Altitude sickness strikes!Here's todays lesson on Peru.
Peru is the 3rd largest country in South America, 27 million people live here (9 million in Lima alone). The official languages are Spanish and Quechua. Over half of the population are pure Amerindian origin and many live in remote mountain areas still speaking Quechua or Aymara. There are 50 ethnic groups who live in the Amazon region some of whom still shun contact with the outside world.
Peru is a country with huge variety. Of the 103 possible ecological zones identified in the world, Peru has 83. It has major regions: a narrow costal belt which is predominantly desert, the wide Andean mountains, and the Amazon basin which covers half of Peru. Apparently I did not read all this beforehand because I was surprised to see the desert as we flew into Lima which sits right on the coast. Whenever I thought of Peru it was always lush and green.
We won't be exploring Lima until the end of our trip so today it was back to the airport to fly to Juliaca which is the closest airport to our first adventure, Lake Titicaca. The flight stopped in Cusco first giving us a glimpse of what we will see later. We walked off the plane into the crisp high altitude air where everything looks crystal clear. Inside the small terminal a local Andean band played folk music while people waited for their luggage.
We were transported by bus thru the small town of Juliaca which had very narrow streets and lots of bicycles. As we drove thru town Grant pointed up towards the roof of a building were a very large dog stood perusing the street below! As we left town we began to see small groups of sheep and cattle occasionally tended by women in traditional Peruvian garb.
The town of Puno sits at 12,630 feet above sea level and is built along the hilly shores of Lake Titicaca. It too has very narrow streets with 2 and 3 story buildings looming above. Our hotel is very nice with beautiful woodwork throughout and hot Mate de Coca tea as you arrive. The tea is supposed to help with altitude sickness and we enjoyed it however we are relying on our prescription medication to combat altitude sickness. Tomorrow we will start exploring the local area.
We've used Adventure Life for several trips in the past and have always been very pleased with them. The staff is personable and professional at the same time. Erin put this trip together for us in just a few days, and it has everything we were looking for! I recommend them without hesitation.
benn
1 month ago
I served as the person responsible for planning a trip to Galapagos and Machu Picchu for a group of 14 people. Jane with Adventure Life was very helpful throughout the process. Making suggestions, offering insight, and in the end helped me overhaul an initial plan into something even better. Also, Jane makes all the plans including the flights within and between Peru and Ecuador. Thanks to her this is going to be a stress-free adventure. After making the final decision about the trip, Jane gathered the contact information for all the travelers and sent out the details to each traveler individually with links to pay deposits, upload passport info, and personal preferences. She also ensured a group email was sent out to the entire group welcoming us to the trip preparation process. Our trip is a year from now and we are excited to make this once in a life time trek. I am happy to have organized things through Adventure Life. However, two small issues came up that were a little off putting. First, Adventure Life adds $50 per person to the cost for each traveler as a donation to a Galapagos conservation fund. I think this should he offered as something that can be added at each traveler’s discretion. Instead, it is automatically added, and each person must ask to have it removed if they do not want it included. Second, although the trip deposit may be paid with a credit card without incurring an additional fee, the balance must be paid in another way to avoid a 3% credit card fee. Maybe this is standard with all travel agencies. In the end I would definitely go through Adventure Life for the next big trip.
Brenda Nielsen
1 month ago
I think it was very helpful that Franny and I spoke on the phone. I think she had a better idea of what we were looking for, and she planned a great itinerary for us!
Elizabeth
2 months ago
My representative Kevin was very responsive generally and in crafting our itinerary to our specific priorities.
Rocco Labella
3 months ago
Easy.
Great work on the follow up and details by Waru.