WELCOME TO 2-2-2 TUESDAY
Here are 2 Cultural Highlights, 2 Quotes, and 2 Brief Stories for you to enjoy.
Inspired by Cusco, Peru
2 CULTURAL HIGHLIGHTS
1.
Elevation Gains AND Pains:
Have you ever visited a place high in altitude? Let’s say over 8,000 feet above sea level? If so, how was your breathing? For those of us who live closer to sea level, you probably felt short of breath. Maybe you also felt like your heart was going to beat out of your chest on simple walks?
Well, we can relate. We recently arrived in Cusco, Peru, over 11,000 feet, and boy did we feel it! Over the first couple of days, we experienced the common headaches, nausea, fatigue, and gastrointestinal upset that comes with abrupt altitude increases. Have you ever heard of the term bubble guts?
Why does this happen? Simply put, the higher you go, the less oxygen is available.
Luckily, under normal conditions, your amazing human body can acclimate pretty darn well in just 48-72 hours according to most experts. What’s the key in acclimatizing? Gradual, incremental increases. That’s the name of the game. And that’s what we’re counting on as we prepare to go up to elevations over 15,000 feet over the next week.
Diving a bit deeper, it’s interesting to think about your human ability to adapt. Your organ systems respond by increasing breathing and heart rate, producing more red blood cells, and improving ventilation-perfusion matching to maintain adequate oxygen levels.
If you live in a city high in elevation, your body will even increase the growth of blood vessels over time. And it can do all of this without your conscious awareness. The only thing you’ll notice is that you’ll feel better with time.
Most importantly, high altitudes come with a reward.
Some of the most breathtaking views of our planet come from above. They allow us to witness the world from a perspective that is truly awe-inspiring. From mountain summits, the skies take on a different hue, with deeper shades of blue and purple. With the right conditions, you can witness incredible sunrises and sunsets that seem to never end. You may see the curvature of the Earth with the naked eye. Yes, the views can even help debunk the flat earth theory for you.
Whether it’s from an airplane, a hot air balloon, or a mountain summit, the views from high altitudes are sure to leave you with a sense of wonder and amazement.
Ps. If you’re wondering why you didn’t experience altitude sickness on your last flight, it’s because the cabin air pressure in the plane was adjusted to compensate for high altitudes.
2.
Llamas And Alpacas Galore!
Why would you want to visit Cusco, Peru?
Born in about 1200 AD, the city boasts distinctive stone walls, narrow cobblestone streets, and impressive religious and civic buildings. It’s fun to walk around and just admire the special city surrounded by massive mountains.
Equally intriguing, you’ll see plenty of llamas and alpacas on the daily! It sometimes feels like a petting zoo for baby alpacas and llamas. Any time you wander the streets of Cusco, you’re likely to see a baby alpaca or two walking on a leash connected to adorable short Peruvian women wearing colorful traditional clothes. Is this the best life for the animals? Probably not. But they are stinkin’ cute. If you don’t want to support this type of industry, don’t pay for your picture to be taken with them.
Alternatively, you can still see plenty of llamas and alpacas by venturing outside the city center in a more scenic farm setting.
Cusco is also known as a hub for excursions to Machu Picchu, Rainbow Mountain, Lake Titicaca (the lake you laughed at in grade school), and many other world wonders.
You can also view amazing Inca ruins without trekking to Machu Picchu.
What are these ruins called? Sacsayhuaman. How is it pronounced? Well, I was darn near certain that the tour salesman asked Farah if she wanted to go to the “sexy-woman.” Usually, I’m pretty good about saying “no, gracias” and walking on, but this was a double take situation.
As it turned out, we were only a few hundred meters from the sexy woman ruins. Before you get too excited, the name translates roughly into “A place where the hawk is satisfied”. The ruins were likely given their name as result of the countless hawks residing in the area.
2 QUOTES TO CONSIDER
- “Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.” – Hermann Buhl
- “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw
2 BRIEF STORIES
1.
When Your Backpack Is Your House:
Just for fun, imagine you have decided to travel around the world for one year. Everything you want to use during that time must fit into a large backpack. Take a minute or two to consider what you might bring. What are your must-haves? What might you leave behind? It’s a fun and challenging thought exercise to decide on priority items.
Fast forward. Now, you’re in Peru.
Imagine you have committed to a five day backpacking trip to Machu Picchu. By joining this expedition, you’ll be rewarded with breathtaking landscapes. You’ll see crystal-clear alpine lakes, jagged cliffs, and lush green forests. The awe-inspiring Machu Picchu ruins await your arrival.
There’s just one catch. You learn the trek is 56 miles in high altitude with challenging terrain. Can you imagine bringing the same backpack with all of your possessions for one year? Of course not! You don’t need all that stuff to trek for a few days.
This hypothetical scenario is the one we are currently living. Fortunately, we’ve been able to problem solve and get some help. How? We’ve booked a hostel in Cusco, Peru for the backend of our trek. We will leave our big backpacks and extra supplies there. It’s a win-win. The hostel has a guaranteed guest booked and we have a short-term storage solution.
It’s one of the solutions we’ve used a few times already this trip. We’re very grateful to the hotel owners who willingly help us out in this situations. In this case, they even gave us a key to the hostel five days in advance.
2.
Shopping Market Madness:
To piggyback on the previous story, imagine you now need to pick up some supplies for the aforementioned Machu Picchu trek. You arrive at a market with the hustle and bustle that comes with hundreds of small tiendas (stores) competing for your business. Dozens of sales people approaching you from all directions in a language you barely understand. The chaos can be a bit overwhelming.
Here’s your shopping list: Trekking poles, a hat, rain ponchos, paracord, and plenty of hiking snacks (nuts, granola, dried fruit).
Fortunately, markets are wisely divided into sections based on the types of products and services that are sold. Every section has multiple stores basically selling the same variety of goods.
How would you approach this situation?
Here’s one way: You could enter with a hardball mentality. You could view the sales folks as opponents who are just trying to rip you off. Sadly, it can feel like that at times. With that system, you may still end up with some smokin’ deals at times. But conversations would likely feel awkward, forced, and cold. That was the got-to strategy for a younger version of me, and it didn’t feel good.
There’s another way. It may not be the best approach, but it effectively allowed us to get what we needed at a great price all while feeling less negative stress.
First, we arrived without rushing around. Calm and relaxed. The first store or two served as a cost basis for the items we needed. We weren’t afraid to politely say “no, gracias,” and move on. After getting an idea for the price range, we subconsciously focused on store owners who seemed genuinely friendly and helpful. That’s where we wanted our money to go. Sometimes that meant going back to stores we had already visited.
Fortunately, with some patience, we were greeted by owners who seemed genuinely interested in helping us get what we needed. We greeted each other with some small talk, and then negotiated. We found that the store owners came down in prices much further than we anticipated after we clearly stated our max price. We were able to bundle items to come away with great deals while also feeling good about the transactions. The shop owners were happy. We were happy.
Let’s go trekking!
Thanks for tuning in to 2-2-2 Tuesday!
If you have any feedback, comments, or suggestions, we’d love to hear from you. Have a wonderful week!
– Zack and Farah
