Made it to Lima!

We made it safely to Lima. Off to Cusco today. The weather here is cold, the city looks quite impoverished. We are staying in Miraflores, a safe part of the city. No earthquake felt yet! The hotel is quaint and my Spanish sucks I have discovered.

More later......
Manana!

Confidence dashed again..

I was bike riding with a group yesterday that I have gone with before. My first clue at 8:30 in the morning should have been there were 2 groups-the FAST group (some younger, some older), then the SLOW group (mostly guys in their 60s and 70s). Well, I thought, I am definitely in the FAST group, after all I am a triathlete. So Hartley and I headed up to the east side of the mountains with them or rather should I say behind them (me, not Hartley). As I am trudging up Route 66 I start to feel like crap. My head is pounding, I am anaerobic for about 30 minutes. i am getting more frustrated by the minute. I flash back to age 14 when all the other swim kids finally caught up to my height (I was almost the tallest one in my class through grade school thus beat all the little kids on swim team until they were as tall as me). I am the last one in the race, I am feeling low and frustrated. This is the feeling i always get when i am behind a group like this. After about an hour, I feel like I am going to cry..I told Hartley-that's it for me-I am heading back to town. Hartley says he is going with me-then I really feel bad cause I know he can keep up with the FAST group..but he says he loves me and wants to be with me so what can I say to that? My husband is like that-I am so lucky. So I take my frustration and we ride back to Tramway and proceed to go do Tramway, which is quite a hill, at my own pace. We thought we might meet up with the SLOW group but never did. We ended up riding 41 miles. I started to feel better when H told me that Coach Mico told him that triathletes really never excel in any one sport because we train in all three. That made me feel better because the FAST group is training for a 100 mile ride and most of them probably ride 150+ per week. Who knows-maybe it was the speed work we did on the track the day before, or Josh's workout the same day. I am over beating myself up for being slow among FAST riders..I am NOT 14 anymore and need to feel thankful that I can even walk or ride or do anything..

I't all OK in vacationland..

After a very stressful yesterday, things are looking up for the trip. The hurricane is going way south (great news is headed to not so populated places in Mexico). The tour company that we are booked with hasn't responded to our emails until last night. Through some mis-understandings, we thought maybe they didn't even have us on the roster but alas they do and we are fine..Now all we have to get is an emergency number for the family. We were away once when a family member (my sister) died and no one could get ahold of us. Thank god that trip I had a few dreams that basically lead me to check my email in a remote location of Chile and we got the news. There is nothing more stressful and traumatizing than learning about a death when you are out of the country. Since then, we are careful to always let the clan know how they can reach us in an emergency.

I have a million things to do before the trip on Friday, the list is growing.
Here is my room-no wonder I am overwhelmed:

Why is it so hard to put these items in a suitcase? Guess I need some therapy over this...
We went out for a ride yesterday in the morning and it was HOT!! I mean not as hot as Phoenix over the weekend (110 degrees) but still HOT! Then to the pool for a cool 2400 meter swim.
Saw 2 doctors yesterday who said I was basically in good shape. I am still taking the drugstore with me to Peru, JUST IN CASE I contract some horrible disease while I am there. Can you say neurotic?? That is me....I really was a good therapist-honest!