Acclimatizing with Coca Tea

Take it easy! Cusco is a breathless 3,300 meters (10,825 feet) above sea level, with 30% less oxygen in the atmosphere—a fact you'll very soon appreciate as you huff and puff your way up its steep cobbled streets. The best way to avoid altitude sickness is to take it easy on your first few days. There's no point in dashing off on that Inca hike if you're not acclimatized—altitude sickness is uncomfortable at best and can be very dangerous.

Locals swear by mate de coca, an herbal tea brewed from coca leaves that helps with altitude acclimatization. Indigenous peoples have chewed the leaves of the coca plant for centuries to cope with Andean elevations. But the brewing of the leaves in an herbal tea is considered a more refined and completely legal way to ingest the substance, in Andean nations at least. Most restaurants and virtually all hotels have leaves and hot water available constantly.