Cuzco, the former capital of the Inca Empire and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, sits approximately 3,400 meters above sea level. As a result, most visitors often experience altitude sickness as their bodies adapt to the higher elevation. Taking preventative medicine (e.g., Diamox) and drinking coca tea had fortunately warded off most of the symptoms of altitude sickness for me.

When tourists first arrive in Cuzco, it's easy to mistake the city as a super liberal haven due to the multiple rainbow colored flags draped and hung around everywhere. However, the colors depict the flag of Cuzco and not a statement on gay rights. The flags do add a dash of color to the orange-red hue that seems to tint everything in and around the Cuzco area due to the rusty color of the surrounding mountain ranges.

Warning: This is a rather long post, so get your reading glasses on. 

At 4:30AM, my alarm went off. The 4WD was supposed to pick me up sometime between 5 and 6AM. When the car arrived, there were already two other folks in there, David from NYC and Sonya from Amsterdam. We went and picked up five others who were only going to the San Blas islands. With everyone on board, we drove for about 30 minutes to a shopping center where Lam tours had an office. Since the captain of the boat had arranged the ground transportation for us, this was the first time I had heard of Lam tours.  We were greeted by an extremely energetic woman who gave us a quick overview of what was about to happen. We paid her thirty bucks for the transport to the Caribbean side of Panama, as well as $10 for the Kuna tax. 

The Kuna people are the indigenous population of Panama. Autonomous from Panama, the Kunas have their own laws. The woman from Lam tours advised us not to argue with the Kunas since we won't win and the minimum fine is $500. If we can't pay the $500, we would have to pay via labor. It was unclear whether she was joking or not, but she also mentioned that the Israeli tourists have a tendency to argue with the Kunas. Finally, should we need help, we were informed to mention Lam tours or "Los Chinos" since her family is apparently well appreciated amongst the Kunas.