This shot is from the main square in Cusco, Peru. The city is at about 12,000 ft. (The highest point in the USA is about 14,000 ft. - Pike’s Peak). There is definitely something magical about Cusco. There is no place in the world like it.

It’s a love-hate relationship for me. I love being there and am just constantly overwhelmed by the beauty of everywhere we go, but that lack of oxygen thing because of the altitude gets me.

As soon as you land and walk off the plane, you feel it. And because I’m a bigger guy, I feel it even more. Most people get headaches and feel sick to their stomachs. I would rather have that.

I couldn’t sleep. Not like a tossing and turning in bed can’t sleep. Like a suffocation can’t sleep. Everytime I would start to fall asleep, my natural breathing patterns would take over and I would not get enough oxygen, so I would wake up gasping for air. I did that for 2 whole nights. No exaggeration, I think I only got 2 hours of sleep.

The third night, I took 4 Dramamine (which really had werid effects - I think the fact that it had been expired for 2 years may have had something to do with it too) and knocked myself out. I got about 6 hours of sleep. The last night I only took 2, which wasn’t enough, and I didn’t sleep again.

There is nothing more torturing than not sleeping. The constantly waking up gasping for air wasn’t all the pleasant either.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 9th, 2005 at 8:04 am and is filed under My Photography, The Church At Polaris. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.