For the past two weeks we’ve been exploring the mountains of Peru with Mia’s sister, Lisa, and her boyfriend, Aaron. The height of the mountains in the Peruvian Andes is intense, with many peaks over 18,000 ft (5488 m) in the Huaraz region where we started. We had originally planned a multi-day trek (possibly with donkeys and a donkey dude), but Aaron had some terrible luck with airlines and arrived a day late, sick, and without his luggage. He did have a nice pair of shorts and a good collection of New York Times magazines though. In light of this, we opted for a more relaxed plan: staying at mountain lodge (+12,000 ft) and taking shorter trips from there. The most incredible was an overnight climb to an alpine lake, which was higher than the summit of Mt. Rainier.
At one point or another we each felt some symptoms of altitude illness (headaches, restless sleeping, and just being wiped out), but it fortunately didn’t progress to more serious stages. The traditional way to deal with altitude sickness in Peru is to chew on a wad of coca leaves, which are cheap and available in every grocery store or market. We tried this, but it didn’t do much more than strong cup of coffee that numbed the mouth. Maybe it would have been worse without the coca.
After Huaraz we headed to Cuzco and the Sacred Valley, home of the most famous of South American archeological sites: Machu Picchu. The site is beautiful with ancient stone structures never reached by the Spanish, towering above a steep, lush valley. Despite waking up at 4:30 AM in an attempt to beat the hordes of tourists, we only managed to reach mid-horde status. Machu Picchu is horribly popular, but in the end it was still worth the effort and ridiculous cost.
The mountain lodge that served as our base camp for exploring the Cordilleras Blancas range
Coca leaves - the cure to altitude sickness
Mia on the rock climbing portion of the hike
Mount Churrup and the alpine lake - +14,000 feet above sea level
Enjoying a sunset, dinner, and sauna back at the lodge
Machu Picchu - expensive and crowded but a must see
Natives absorbing healing energy from the stones
Machu Picchu and llamas
An example of the impressive Inca stone work
Although it was sad to see Lisa leave, Mia will be happy to drink her mango smoothies all by herself again
No comments:
Post a Comment