A Day’s Journey

Perú – November 6, 2021 (pre-trip)

Seeing the grand Andean mountain landscapes my first day in Cusco, Peru had me inspired. I’m ready to go hiking! I traveled to hike part of the Salkantay trek to Laguna Humantay- the immense turquoise lake in Peru. This day hike took place 3 weeks after I ran my first marathon- meaning I was in the best endurance shape of my life. My local guide was several years younger, in jeans, and not much interested in sports. Mentally this was to be a ‘walk in the park for me.’ What could go wrong?

Well… a lot. Cusco city itself sits at 11,000 ft. elevation. The trek began at 12,630 ft. with the lakes sitting at 13,780 ft. The first little bit of walking I got out of breath I thought, “okay maybe I’m just tired from flying.” Fast forward a mere 10 minutes and 50 foot ascent later, I started seeing black spots in my vision, shaky legs, and feeling nausea. Funny how the feelings of sickness did not upset me— it was knowing that I was in perfect shape for this! Altitude sickness won this match.

We took a long rest and my guide broke out his natural remedies. “Chew on this,” he said as he handed me some leaves. As children we are taught “don’t take candy from strangers,” …but leaves? Desperate times call for desperate measures. I chewed on the leaves and inhaled one of his essential oils. Voila! My vision cleared up and I could feel my legs. To the lakes we went!

Turns out the leaves were coca leaves – not at all uncommon to see all over Peru. Coca leaves are the precursor to cocaine. The colors of the Lake were such an unbelievable surreal teal, that I thought maybe I had taken drugs. But alas- it is quite a wonder how humans can change the chemical composition of plants to go from medicine to completely addictive(and destructive) drug.

Alright, so what did I learn about Peruvian health from this experience? How cocaine is made? No- I’m kidding. It’s no secret that Peru is a special place where people from all over the world travel to experience plant medicines. Plant medicine is a spectrum- from uses to heal everyday ailments to physiologically altering the brains chemistry for a spiritual experience. In my experience, plant medicine helped me fight off altitude sickness to complete a hike. Throughout the rest of my travels in Peru, I was no stranger to the use of coca leaves to cope with altitude. Plenty of trekkers and porters were using it on the most popular Inca Trail to a Machu Picchu. Nature puts it remedies right on our path if we know what to look for.