PS to coldie--you know that it is very hard for us to have a life without you! :)

speak for yourself

I miss you three in particular. SW we started one day before going to altitude. We will probably take it for one more day. 125mg is the lower dose I believe. We have only been above 12000 feet once before and we were fine for the hour we were up there. Tonight we feel great although our first beer at altitude may have been a mistake.

I'm hoping for good times and a happy ending.

Inca trail must mean something different to sm.

"If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill"

Translation: if Cold will not come to the Lounge, the Lounge will come to South America forum.

Have fun Cold.
I climbed MP in 1994, immediately after a strenuous week trekking in the Amazon, so from one extreme to another as far as altitude goes. I stayed 3 days in Cusco to acclimatize before setting off. Made the mistake on my first night of enjoying a bottle of red wine with some other climbers that I had met in Lima 2 weeks earlier.. and had the worst headache the next day that I've ever experienced. Couldn't even raise my young head off the pillow. However, pots of coca tea did the trick and I'd recommend it if all else fails.

The Trek was one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced in all my travels. I ended up staying an unplanned night in Agua Caliente so as to experience the sunrise in MP and also climbed higher to Huayna Picchu. The views are spectacular !

Have fun !

M.

Our kids spent a day in Cuzco, after that, they said, Machu Picchu was easy. Maybe being early 30s was a factor too :)

bets thing stay in Ollantaytambo first then train to Machu Picchu, Cusco city has to be the last pleace.

We had no trouble with altitude in Cuzco, with a little help from Diamox, and no trouble on the Inca Trail (up to 13,800 feet). But we can really feel the difference in Puno. We need to take an extra breath every minute or so.

We too are headed to Quito mainly - stop for 3 hours, then back for a couple days later in the trip. We have the medicine, but the side effects look similar to the altitude sickness. To take or not and when since only in Quito through the airport for 3 hours the first time? Thanks.

We all decided not to take diamox after all. We did not experience altitude sickness. We went to Ollantaytambo immediately after our arrival in Cusco, then MP, and spent 4 nights in Cusco afterwards.
We drank coca tea and we felt AOK.

So a little cocaine instead of diamox? :-) Maybe that is why the locals chew coca leaves, to ward off altitude sickness.

I too relied on just coca tea in Cuzco (for 2 or 3 days) before MP and was fine with just that.

IMHO coca tea works, just stay hydrated. DH & I flew to Cusco and stayed there 4 days last April, going to the SV only on day trips, absolutely no problems at all with the altitude. All hotels have oxygen, it helps if you feel a headche coming on. Take care and enjoy...!

Coca tea was the big disappointment for us. It had no noticeable effect while we were hiking. We were hoping it would help us float up the Inca Trail. [-o<

Coca tea has a mild effect but chewing coca leaves has a much stronger effect (helped a lot when trekking).

Yes we should have given the leaves more of a tryout. But we thought we would choke on them given how we were inhaling like vacuum cleaners going uphill.

I lived in Cajamarca, Peru for a month after living all my life in Santiago at sea level. The first day I tried everything, including coca tea, that was not much help. What it did work was drinking fluids and laying down for a while, stay away from alcohol the first days. Everybody is different so don't expect the norm.

Now after living in Denver for 17 years I suffer when I go to sea level, I swell like a balloon for the fist days while my body gets used to the air pressure.

Having spent months of my life above 14'000' / 4'000 meters on high altitude treks, I can report that, in my experience, neither diamox nor coca leaves offer much hope beyond proper acclimatization.

However, I did discover that coca leaves seemed effective for treating diarrhea. :)