Altitude sickness: all you need to know before traveling to Peru

Soroche, or the crossing of altitude

From the Pacific to the high plateaus, Peru is climbed as surely as it is explored. Beyond two thousand five hundred meters, atmospheric pressure drops, the air thins, and the body begins to adjust — this is what the Andeans call soroche. Nothing but a dialogue, in essence, between the body and the mountain.

The manifestations generally remain discreet :

• diffuse headaches,
• loss of appetite or slight nausea,
• unusual fatigue at the end of the day,
• shortness of breath during exertion,
• sometimes fragmented sleep on the first night.

Altitude spares neither the athlete nor the Sunday hiker : sensitivity to soroche cannot be predicted. The key lies in one word — acclimatization.

Acclimatizing, gently

It is better to prevent soroche than to try to remedy it. All our itineraries are built around progressive stages, because twenty years of presence in Peru have taught us that a well-orchestrated arrival conditions the rest of the journey.

Ascend in stages. Landing in Cusco (3,400 m) and going hiking the next day is rarely a good idea. We prefer to first reach the Sacred Valley, about six hundred meters lower, and then ascend towards the Inca capital.

Drink plenty. Altitude dehydrates. Sustained hydration, light meals, and avoiding alcohol for the first few days considerably ease the transition.

Adopt the Andean pace. Tranquilo : walk calmly, breathe deeply, and allow the first day the time it demands — a terrace, a coffee, a slow stroll through the narrow streets.

The remedies of the land

The Andes have long tamed altitude. The coca leaf, a sacred plant of the Quechua world, remains its most reliable companion : infused as a mate, it gently stimulates, soothes headaches, and aids digestion.

Agua de Florida, a lotion with floral essences that one breathes from the wrist, is readily carried as a complement. And the mate de coca offered upon arrival by the host of a casa hacienda is not merely a custom : it is a gesture of welcome, the first sign that one is entering the Andean rhythm.

Well-prepared, altitude is not endured, it is inhabited. Our small-group journeys always include these stages, because the well-being of each person is the condition for a true understanding of the country.