Day 6 Hidden Galapagos & Peru
There is a choice of two excursions on the 6th day of the tour, either South Cusco and the San Pedro Market or touring the Highlands. Has anyone done either of these or have a recommendation as to which one most people preferred on their trip. Did the higher elevations of the Highlands seem to be a problem for anyone?
0
Comments
We are going on the May 2020 trip and are wondering the same thing about preferences on these two choices and whether the higher elevations of the highlands were an issue. Does anybody have an update?
Returned on March 16, 2020, one day early due to CV-19. Most on our tour did the highlands trip. We toured additional ruins and had a traditional lunch at a village, prepared by the locals (with help from our group). They demonstrated farming methods and other interesting tidbits. It is an all day affair. The folks that went to the market also toured several churches and I think it was only a half day for them. Very happy that we did the highlands tour and I didn't hear any negatives from the group that did this. My advice would be to sign up for the highlands tour (which fills up fast) and at the last minute, if you need a break, you can choose the market when you are there.
In regards to the elevation, our guides gave us plenty of breaks when climbing steps or ascending at Machu Pichu. A few in our group took advantage of extra free oxygen available at the hotel in Cusco (highest elevation). Most were taking supplemental drugs prescribed by our family doctors before the trip. My wife took dexamethasone (due to a sulfa allergy she could not take the diamox). I took the diamox and we both did fine. Took frequent breaks and snapped a lot of pictures. She is 70 and I am 69 and in fair (not great) shape for our ages. Can't help but thinking that some of the problems folks had were more psychological than physical. If you have any issues with motion sickness, I would be more concerned with that. Roads were twisting, narrow and long. Lot's of swaying in the mini-vans that were transporting us. My wife gets travel sickness real easy and the less drowsy motion sickness medicine (meclizine) worked extremely well for her on land, sea and air.
Hopefully you'll be able to make the trip due to CV-19 and current restrictions. The islands were incredible. Cheers.
The San Pedro Market is just another market, and "seen one church, seen them all." I haven't taken the tour to the highlands (having done the Peru and Bolivia tour, not the Galapagos one), but, sight unseen, I would opt for that. Talk to your doctor about getting medicine for altitude sickness before you go. I took the pills that my doctor prescribed and had no issues (even in higher elevations than Cusco, such as Puno and LaPaz).