On your show about travel in Peru,you talked about a local herb that help with dealing with the thin air in Cusco. Can you tell us what the two herbs are. We are planning an 11 day visit that includes Lima, Cusco Machu Pechu, the Sacred Valley and Nazca and at our age (mid 60'2) my wife is concerned about the thin air.

thank you,
Warren McNicholas

wwmacsr@hotmail.com

Most hotels have a supply of the coca leaves and tea to help with the altitude. Also most places have oxygen available as well. I was 60+ when I went and had no problems. Most people I observed had no problems. A few people felt a bit dizzy and out of sorts, but got over it in a day or so. If you are healthy with no breathing problems, you should be OK. Just take it easy the first day or so.

I decided to wait a week to see if the crowd turned on Nunesy. It didn't happen, which means that either no one noticed his mention of coca leaves, no one cared about his mention of coca leaves, or there were few - if any - who have any idea what this means.

Coca, the botanical from which cocaine is derived, is generally available throughout a good portion of South America. Indeed, as Nunesy writes, it is used as a remedy for altitude sickness (my enounter with same was in Equador in 2002). And also as reported by Nunesy - it is served up as tea.

As one who is an Earl Gray tea drinker, the two don't compare well. However, in time, one cares less about the comparisson.

Happy landings,

Intl Doc

And don't try to bring any coca leaves back home to the USA. You might have some explaining to do at customs.