Soroche is a b**che!

So we have arrived safely after a long, arduous trek that spanned many continents (well, two) and approximately 25 hours of flying and/or waiting to fly and/or sleeping in the airport on an improvised bed of glossy metal chairs.

But we are here. Now, in Cusco, which is approximately 2 miles above sea level. Soroche is what they call altitude sickness, and she´s a tough mistress! Achy head, short of breath, all these things make for a not so fun first day, but we´re taking in the sights as best we can. Pam, however, seems relatively unaffected, mostly because she´s an in shape firefighter/paramedic and her hemoglobin is much better quality than mine.

We stay here one more day, then off to Machu Picchu, then the jungles, and then back again.

Insights so far:
* keyboards in Peru are different than in the U.S. (annoyingly so, but not so much as the French keyboards; you know how those French are)
* kids are well dressed so far. No baggy pants, backwards and sideways hats, mock limps, and other bling.
* mate de coca is a tea made from coca leaves, and yes, you guessed it, cocaine is also made from those leaves! And I drank some. There goes my campaign. Shhhh.... don´t tell anyone (actually, it´s legal, but if Pam drinks it, she may be fired!). The tea is supposed to be a cure for soroche, but I didn´t actually start feeling kinda sick until I drank some!
* dogs roam the streets freely here, much like cats do in Japan.
* food is cheap, and super good!

That´s it for now. Ciao.