Cusco Travel Forum

Hi Friends,


We will travel from Lima To Arequipa first and stay there two days. After we fly to JUliaca and stay there two days and after we fly to Cusco for additional two days.



What is Your advice avoid the high altitude sickness?

depends on where your comming from and your own body. they sell these bottles of "oxy shot" at the airport that are pure O2. they help alot. i came from a zero altitude, and was certianly out of breath a lot. chew coca, and buy a bottle of two of oxy shot and you will be ok. i never got "sick" per say... just out of breath a lot. walking up stairs was difficult. be carefull of sunburn. I got FRIED!

pj

What about those little pressure point wrist bands?

How one is affected depends on how that person's body handles the change in altitude. I suffer from it much more than my wife. We went directly from Lima to Cusco. Our guide said that we should check into the hotel and take a nap and not go wandering around even though we arrived early in the morning. It was good advice. However by that evening I was suffering from an extreme headache and some nausea. I never got sick but I certainly didn't feel like eating. Still I was able to choke down a nice clear broth for dinner. I still had the headache/nausea the next morning but it was gone by 1pm the next day.

Take asprin/ibuprofen beforehand and every 4-6 hours. Chewing coca can also help as has been suggested. Not sure how effective the pressure point wristbands are as I've never tried them. Good luck and enjoy Cusco and the Sacred Valley.

if your really concerned... seriously just pick up 2 bottles of oxy shot at the airport. they are $15 each... and actually have quite a bit of oxygen in them. 2 huffs of the stuff, and i was completly back to normal.

pj

Cusco is "only" around 2400 metres, so it isn't particularly high. Not sure about Juliaca.

I found I was OK on the level, but going upstairs for instance took longer.

Could be more of a problem if you're a smoker.

The best advise is to build up slowly to aclimatize for the altitude but it also depends on the enviorement conditions,your body type,resisitance and fitness.

I have travelled to Quito in equador to an altitude of 4.300 mtrs straight away from zero altitude and has not experienced anything except some shortness of breath.On the same journey after a few days i travelled to arequipa and cusco from Lima and felt sick, did not feel like eating anything and experienced a big headache and nausea.chewing cocoa leaves and taking pills would always help but would not eliminate the altitude sickness completely.

Sorry, I just saw this posting.

Based on your travel itinerary, I can say that you should be okay by the time you get to Cusco. Juliaca/Puno area is higher in altitude than Cusco, so your two days' stay there should be enough to get you acclimated. You should be ready to take on Cusco and its wonderful sights after!

Chewing on coca leaves and the mate de coca helped me out a lot. Goodluck and do enjoy beautiful Peru!