Apr 29 2025
I was sort of curious how the altitude of Cusco would impact me. I’ve obviously been higher than this – Gorak Shep in the Himalayas is a good 6,000 feet higher than Cusco. But my entire Himalayan adventure was paced with altitude acclimation in mind. It took me 3 days there to get to the elevation I’m at here, and here I just rolled out of a plane from sea level with no acclimation.
So how did it effect me? I woke up at 6AM with a splitting headache and nausea – the same exact symptoms of altitude sickness I had in Lobouche. Thankfully I still have leftover Diamox from that trip – didn’t like using it then, and still don’t like using it now – but I popped a half a pill of that and some advil and went back to sleep. Started feeling better around 1PM, where in Lobouche it took 24 hours of sleeping for me to feel better. I’m assuming the speedier recovery this time is because I’m 5,000 feet lower than Lobouche.
I had planned on today being a travel fatigue day. Lesson learned from the Nepal trip, where I got myself to the trailhead as fast as possible and immediately started hiking my way to metabolic collapse. My only objectives were to get a Yellow Fever Vaccine, get some fuel for my camping stove, get some groceries for my apartment, eat some cuy, and aimlessly explore Cusco to get my bearings. I failed on the vaccine and the groceries – the former because the clinic stops giving them at 11AM, and the latter because I was being lazy. I also didn’t eat cuy today. I did go to a restaurant that serves it, but I ordered an alpaca steak instead,
Alpaca is delicious. Kinda similar to lamb, though different in a way I can’t quite describe. Definitely would have again, unlike my experiences eating Yak and Water Buffalo in Nepal.
At first I was treating my forays into Cusco like I was into Kathmandu. In Kathmandu a white person walking around alone referencing their phone is a mark, so I’d look up exactly where I was going in the hotel, memorize the route, and then walking like I was on a mission to get there, then returning to my hotel to begin the process again for something else. Discovered pretty quickly that’s not neccissary here. When people approach you a simple “no gracias” or even a hand wave is enough to be left alone. Only one person tried to persist, and I was just like “Yo no hablo espaniol. Tu hables inglais? Yo no comprende” and he walked away.
Also being a pedestrian in Peru is a little easier than Nepal. Kathmandu is a city the size and population of Chicago, without a single stop sign or stop light. Peru has sidewalks, crosswalks, and traffic control devices. Though, both countries regard “staying in your lane” as entirely optional.
I did go to the Cusco Planetarium. I figure there’s going to be nights out on the trail where the only thing I’ll have to do is stargaze, and I don’t know much of anything about the sky in the southern hemisphere. Didn’t learn much, sadly, but it was still interesting. It was a short show about equatorial constellations. Aka, the stuff that anyone in the northern hemisphere that learns about astronomy learns first. I was hoping for more Incan astronomy.
After arriving back at the plaza I decided I was still hungry, but not hungry enough to go to an actual restaurant for a second dinner. There’s a mcdonalds at the plaza – Peruvian McDonald’s have fried chicken on the menu, and it’s cheap. $5.88 (21 Soles) for a 2 piece, fries, and coke. And, to my surprise, it has instantly become my most favorite fast food fried chicken. It’s surpisingly good.
Brought it back to my apartment to eat, and write this. But I’ll probably head back out again and wonder around some more. Cusco is actually in incredibly beautiful city at night.
As for what my plans are for tomorrow. I’m leaning towards taking a colectivo (the US doesn’t have a comparason, it’s sort of a cross between a taxi and a bus. They have set routes like a bus, but don’t leave until they fill up or the passengers who are there agree to split the fare for the empty seats to get moving earlier) out to Tambomachay and then hike back to Cusco stopping at all the Inca sites along the way. But we’ll see. If I’m still struggling with the altitude another option is to take a colectivo to Ollantaytambo for the day, since it’s at a lower elevation.
