True story… I will tell you :p
But first, we’ll start with the beginning of the weekend. Thursday afternoon, after much delay, we finally got on a bus and headed off to Rio Bamba, we being- Marco, Adolfo, Hilary, Cassie, Kayla, Gwen, Lacy, and myself. We arrived about 9:30 or so at the house of Marco’s aunt and were welcomed (all 8 of us) with open and welcoming arms. It was very easy to tell that this woman was Alicia’s sister. In their not huge house we all sat down around the table and ate chicken and rice and salad and conversed a bit before crashing in 4 beds upstairs- my sleeping buddy was Adolfo who except for his random snore starts that scared the life out of me, that passed relatively well. We had to get up early that morning to catch a bus at 6:30 to go to Guamote to take the train for the Nariz de Diablo because due to flooding it wasn’t running from Rio Bamba. So, we had fried eggs and more rice to start off our day. (Did I mention they feed us well in this country?) We made it to Guamote fine and then waited for about two hours till the train actually took off but managed to eat about an entire bag of animal crackers during the wait. We all got seats on the roof of the train which did result in some sunburnage because it just so happened to be a nice day for the trip. We did have about an hour delay before we reached Alausi because the tracks had to be fixed (or something like that) and then we derailed anyway while passing over the top. Apparently the train derails kind of often. Part of the experience I guess. Marco didn’t take the train with us but rather took a bus straight to Alausi to visit his pops and help him out with preparations for the race. Once we arrived in Alausi Marco joined us on the train and road the last 40 minutes or so segment which was the part to actually see the Nariz de Diablo (a large rock that resembles a nose…sort of) :p When we got back into Alausi we all piled into another small house and met Marco’s grandfather and his “crazy” aunt. She was indeed a bit crazy but tons of fun all the same. Before eating anything we all went out for a short run around the city and up some hills and whatnot… then we showered (Kayla and I in a cold shower outside which was very refreshing)… and then we ate. 
Then we slept- but this time with three people to a bed which was very cozy. My sleeping buddies for those two nights were Cassie and Marco. The next morning Adolfo and Big Marco went for a run at 5:30 which I decided to pass on…because it was at 5:30, and then we all slept in till about 7:00, ate again of course, and then hiked up to see the large statue of the saint of Alausi, San Pedro who we all originally thought was supposed to be Jesus. Then we hopped in the back of a truck that took us too the nearby lakes (about an hour drive) where we all bounced around sufficiently in the back of the truck. We stopped to take pictures and climb on rocks a little ways out and then headed to the lakes themselves which we didn’t actually walk to see due to the mud. Marco said that every time a new person came to visit the lakes it would get very foggy and sure enough, the clouds started to roll in and it started to sprinkle right as we were getting back in the truck. Lacy and Gwen, and Marco for part of the way, rode in the cab of the truck and the rest of us piled into the back, huddled and bounced around together very cold like. Marco came in the back with us after a while and we discovered it was easier to pass the time by singing all sorts of songs- ranging from oldies, to Disney, to Christmas carols- at the top of our lungs. It was really quite a hilarious time. Luckily our group knew how to make the best of the potentially miserable situation together. Upon returning to Alausi we had some Chinese food and walked to watch the local bull fights. Which were not in fact real bull fights but rather an opportunity for anyone who liked to enter the ring with a large flag and try to get away from the bull. One little boy of maybe 7 or something went into the ring and the bull caught him right between his horns and swept him off the ground and sent him flying for a few feet. He bounced upon impact. I couldn’t stop laughing for about a minute. I love watching stupid people suffer. :p We also entertained some of the other people watching with our dancing to the meringue music that was playing over the loud speaker. A good time for all. We decided to make matching shirts for the race so we used some shirts that Alicia had (she had shown up earlier that day) that were red and white advertisements for the dog food Pro-Can. One the fronts we wrote “Team Plasticos Fillao” which is the store that Marco and Alicia own in Quito, and on the back we wrote “Team Gringo” (even Marco and Adolfo) and below wrote our state. At the bottom of the shirt, like a bumper sticker as Marco called it, we each wrote a saying or phrase that was somehow a joke related to each one of us. Mine was “Full Carne” which really wouldn’t be as funny to anyone else if I could explain it fully. :p After that, we went to bed early to be all rested up for the race the next day.
So, we woke at about 6:30, to help organize stuff for the race, although we never ended up doing that, and had a small breakfast of eggs and cheese empanadas (all of which was paid for by Big Marco) and then wandered around and checked out the trophy stand/stage jamming out to the loudspeaker until we hopped on a bus about 9:30 to take us up to the little town (12km away) where we were to start the race. There were three groups- the young children (8 years old and such) who ran 3 kms, the middle group up to age 18 who ran 8, and the senior group who ran all 12. Our leg of the race didn’t start until 11:00. Luckily, the clouds came in right as we were getting ready to start our run which made for perfect weather the entirety of the run. I was overall just very impressed at how many women and girls I saw running the race. Of course, the entire women’s police academy of Alausi (about 12 women) added to that number, but still.
We started off the race and the first 2 ½ km were up hill (a nice grade I might add) but then started the downward bit. Going up the hill my calves were cramping a little, and up until about the 4km mark going down my right shin was cramping (however that works) but after that point I loosened up and cruised. Until about the 10km mark when we started going up hill again. Because I was convinced to run the entire race I kept my feet moving in the running motion up the last hill even though I probably could have walked the hill faster, I couldn’t quite let myself stop and walk. It felt like cheating in a way. In the same way we all felt like the people who kept walking, then running and passing us, were somehow cheating the race aspect of it as well. Oh well. I felt very accomplished having run the whole thing, in what I’m pretty sure was right around an hour and 8 minutes. Adolfo came in first of our group (then Big Marco, who at age 60 I was very impressed with and the fact that he kept the same pace pretty much the whole time- up or down the hills), and I came in about a kilometer behind him. When I crossed the finish I was greeted by a huge hug and kisses from Alicia (actually she practically tackled me) telling me how proud of me she was. She was genuinely so excited for me. Then Lacy (who had been helping Alicia give out juice and bread and fruit to everyone chaotically as they came in) and Adolfo both gave me hugs. Both of Marco’s aunts managed to find me among the crowd and give me hugs as well and tell me congratulations and that they were proud of me. Even in all my sweatiness it was amazing to have these people, some who I knew well, some who I didn’t but all who I hadn’t met till I came to Ecuador embrace me with such love and pride. Because it was about 10 more minutes before the next one from our group (Gwen) came in, Adolfo and I got to be celebrities for a while. We took a picture with one of the little girls who had placed for the youngest age group, with some other people who didn’t know, haha, together. We also went up on stage where the announcer wanted to interview us (Adolfo spoke quite a bit, which was fine with me, and I just said a little bit at the end) but Marco later said he could hear us as he was running, which we thought was funny. Everyone seemed very excited that we were from the US running this race. Once we all came in we got a public recognition and Big Marco gave us all medals. We weren’t entirely sure why we got them since none of us won anything, so we decided it was because we were white. Turns out, it was kind of. Marco wanted to recognize us, and our “team”, for coming and running the race because in its ten years no foreigner- white, black, or brown- had ever run it. We didn’t realize that is was such a big deal that we were running it but everyone was very appreciative for us coming and participating. It was an incredible feeling that I could never accurately describe. But I can say that never in my life have I felt the way I did after finishing that race.
After a shower and packing and feeling incredibly beat, we ate an amazing tasting meal of rice, lentils, and soup :p and then rented a van and piled in- the 8 of us, Alicia, and one of the women who works in the store who also ran the race and runs regularly with Big Marco. He stayed in Alausi for a couple more days. We all said goodbye to the family and started the trip back to Quito. The bus ride was funny just to have us all together and with Alicia who is just an incredible woman and like a mom to all of us. About 5 hours later we finally got back to Quito and Hilary, Kayla, Cassie, and I stayed with Alicia and Marco so we could say bye to him when he left for the airport about 5 o’clock in the morning. In the morning we all piled into bed with Marco and cuddled for a while and when he got up to take a shower we all switched beds and piled in with Alicia. It was really very cute. She is always just so appreciative that we are a part of Marco’s life and a part of hers. We said bye to Marco, which is always ridiculously hard, and then went back to bed while Alicia took him to the airport. When we woke up again Alicia chatted with us and we had a nice breakfast of cheese and bread and juice and coffee and we all promised to come back again very soon (although it will probably be after the rain forest trip) and gave her a big hug before we took off. Even just after this one weekend together her hug felt stronger and more emotional.
We all couldn’t get over just how this weekend had made us feel. Running/finishing the race was an amazing experience. Being honored for being a part of it, spending the time with Marco, being welcomed by his family, and feeling truly loved and appreciated by his parents gave us one of the most unexpected but most treasured experiences of all our times here in Ecuador. It was very possibly one of the most fulfilling weekends of my time in any country in my last 20 years of life.
