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Showing posts from June 25, 2007

Next stop (gasp) Lake Titicaca

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From Arequipa and its majestic volcanic views it was on to Puno, the set off point for the breathtaking, and in my juvenile opinion, hilariously named Lake Titicaca. No one can deny the lake's beauty, yet that is not what I mean when I refer to it as 'breathtaking'. I mean that I truly could not breathe. The lake sits at an elevation of 12,500 feet, making it the highest navigable lake in the world and an instant lesson in the effects of altitude sickness. To give an example of how high it really is, I remember years back, I went skydiving in the Keys and the highest altitude I could jump from without the aid of an oxygen tank was 10,000 feet, and now here I was 2,500 feet higher and tankless! I tried all the suggested remedies (chewing coca leaves, drinking coca tea, eating coca candy...see a pattern?), yet just climbing one flight of stairs was enough to leave me panting like an emphysemic St. Bernard. It was pr