You can't flush the t.p. in Ecuador

In an effort to focus my posts on three things: theatre, running, and religion...with a side of man drama, I will not post about my entire trip to Ecuador. I will instead post about me trying to get my runs in whilst traveling.

So we went to Cuenca, which is south of Quito, for our best friend from high school's wedding. This, of course, was back in June when my life was, oh, just a little insane. I'm bringing you up to speed, see?

We were only going to be in country for a total of four days, and the first and last days of the trip were out, since they were mostly full of traveling and sobering up, respectively. So I had a total of three days in which to do something for the sake of my marathon training. This would not be easy, as there were obstacles such as slightly unfriendly running conditions, major altitude differences, wedding commitments, and a lot of booze.

I managed to convince my friend Liz to run with me on the first day. Stef decided to forgo the run because asthma and altitude are not good friends. I must admit I did not feel the altitude at first. It sorta creeps up on you in a way that can only be likened to getting drunk off of white zinfandel. Well needless to say, about 20 minutes into the run, we started to get dizzy, so I cut the run short at 30 minutes. I was proud that we made with that long with hills and altitude! Go us!

The next day was my turn to pick something touristy to do, so I decided on a hike to Turi. Turi is outside of Cuenca and features a smallish mountain with a white church on top of it. After some mishaps, we made it to the top...via taxi. It was only whilst in the taxi that I noticed the famous steps to the top.


Naturally, I decided that I should go up those steps. Stef and Liz declined, so I was free to make a run for it. Unfortunately, I forgot about the altitude.

I did, however, make it back to the top. I tell you, it was nice to be able to actually be physically active on vacation. Not that I wouldn't have been well within my rights to slack off. I shelled out a grand for this trip and was going to be returning to work with the Annual Conference looming nearby, so thanks, I can get hammered if I feel like it.

***As a note, I'm not very technologically savvy, so I'll post pictures of the hike maybe when I get home.