'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

The song is playing in my head since I landed in Miami. For some reason the first leg of my travel didn’t seem like anything special - just another flight to another city. But now I’m waiting for my connecting flight to Lima... in 30 minutes I’m leaving the country! In 30 minutes the adventure begins...

I’ll be arriving in Lima two days before the rest of my group. Based on my unpleasant experience in Quito last year (I fainted and went down an escalator faster than I planned) I decided to arrive early and try to acclimatize to the higher altitude. Of course Lima shouldn’t be a problem - at the altitude of around 5000’ I should be fine. The real challenge is awaiting a lot later - at Cusco, where we are gonna land on day 5. But I still strongly believe it would be easier to go higher from 5000 feet instead of my native 500’ (200 m).
After Lima we are flying to Puerto Moldano and from there, using motorized canoes, heading to the Tambopata, an eco lodge deep in the Amazonian jungle. That visit was a reason that I had to go trough all additional vaccination. The only vaccine required for Peru is yellow feaver, but since we are gonna encounter all kinds of jungle creatures (mosquitos!) my doctor decided to go all the way: malaria, typhoid, hepatitis, chickenpox - I definitely feel like a real world adventurer now! The good thing - most of those vaccines are for life so if I ever decide to go on another adventure...  Africa perhaps...
After Amazonia we are heading to Cusco. That’s where a real fun and games may begin. While doing my research I learned that there is no way to really prepare for altitude sickness and there is no rule who’s is gonna succumbed to it. People in a very good shape get it, while overweight, out of shape tourists climb the mountains with maybe a slight shortness of breath.
Unfortunately I belong to the second group. Since my adventure with plantar fasciitis that lasted more than two years, im still trying to get in shape. So far I still didn’t find my fitness mojo and that dreamlike, 140lbs body, still eludes me. I’m hoping for the best - I climbed many mountains and I struggled up many roads - I’ll prevail!
The Inca trek is gonna last 4 days and on a final day we plan to reach the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu. I’m looking forward to seeing it in the rising sun - I already have goosebumps, just thinking about it! That’s definitely the highlight of the trip, but that’s not all: Still ahead is the visit to Lake Titicaca and visit with the local community (shopping and potatoes), horseback riding in Cusco, and Nazca Lines. Oh boy, I’m gonna be a busy girl! Who has time to worry about altitude sickness?!