Arrival in Puno

Tue 25 July 2006

We were up at 7:00 am that morning to catch our 7:30 am bus from Arequipa to Puno. We arrived in the late afternoon and were happy to find rooms at the very nice Qelqatani hotel. Definitely on our top five list for accomodations in Peru.

Jason and Robyn were feeling the altitude however, and even after a few cups of coca tea they felt ill enough to keep us bound to the hotel for the rest of the day.

Up until now we hadn't given any thought to how elevation would affect us. Coming from a high elevation state we didn't even give elevation a second thought. But we had made a serious error in our schedule.

We started out our trip by flying into one of the lowest elevations in Peru, spending a week in Lima and acclimating to the elevation there. Now we were in Puno and the elevation change from Lima to Puno was enough to make half of us sick. Not a very well laid plan from our point, and something we'd have to change if we decided to return to Peru in the future.

For now however, with individual room heaters, and big bathtubs to soak in, staying bound to the Qelqatani hotel was not a problem for me.