I have been travelling solo in #Peru for a few days now. Visiting the wonderful #machupicchu and #iquitosamazon, both amazing excursions in my book. These are coco leaves, a miraculous plant used highly for "Altitude sickness".. Discomfort is felt by majority of people that aren't accustomed to high altitude areas. If your're one of the many unlucky ones, such as myself, once you start settling in Cusco, Peru ( 11,000ft altitude) you will start feeling the altitude sickness creeping up. It's caused by the lower levels of oxygen available in the air at high elevations. Basically, your lungs can't take in as much oxygen as they're used to and your heart and lungs have to work harder to keep your blood oxygenated. Symptoms are usually acute mountain sickness include dizziness, fatigue, nausea, headaches and difficulty sleeping. Everyone is different and your body eventually adjusts, some feel it for weeks or days or not at all. Forunately, we are left to sip on ´Coco Leaves´ tea. It's been used for century in central and south America by the Andean people to relieve the discomfort. And yes, it does happen to be the same leaf that cocaine is made of. BUT NOT TO WORRY PEOPLE. It is totally safe, it takes a specific process to extract the addictive drug. And the leaves have been proven to be of no harm to the human health. Phew! because without this plant, people would have never been able to function properly up here. #PERU #solotraveller #cocoleaves #altitudesickness #plantsasmedicine #Cuscoperu #femaletraveler
