11th May: Arrival in Cusco

Ughhh - a second day of travelling, starting at 5am.  We took a flight from Quito (Ecuador) to Lima (Peru,) a couple of hours stop-over in Lima airport and then another flight to Cusco. Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire in the 13th & 14th centuries and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is also 3360m above sea level and 'offers crisp, clean air' to quote the guide books or, more honestly, offers a decrease in atmospheric pressure that makes breathing difficult because you aren't able to take in as much oxygen. As soon as I got off the plane I felt light-headed with a slight shortness of breath.  The nhs website says
In its mildest form, altitude sickness can occur at heights over about 2,500m (8,000 feet) above sea level.  However, the more severe symptoms of altitude sickness tend to occur at altitudes of 3,600m (about 12,000 feet) and above.  Our guide advised us to take it easy, drink lots of water, keep up the sugar levels and drink the local coca tea.  I tried to jolly Richard up by commenting that I knew of no other illness for which chocolate and cocaine was prescribed, but he didn't find it at all funny and spent the next 36 hours in the hotel room with a severe headache and nausea.

 

Meanwhile, Louise had her own mini-crisis.  Being of a thrifty nature, she had saved all her pillow chocolates from the Galapagos cruise to use.. I don't know when.  Christmas presents?  Anyway.  Somewhere on the long trek from the ship the chocolates had melted.  And spread over her clothes!  Not wishing the hotel staff to think she'd had an 'accident', she had to dispose of the evidence very secretively in a public rubbish bin.  Not such a frugal venture after all.