Last Updated on January 24, 2024 by Tori Pines
Today we learned the hard way about Cusco altitude sickness and prepared for the Inca Trail. If you haven’t read about days one through 3 of my journals in Peru, read those first!
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Lima to Cusco: Introduction to Cusco Altitude Sickness
We woke up early in Lima, and got a very minimal but free breakfast at the hotel. We all left for the airport, got through security and to our gate pretty quickly. Lucy, one of our tour mates, and I both have the Priority Pass which gets you and a guest into a lounge in most airports around the world.
This usually means free food, drinks, wifi, private restrooms and sometimes even private offices or work spaces. Even if you only travel a few times each year, it’s definitely worth getting! I love having Priority Pass.
We had a short one hour and 20 minute flight to Cusco and the airplane was filled with many tourists on their way to see Machu Picchu and the rest of the sacred valley. The flight was pretty smooth and ended with some beautiful views of the mountains.
Before we arrived in Cusco we were aware of the Cusco altitude sickness that we would likely get from the city being up so high. The city is over 11,000 feet above sea level. Altitude sickness hits everyone differently, and cannot usually be completely prevented, but there are things that can help. The main thing is to take a prescription medicine that you can get from your doctor at home before your trip. Let them know you will be visiting a place at very high altitude and they should be happy to write you a prescription.
We all started taking our medicine the night before, along with drinking lots of water and getting sleep. Once we arrive we can’t do anything too active right away, or eat a lot of super greasy foods.
Hotel Prisma Cusco
Once we arrived we grabbed our bags and found our driver just outside the door. We headed straight for our hotel, Hotel Prisma, and checked in to a super adorable boutique hotel in the heart of Cuzco. While we waited for our room keys, they brought us coca tea, which helps with altitude sickness. For more info on coca leaves, and important tips for combating Cusco’s altitude sickness, join my email list! I will be posting so many helpful guides for visiting Peru very soon so you won’t want to miss them!
Not only was the lobby super cute and cozy, filled with plants and skylights. The room was clean and pretty large with a twin bed and a full size bed. We had super hot water with awesome pressure, which has not been easy to find in Peru so we were in heaven. Stay at Hotel Prisma when you visit Cusco!
Cusco Walking Tour
I was extra excited when I found out that we got a small walking tour around the city to learn a little bit about the history of the people. Our tour guide from G Adventures is with us now through the end of the trip so he will be the one hiking the Inca Trail with us. His name is Jerry and he seems wonderful already. He has hiked the Inca Trail over 200 times and visited many many countries during his tourism career.
During the walking tour we saw the main highlights of the city, learned about the Incan people and the Spanish takeover. There’s a lot of Spanish influence in the city including churches and other architecture. The culture was obviously affected a lot from the Spanish people. They forced many of the locals to speak Spanish, and stop speaking their native language. However, they managed to hold onto their language.
Despite the large number of people in Peru who speak Spanish today, the children in the Cusco region are required to learn the native language, Quechua, as a way to ensure that the language does not die out. The city has about 400,000 citizens and is pretty built up, but still looks old, charming and quaint.
Lunch at TikaSara
During our tour we stopped at TikaSara for a traditional Peruvian lunch. The restaurant was only 2 blocks from the main square, Plaza de Armas. The service was wonderful and the servers were kind and helpful. They serve very fresh foods, and nothing really greasy, since we are trying to avoid experiencing Cusco altitude sickness. The menu is full of traditional Peruvian dishes, from Pisco Sour and Chicha Morada to drink to guinea pig and alpaca to eat.
I don’t eat very much meat at home, so there was NO way I was eating guinea pig or alpaca. Do. Not. Worry. But if that’s your thing, then I guess try those traditional dishes?
The traditional dish that I was excited to try is called Lomo Soltado, a beef stir fry served with rice and french fries. It’s a salty, creamy sauce covering beef and veggies with two starches? I’ll never turn that down. I was super excited to try this famous dish and honestly it did not let me down. It’s one of Peru’s most popular dishes that you must try on your trip. You should learn all about Peru’s food facts before your trip! I’ll be back to Peru for the food alone and this was another killer meal!
Preparing for the Inca Trail and Cusco Altitude Sickness
After the walking tour we went to the G Adventures office to have our briefing for the Inca Trail. We went over the four day plan and heard about what each day would consist of. The guides walk you through every single detail. They give you the opportunity to ask any question you have, big or small.
My main question? Where do we go to the bathroom? And can we go whenever we want? What if I have to go at any point along the trail? Clearly I have priorities lol. And don’t worry, they calmed my nerves by saying I can use the ladies bush whenever I have to go. Haha, made me feel much better…
We chose to rent our sleeping bag and sleeping pad along with our hiking poles directly from G Adventures so that we didn’t have to pack them in our luggage. It was about $30 total per person. We rented these items now and also we were given duffel bags to pack the things we would need for the hike in. We were informed that we would have a total of 6 kg in our duffels, but the sleeping bag and sleeping pad would take up over half of it. This meant we had about 2.5 kg or 4 pounds for the rest of our clothes and necessities. Everything else we would have to wear in our personal backpack.
When we finished up there we went shopping as many of us needed some last minute items or wanted to do some souvenir shopping in town.
The Cusco Altitude Sickness Hits
At this point the new high altitude was catching up to us and we had very bad headaches, were out of breath easily, and our limbs were tingling. Yes, tingling! This is a super common symptom, it has something to do with our red blood cells duplicating faster? Don’t quote me on that, but it was serious, uncomfortable and honestly painful! But for now the worst part was the headache and lightheadedness. Hello Cusco altitude sickness! We did everything to avoid it, but it seems like you can’t outrun it no matter how hard you try.
We were getting exhausted very quickly so we picked up a pizza and brought it back to the hotel room for a quick and simple dinner to eat while we packed up. Do I kinda hate getting non authentic dishes while traveling? Yep for sure. Did I care tonight? Nope, not at all.
We just really didn’t feel good by the end of the night, were so tired, had a lot of packing and preparing to do, and had to get up early tomorrow morning. So, pizza it was. And actually, it was really yummy! And yes, I know pizza is usually pretty greasy, but this one actually wasn’t at all, so I don’t think we really broke the Cusco altitude sickness prevention rules thaaat bad.
Preparing for Tomorrow
When we got back to our room, we packed our bags and weighed them and we were sad to see how little we could fit within the weight limit. Any of the extra stuff got added to our backpacks so we have a little more than we would like to have but they’re not thaaat heavy. But we still have to add the water.
The weight limit is important because the porters will be carrying them for us and we can’t overload them with too much weight. They have to carry 60 pounds on their backs, so it would be terrible if we asked them to carry even a pound more! We all agreed we would’ve hired another porter if we could though. Ha!
Tomorrow we take our tour of the Sacred Valley, and although we don’t start the hike tomorrow, we have to leave all of our extra belongings here in Cusco. The hotel stores all of our luggage in a secure, locked storage room, and then we get it at the end of the tour. This means everything has to be ready to go for the trail in two days.
We went to sleep in a very comfortable and warm hotel after a surprisingly hot shower. It was glorious. We are ready to head off to the valley in the morning. Hopefully having adjusted to the altitude and feeling better after a good night’s sleep. Read about our adventure from Cusco to the Sacred Valley in the day 5 Peru journal next!
