I’m sad to inform you all that Team Salt is no longer undefeated in the racing aspect of this trip. We managed to pull out 3rd place on Friday. Although we didn’t continue our winning streak, it was by far, the most fun race yet.
It started when we were dropped off at a park in Lima and given a sheet of paper with 10 different destinations and tasks to complete on it. Upon receiving the instructions, the five (Team Salt minus Candice-she had a small knee operation last week and is on crutches) of us started off in true racing fashion…RUNNING! We ran along a cliff line as it looked over the Pacific Ocean. It was beautiful! We completed the first task of finding a head statue of a man in the park. We had to find out his name and how he died. We thought we did this, but we were penalized 30 minutes in the end for not knowing the correct answer of how he died. We snapped a picture at the overlook.
Next, we raced members of Team YETI to grab a taxi. We found a taxi, but quickly realized, he was the most conservative taxi driver we have encountered so far this year. Even after we told him it was a race, he slowly took his time and even told Amanda to put her seatbelt on. That was a first for us on this trip. So, we putted along to the Parque de Amor. There are mosaic walls at the park engraved with couples’ names. We found the name Enguardo Y Liu and we were off to the ocean.
Since we should have won the last race more than we did, we were given a clue for this race. The clue was a map with directions to the ocean. Andrew and I ran ahead down to the ocean. We were to swim out 25 yards to a booey, grab a keepsake, and return. At this time, we were in first place and were so early that they hadn’t even set up the booey yet. Our contact, Bob, just told us to swim out to the booey already out there and he would give us our keepsake upon return. Andrew was first in the water. The waves were huge and I began to wonder how it was going to be when I saw the exhaustion in his body when he got out. Once his two feet were out of the water, I jumped in. It was freezing cold. I didn’t realize until later that all the surfers down the beach were wearing wetsuits. I swam out, swallowed much salt water, and returned as fast as possible.
Our next task was to go to the restaurant Mama Morenos to eat a typical Peruvian dish of anticucho. We didn’t know what it was at this time, but soon found out it was cow heart. I was a little hesitant, but it was actually very good! I would probably even order it again by choice. We were the third team in line for our food, but packed it away and finished our food before the other teams. I thought my dad and my brother had trained me to eat fast, but not compared to my team, I was the last of my four to finish. I ended up stuffing (literally stuffing) the last two chunks of cow heart in my mouth and began running. There was barely any passageway to breathe, but I made it to the taxi with no chunks.
After that, we raced to a museum where we had to see catacombs. We were guided to an old well where it was filled with old skulls and bones. Next we had to find a certain Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. We were literally sprinting against Team LO through Chinatown. I can’t imagine what Chinatown thought when there were 50 gringos sprinting through their area. We went to the wrong restaurant which took up some time. We found the right restaurant and ordered mimpao, which is a treat that is like a dough ball filled with beans. It probably would have been good, but it was just okay when I was trying to eat it on the run.
We ran to another park where we had to get a carriage ride around the park. After the carriage ride, we hopped in a taxi that it took us to San Cristobal cross. The road was very steep and with five of us in the taxi, the car struggled to make it up the hill. Our driver stopped many times as he wanted his car to rest. We made it to the top to be welcomed by Team YETI and Team LO. From San Cristobal cross you can see all of Lima. It is humongous and quite the sight! Once all the teams made it to the top, we prayed over the city. It was a great day all around, even if we did get third place.
Morgan and I overlooking Lima
Team Salt overlooking Lima
Tam Salt at San Cristobal cross
