Well, it was bound to happen at some point…with our group rotating in and out of sickness I knew that I was going to get sick before the trip was done.
And so it happened, I woke up fine but after getting ready for school I realized it was hard to breathe, a common symptom of Soroche, or altitude sickness. During class the difficulty would come and go as sometimes it felt like there was a weight on my chest and other times I’d be fine.
When we went on our fieldtrip to a cemetery the feeling was getting worse and I sat outside on the bench while the rest of the class explored. Soon it was waves of nausea combined with breathlessness and when we went home for lunch nausea took over after we entered the gate.
I slept for the rest of the day, from about 1pm-8am and despite another bout of nausea in the afternoon I am feeling much better.
Lessons Learned:
1. Coca Tea really is the assumed cure-all around here. My teacher at school and host-maid both plied me with it throughout the day.
2. I have more faith in Gatorade, after my roommates brought me home some I felt much better, yum Uva flavor!
the only thing worse than altitude sickness is sea sickness.... bummer.... hopefully once thru it you're done.....
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