Part I
From here to Cuzco, Peru
----I'm back from the most extraordinary trip in my life.
I felt the urge to start this record like a typical stereo typed expression.
"It felt like a miracle I could mange to finish the walk and the trip.
And here I am at my desk writing this....all's well when it ends well."---------
We knew it would be hard to fly from here to Cuzco due to 3 transfers( passing 3
different countries) in between.
After 30 something hours of 4 flights and waiting in between I lost track of time
and then we finally arrived at Cuzco Air Port Saturday 5:30 am their time.
Our flight from here was 11:10 am Friday Sydney time.
We lost 15 hours later equally when we were back home.
It was dark and quite chilly that morning with undefined excitement and nerves.
High altitude(3350 mt) made my body numb and my head hazed while I was waiting
for our bags from the carousal already.
I thought it was bearable and it would pass soon desperately chewing coca leaves I found at the counter
of unknown closed travel agency office near there.
However I was totally wrong about this.
I had been in bed for total 3 days due to severe altitude sickness and
ended up being hospitalized for the oxygen treatment on the third day.
Luckily we reserved 3 days for acclimatisation before the actual hiking.
On the way to the Hotel I saw Cuzco quite polluted and the smells filled the air awful.
I guess that's either because cars were too old or they used cheap petrol.
Who knows?
Cuzco was very busy with honking cars and people from the early morning already.
I saw streets were dusty and dirty.
People were driving recklessly not considering other drivers and pedestrians.
Looked like there were no regulations about using mobile phones while driving either.
It was common to see stray dogs in Peru.
They started barking suddenly at certain types of people or cars.
Mostly they showed affections towards people and tried to cuddle.
While I was on the line waiting for the bus to Machu Picchu early morning
one very friendly street dog tried to sit on a girl's lap in front of me
and when we were waiting for our transport to Cuzco at Ollantaytambo
suddenly one black unknown dog sat with us as if it was its normal daily life routine.
I observed buildings were being left in the middle of construction with outer walls only complete
but no windows or interior parts built yet and sharp inner metal frames exposed and cut for the upstairs
poking upward to sky.
It was like that everywhere.
(Later I learned from our hiking guide that people in Cuzco were building houses according to the money they saved
and then stopped building until they could save more money to afford to build again.
It could go on for the rest of their lives.
It's not common for them to get a loan from banks obviously.
It was a quite interesting sight for me.)
We were approaching central parts of city and the scenery became improved with exotic
or Spanish architecture influences.
Old grandeur Churches and European old style houses with cobbled road and crude but quite aesthetical
combinations of primary colours quite impressive.
Our hotel was just like hacienda style big house with courtyard in the centre of the building.
First day of Cuzco we slept all day forgetting about eating or other things.
And the next day I realized I was suffering from severe altitude sickness.
Luckily other two were relatively ok with that.
I tried to drink as much coca teas as possible along with painkillers and the prescribed medicine.
But unfortunately it didn't work at all.
Splitting headache, dizziness, breathlessness, extremely severe nauseous feeling , muscle pain, no appetite etc...
only thing I could do was lying in bed.
I never ever felt that sick in my life before.
I even regretted coming to Peru millions of times while I was in pain in bed.
Also I was super worried about the ultimate purpose of our Peruvian trip, upcoming hike.
Unfortunately by the third morning I didn't feel any better I decided to see a doctor
only to make this scheduled hiking trip work.
Our Hotel reception organized a doctor's visit to me in my Hotel room.
He diagnosed me as severe altitude sickness with dehydration.
I received more than 7 hours' of oxygen treatment there in Hospital for me to reach normal oxygen level
in my body.
By the end of the day I started feeling normal again thank God.
I couldn't describe how relieved I was then.
They assured me I could go hiking the next day finally.
All's well when it ends well.