first weekend of spring

Minny and me!

     Though fall just started for most of you reading this, last Friday was the first day of spring in Perú! Last Saturday, I rushed to Miraflores with Lauren to get a free latte at McDonalds before the offer ended at 11am. We met Allison and Itza there, then went to look and shop at some Inca markets nearby. Later, we went back to D'Onofrio to get the animal ice cream that I wanted the first time (my "princesa" ice cream was delicious, but not what I originally ordered. I didn't complain though, because it was 50 cents more than what I ordered and it looked so good.) I got the "Minny" and it was so yummy! It was a nice sunny day (hello spring!) so we sat in the park for about half an hour, just taking it in. I need to start wearing sunscreen! I'm a lot closer to the equator here and my face gets red pretty quickly...

     On Sunday I ran in a 4k road race with other athletes from the university, including Laruen, my wonderful roommate, and Allison, my ever-supportive track friend from Boston. The race was really just a run, not for competition, but for participation, because it was Día de la Juventud! The beginning of spring, celebrating youth and fitness… so fun! A lot of Peruvian universities participated; the girls ran a 4k and the guys ran a 10k. I’m pretty sure Allison, Lauren, and I were the only three Americans, and needless to say, we got the stares and the pictures just because. Yup, just because. The race was supposed to begin at 9am, and we didn’t get started until 9:20, because that’s just how they do things here. I actually took the risk while we were waiting and ran from the starting line to a restaurant nearby so I could go to the bathroom before we started! What a rush. Anyway, I got to run through part of Lima, and had no idea where I was going, and looked at the buildings, and it was great! I actually ran across one road with moving traffic (don’t worry, I looked both ways before I crossed) and another road with three lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic… that never would’ve happened in the US!



all the PUCP runners, with coaches

     After the race, the three of us got on a bus to go see our friend Priscilla in a dance performance! It was mostly of cute little girls in tutus doing ballet, but Priscilla is in an older group of girls and they danced to hip hop. She not only gave us free tickets, but she sat us down with her parents and two sisters. As soon as we sat down her dad got up, and he came back with cokes and popcorn for all three of us! At intermission he bought us Sublimes, (pronounced soo-blee-may) which are chocolate bars with peanut pieces in them. Made by D'Onofrio, just like the ice cream! It was so sweet. I think they were really happy that we came to watch Priscilla. :)

the three runners with Priscilla!