Marathon Blues

David's plans to run the Buenos Aires Marathon at the beginning of November took a bit of knock this weekend with a fall whilst on a training run. Training had been going well with runs of up to 30km in length. On the Saturday long run of the week, a heavy fall after a trip resulted in a fractured fifth meta-tarsal on the left hand. It is now in plaster and will most probably stay that way for about 3 weeks. Who says keeping fit is good for you ! David is unlikely to be able to train enough to do the planned time of 3:45 but still hopes to get round the complete 42 km.    

The annual CIP interdivisional sports and cultural competition started with opening processions and was followed by the dancing competition. Preparations has been intense for the last few weeks at CIP as staff rehearsed the dances to be performed in-front of the select judges and supportive crowd.

The dances related to the agricultural process of potatoes - one of the most important activities for the Andean people because it is the means of life and development. The dances recalled the activities of the ancestors from whom were inherited the necessary skills to produce this food.

The production and farming have adopted to each region and have been the inspiration for customs and traditions which have given rise to diverse dances related to this agricultural task. The dances are the interpretation of the world and through them happiness, pleasure and sadness have been projected.

Each Division of CIP prepared typical agricultural dances related to local carnivals from different parts of Peru.

The afternoon started with the very enthusiastic procession from staff from all the CIP Divisions. This was followed by the dancing competition. All the dances were really excellent and staff had clearly spent a lot of time preparing and choreographing the routines. Dancing over, the judges compared notes and the results were given with eager anticipation. It was announced that the Yellow Team  (David's Division) had won the prize and much celebration and dancing followed.