedro de Casta)

On our first day off, some friends of mine and I decided to go to a small mountain village called San Pedro. We heard that from there we could hike 3 km to some ruins, but, unfortunately, after a 3-hour combi ride, we got to the village only to realize that there was a horse race going on, and if we hiked up to the ruins, we would be trampled. So ... we stayed put. It turned out to be not that great of a sacrifice. The town was beautiful, and at 10,000 feet above sea level, it was literally breathtaking. The road there, however, was a little frightening. Most of the journey consisted of a forever winding road surrounded by a high rock wall or a deep cliff.

The city itself is pretty closed off. They don´t have a lot of water and use public latrines that were terribly dirty. There was no obvious formal garbage collection site, and so a lot of people just threw trash down the side of the hill, stretching into the valley. The garbage falls into the farmers small patches of farm land and is also eaten by all the grazing animals, including chickens. I couldn´t help but notice the lack of sanitation, as well, ranging from the street vendors to the small children walking past the running water without a second look after using the latrine. It´s crazy what training is doing to me. All I could do was formulate various ways to combat these health pitfalls, instead of enjoying the beautiful view. The town is, however, a recipient of a program going on right now called Agua para Todos (Water for Everyone), which is trying to get water infrastructure to Peru´s rural population. So positive progression might not be so far away in their future.

I´d really like to go back. If nothing else, it was a tranquil break from the constant motion of training in Lima.