Stories from Latin America
Arriving in Lima, Peru for Marathon 134, the team then traveled overland to Bolivia, with key marathon and story locations including Lake Poopó, the Uyuni Salt Flat, Sucre and then into the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland where Run Blue worked closely with partner WWF. Mina and the Run Blue team returned to the LAC region in early 2023, running in the Amazon to look at issues of deforestation and in São Paulo, before traveling to Mexico City for three marathons.
We can all learn from the community in the Andes in Peru. They experience rain for 3 months of the year and for the remaining 9 months they don’t get ANY water.
To survive these conditions, the ancient Peruvians developed a deep knowledge of the land and its natural water systems. Today, communities still use this knowledge. Reservoirs are used to catch water during the rainy season and during dry seasons, this water emerges from springs at the lower altitudes where the communities live.
The Andes, Peru
Lake Poopó is an immense lake in Bolivia—the second-largest lake in the country—that has sadly been shrinking due to climate change. This lake is home to a wide variety of wildlife, including birds, fish, and amphibians, and is a vital source of water for the local communities.
Lake Poopó, Bolivia
The Pantanal, Bolivia
We visited the world's largest tropical wetland area, where Mina spent two days running on grounds that are meant to be wet and underwater. But it was not. It was dry as a bone. The impacts of Climate Change and human activity like deforestation and water over-extraction are devastating.
The Amazon, Brazil
We visited the Amazon Rain Forest to find out more about the impacts of deforestation on the environment and the ecosystem around us.
Mexico City, Mexico
Did you know that Mexico City is sinking because of excessive groundwater extraction? As the demand for water increases, the city is experiencing significant subsidence, causing structural damage to buildings and infrastructure.