5:30pm

             After my daily nap (because the heat in Tumbes knocks you out around 3pm…it’s unbearable, damn equator), I wake up to about 15-20 Peruvian ladies laughing ever-so-loud right outside of my window. The Peruvian laugh is a scream then cackle. Scream, cackle, scream, cackle, scream, Gia can’t take it anymore, Gia throws on a shirt and running shoes and half awake, starts running to start the pace and they all just follow. Introducing the Oidor running club. No, they don’t wear sneakers. That stuff’s too expensive. They come ready to rock in flip flips and jeans…some come barefoot because shoes in general are too expensive, not a necessity. I used to run barefoot in suburbia Los Angeles because of the barefoot running craze – the hippy-ish idea being “being natural, like God made us, we’re more efficient runners” - but these dirt roads give it a whole new meaning. These women can go too. We go about 4 miles every day. All of them want abs so I told them cardio is the only way – and no papas y arroz! But that’ll never happen, haha! I feel like I’m running an exercise class – I love it. Yelling "SI SE PUEDE!" (You can do it!) and "ADELANTE!" "VAMANOS!" "ASI ASI ASI!" All forms of "come on!" Along the way, we’re talking…if I have a boyfriend yet (typical Peruvian conversation). I’m like an alien to them because I’ve never had an “enamorado” (lover). We’re either talking about the heat, food, or if I’m still single and why I don’t want kids. What would possess me to be a doctor if I can find a man who can provide for me? WOMEN CAN HAVE DREAMS TOO. It’s a phrase I find myself saying as a subliminal message in a way. They never pay attention to it or comment on it. It’s like an, “um,” and the conversation keeps flowing or the subject changes. Maybe one day, a woman will have a fleeting thought of, “oh it’d be nice to be a lawyer” then have some inkling to thinking it’s normal and they should go for it. I think that’s how subliminal messages work. Ha!

We stop mid-way to do push up’s and sit ups. On the road we pass by the mango trees, banana trees, pretty views of the river, donkey’s, pigs, chickens, cows, goats, and for the first time, yesterday we ran ourselves into a TORRO! (Bull). I’ve probably never been closer to death. It was about 15 feet from me, not tied to a tree, because there are bulls here…they’re just usually tied up, but some mentally sick owner decided to let his roam free. At first sight of this bull, all the women turned the opposite way and started jumping the nearby fence. These women are some gorditas (fatties) too so it’s just a hysterical site seeing 20 women scraping their way up a fence to get over. They were all over within a couple minutes. The bull just stopped at the fence and was staring at us all while we backed up into banana trees all hiding behind one. We were all laughing but that bull could have EASILY pushed down the fence – I shouldn’t even call it a fence. It was a bunch of wooden sticks put together.