The Altitude Knocks Me Out

Yesterday I took a tourist bus from Cusco to Puno which is on the edge of Lake Titicaca. The ride was extra long because it included stops at several archeological monuments, another look at Llamas, another buffet lunch and a lot of commentary from a largely Spanish speaking tour guide. When I was placed in seat 23 in the bus (about the middle) I already felt a bit nervous. Could I keep my eyes on the road enough to avoid motion-sickness? (For anyone who knows me even a little, I must either drive or sit in the front passenger seat, otherwise I turn green within minutes.) Anyways, trying to be a good sport about it, I lasted about a half-hour and then felt so nauseous I faced I had to deal with it. I stumbled to the front, looking so pale that they quickly placed me in the seat next to the driver. All went reasonably well as we pulled into one touristic spot after another and had many many chances to buy alpaca sweaters, woven belts, cute little knitted hats with ear extensions and painted gourds. Every church, remnant of the Inka Trail, view of the snow-covered Andes featured indigenously dressed vendors. Unlike India, there is no begging here. Everyone is selling something, even if it´s just the opportunity to pose for a picture (looking National Geographic-native)

The day went reasonably well as I tried to take pictures recording all of this. The only one I couldn´t get was a Llama posing in front of a sign declaring that American Express is accepted! (The Llama kept moving in that it wasn´t getting a tip for posing...) Then when we pulled into the last archeological monument based in some small town, my whole body began to shiver. Figuring I had a fever, I took some ibuprofen. Nothing much happened. Then one of the bus assistants told me I looked like I was really sick. ¨Si,¨ I told her. I could barely walk. So they summoned a young woman who had a bicycle taxi to get me over to the local clinic which was about five blocks away. At the clinic, a wise looking nurse took my temperature and blood pressure and confirmed that I had a really bad fever. In centigrades I was registering 38 while normal is 28...and my blood pressure had skyrocketed as well. They gave me three different pills, two to take right away...and one for an hour later. I have no idea what they were. All I knew was I needed help! Anyways eventually my hands felt warm enough that I no longer needed to wear the cute little Inka mittens I´d bought the day before. Upon arrival in Puno, I was given some coca leaf tea and slept for many many hours. And when I awoke I felt much much better!