We stepped out of the hotel and into the waiting cab. Our driver, Raphael proved to be a comical and witty man who spoke English with an accent which, try as I might, I just could not place. It was sort of a strange mix of Eastern European and South American all at the same time. We talked all the way to the airport about Lima and Cusco and Coca Tea to help us cope with the altitude. Cusco is located in the Andes at 11,200 ft. That is the height of many peaks in the US and higher than the highest point in many of the states back home. We would eventually be going up from there. I looked out the window on the way and found myself memorized by the ability of 5 cars to fit in a three lane road with no accidents. Raphael parked at the airport we thanked him, wished him well and arranged to have him pick us back up on the return trip. I stepped from the cab and started to feel a little woozy, and light headed. I underestimated the affect the coffee would have on me and I could hear my pule in my ears as we walked in to the airport and up to the security line. As we were standing there, I felt tunnel vision coming on and thought I might pass out.
I had to squat down for a minute to regain control, then when I stood it started all over again. This was bad, but miraculously I made it through security without incident. Afterwards I sat down and recovered for a minute. At the gate, TACA called us up to the podium. My first thought was we are getting bumped, if that happened, it would throw off the timeline for the rest of the trip. Fortunately for us, they upgraded us to first class for becoming new Distancia members. Here's my plug for TACA quite simply, they are the best airline I have flown on in quite some time. They do things old school, and the passenger is the most important thing to them. It does not matter if you are in the front or the back of the plane, your going to get a decent meal and your not going to pay for it, your going to get a pillow and a blanket if you want one, they will take your coat and hang it up for you, the drinks are all free (all the drinks). I can not say enough about their service. Okay there goes my shameless plug. We landed In Cusco about 11 AM and I was light headed again. I need this to go away soon or I am going to be in real trouble. As we walked through the airport, I laughed at all the people renting oxygen cannisters. They would haul these heavy cannisters around with them and I could not help but think the extra exertion of carrying the cannister had to outweigh whatever little benefit you got from the O2. Luckily our wrapped burritos made it and we grabbed our gear and piled into a cab outside heading to the hotel.
To Be Continued ...
We stepped out of the hotel and into the waiting cab. Our driver, Raphael proved to be a comical and witty man who spoke English with an accent which, try as I might, I just could not place. It was sort of a strange mix of Eastern European and South American all at the same time. We talked all the way to the airport about Lima and Cusco and Coca Tea to help us cope with the altitude. Cusco is located in the Andes at 11,200 ft. That is the height of many peaks in the US and higher than the highest point in many of the states back home. We would eventually be going up from there. I looked out the window on the way and found myself memorized by the ability of 5 cars to fit in a three lane road with no accidents. Raphael parked at the airport we thanked him, wished him well and arranged to have him pick us back up on the return trip. I stepped from the cab and started to feel a little woozy, and light headed. I underestimated the affect the coffee would have on me and I could hear my pule in my ears as we walked in to the airport and up to the security line. As we were standing there, I felt tunnel vision coming on and thought I might pass out.
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