Cusco and the Sacred Valley
Gina. Ollytatambo, Peru
We´re such sad, sick little Americans. I´m feeling much better. The 15 bus ride from Ica to Cusco almost did me in, though. It´s not just 15 hours on a bus… it´s 15 hours on a bus with almost nonstop, incredibly loud music or movies, directly into the mountains. 15 hours of switchbacks on the second level of a bus, in the back, near the stinky bathroom was a bit much. I got car sick immediately once we started off. Immediately. I was really sad. But, coca tea to the rescue! I got a cup of hot water and tried out the nifty little coca teabags I bought in a store before getting on the bus. It really helped. I was still pretty miserable during the ride, but I survived it.
I was so excited to finally get to Cusco, though. It´s really breathtaking here both because of the natural beauty and the fact that it´s at 11,500 feet elevation! Our hostel was up a couple of flights of steps, so we were both out of breath by the time we got there. But it had a beautiful view of Cusco and was only a couple of blocks from the main square. We spent two nights in Cusco, with Steve suffering from altitude sickness. I swear, between the two of us we´re just taking turns being sick! We didn´t do much in Cusco since Steve wasn´t feeling well and we´ll be there for four days before hiking the Inca Trail. But we did go get memberships at South American Explorer´s Club. They´re a pretty awesome nonprofit that has offices in Lima and Cusco in Peru, and in Quito, Ecuador. It´s a place to get information on everything from where to go and what to do to safety information and warnings. They´re also a nice, safe place to hang out and meet other people and they receive mail for you if you need it. We got some information on what to do around Cusco for the next few days, and so now we´re in Ollytatambo in the Sacred Valley. It was about a 2 1/2 bus ride from Cusco. The elevation here is lower, so it´ll give Steve a chance to recover and adjust. It´s a really small town with lots of Incan ruins. We talked to some American volunteers at a weaving shop/museum and they gave us some good ideas of hikes to do tomorrow.
The view from our hostal in Cusco
It´s really pretty here. It´s one of the last Incan villages. The streets are narrow and cobblestoned, and there´s water running in stone drains along most of them. The town is surrounded by mountains and we can see a couple of ruins from our hostel´s balcony. I´m excited about getting out walking tomorrow. We´ve been so couped up since we´ve been sick, that it will be nice both to stretch my legs and to take some pictures. We´re planning on staying here for two nights and then heading to Pisac on Sunday morning for the famous (and probably touristy) market.
Tags: Cusco, Ollytatambo, Peru, South American Explorers´Club
montarsig
Hey Steve,
It is good that you decided to go lower to deal with the altitude sickness. You remember our Yosemite camping trip where you seemed to show symptoms on the trail to Cathedral Lake – that was at about 9000 feet.
I assume you’ve already read up on all the AMS stuff but here’s what seems to me a good reference: http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/safety/altitude.html
Might be worth trying to get a prescription of that Diamox mentioned in there which gets you to breathe a little faster, especially at night.
Cant hurt to consciously breath deeper than you feel you have to, whenever you think about it. Also, as you start any exertion, maybe try to hyperventilate a little to give yourself a little “head start”.
Oh, and drink more fluids! Also, I’d suggest eating a good source of iron for all that additional hemoglobin you’re making. Oh, and drink some liquids! And, despite the suggestion in the reference to eat a high carb diet – which does make sense when actually climbing – but beforehand, get enough protein too! Oh, and don’t forget to drink water!
I’m enjoying your photos – say, what’s the vegetation look like up there, I’d be curious to see the succession with elevation.
Gary
hey dad, I wrote you a really long response (took thirty fucking minutes and about 75 cents) but lost it because I didn´t fill out all of the required fields on the this sites reply form. Sorry, maybe later.
Gina,
As I recall, you got sick on a bus from Florence to Sienna, which is less than an hour trip. But nobody here in the states is impressed with motion sickness. We want to hear about internal parasites, piranha bites, or some other malady worthy of third world travel.
Jim,
I got bit on the neck by a monkey! Isn´t that good enough?!? My stomach is still not up to par, so you can keep hoping that I have some kind of a parasite…