Funnily enough, as organized as I am in my daily life, I choose to travel the world on a wing and prayer. I rarely look too deeply into a place before I visit, instead, choosing to discover its nuances and learn its history, while there. Of course, in the broad sense, I have dreamt of visiting Machu Picchu for well over a decade, but as far as all of the bits in between, I didn’t really give much consideration to them. Fast forward to arriving in Cuzco wondering why I felt a tangible drop in my IQ, was yawning, couldn’t concentrate, and wanted to lie down in any vacant doorway and ‘just nap for awhile.’ What was going on? Oh, yeah. Altitude sickness for sure. I was in a town that registers over 11,000 feet above sea level. I never checked that out before I left Bogotá, so as I wished, I was left to discover this strange feeling while I was here. No preparation for it. I couldn’t even think about what to order to eat, so I stumbled into a nondescript, tiny restaurant and although a smaller pizza was an option, I just said ‘grande.’ I don’t know why. I couldn’t eat much of it, but it’s beautiful, isn’t it? It helped my, unbeknownst to me at the time, altitude sickness, slightly.

15OCT12. Cuzco, Peru. (iPAD Instagram Lo-Fi Aspect)