Before going to Cusco we were advised by a number of friends who had been there to take it easy about altitude. Don't drink the night before, relax for one day in the hotel, drink coca tea... all good advice that helped us to adapt to the altitude. And in fact as soon as we landed in Cusco we felt it: one set of stairs had us puffing! We arrived at the hotel and the first thing they did was to offer us a coca tea. It tastes really nice, like a mild green tea. In the lobby there were also coca leaves to chew, and oxygen bottles, just in case. We didn't need those, but every time I went to the lobby I could see newly arrived guests relaxing on the sofas with a coca tea, all a little wary and slow. FYI, coca leaves and tea are legal in Peru, just don't take them back to your own country! Coca helps with altitude, but most importantly remember to take it slowly, just look at the elevations below!
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Taypikala Hotel Cusco |
Saksaywaman: elevation 3,701, an Inca fortess in the outskirts of Cusco, easy to reach by taxi, but as it is even higher that Cusco make sure that you have adjusted to the altitude first, and then you can have fun (look at Max sliding!)! From Saksaywaman (which means 'satisfied falcon' and not 'sexy woman') you can look down to Cusco city!
The Sacred Valley, you can see the Andes from here, and the Urubamba river (which feeds into the Amazon river). I am not sure how high we were (we just stopped on the side of the road to take photos) but we were told by our guide that we were over 3,800 m. high.
Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Peru seems so interesting and beautiful. I wish I could visit too...
ReplyDeleteA stunning country, and beautiful people!
DeleteI LOVE travel posts and thank you so much for sharing. Nice blue door - firs thing I thought of is that I want to use that door for my photo shoot. :D Never heard of coca leaves and tea. Such a gorgeous place. I remember my brother visited machu pichu when he was in college. I saw the pictures and I was very impressed!
ReplyDeleteYes I like blue doors too :-)
DeleteWOW! And I thought I was high up on Australia's highest point at just 2228 metres!!!! Your photos make these places look AMAZING - but I think I have enough trouble walking up the stairs as it is ...
ReplyDeleteYes here altitude has a completely different meaning :-)
DeleteThe pictures look beautiful Alessandra!
ReplyDeleteThank you Gloria, how are you?
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