Cleaning and lubing zippers helps a lot. Lots of people don't think of it, but certainly helps. You can also get replacement zipper pullers in case you break one.

Good question about zippers ... i dont know enough about the technology. But apparently some zippers arw much tougher than others. I managed to fix the zipper on the Jeep. But they need something tougher too :-)

We left Chile and entered Peru. The cities of Tacna, Arequipa and Puno are all desert cities.

The big challenges were the altitude changes, which are HUGE in Peru. Tacna is at sea level, but Atequipa is at 7661 feet ASL. We stayed a couple of days at Arequipa to try to adjust. But the next part of the journey still knocked us for a loop. The road to Puno, beside Lake Titicaca, passes over a mountain at 14800 feet ... higher than Mt. Whitney in California. Lake Titiis ar 12,300 feet, or close to this. But you cant avoid the climb to almost 15000 feet. Its a big change, another 7000 feet in altitude. It has taken us 3 days to try to recover from this.

Altitude sickness is not a joke. Be careful and don't be afraid of resting or descending.

Boy, you nailed it with that comnent. we have been fighting altitude sickness on and off for a week. I used a strategy to adapt 'slowly' ... 2 days at 7600 feet (Arequippa, Peru) and 2 days at 12300 feet (Puno, Peru). Even with this preparation, it was no easy task during the first week at very high altitudes in Peru.

There are two meds that people use to fight this problem. The first is a prescription drug called acetazolide (spelling?). The second is coca leaves. I used neither of these methods, and just fought through the symptoms. My wife tried the prescription drug. It seems to help, but beware that the drug should NOT be taken on an empty stomach. It can cause stomach acidity and vomitting ... no fun when you are fighting other problems.

Coca leaves deserve a special explanation. Peru and Bolivia have a 'double standard' for how they view the coca plant. Leaves from the coca plant are widely available in Peru. They are not considered a drug. If you walk into the tourist hotels, you will find a basket of green leaves at the table (table for tea, or for breakfast). Peruvians regularly chew these leaves, and so do many tourists in Peru. In addition, if you go to health food shops in Cusco, you will find large containers of a green powder. This is 'coca tea'. It is the leaves of the coca plant, dried and ground into a green powder. Peruvians commonly put this powder into hot water, as a tea extract. These uses of coca are very common in Peru, and they are legal. However, if the drug is refined into the pure form of cocaine, that is highly illegal. That is how things operate in Peru. Altitude sickness causes a constant feeling of being very tired. People chew the coca leaves as a type of 'pick up' for the metabolism. I couldnt tell you if the coca leaves actually increase the adaption of the body to high altitudes, or if they only affect metabolism.

Personally, I just drank a lot of water and allowed my body to adjust naturally. But it was no cakewalk.

It takes time to acclimatize - realistically, there are no shortcuts. High altitude mountaineers do by the mantra - "carry high, sleep low." When shuttling loads on a long approach, you take a load to your hgh point for the day, descend and sleep, climbing up the next day -repeating until you reach your objective.

Do be aware that HAPE and HACE (high altitude pulmonary/cerebral edema) can be fatal. Know the symptoms and descend immediately.

Spot on!

There are lots of good references out there. For example see Altitude Illness: AMS, HAPE, and HACE.
For prevention see Wilderness Medical Society Consensus Gui...ltitude Illness

Every time I got up to 14,000 ft we kept the aircraft pressurized to 6000 ft so no problems. That was in a pressurized aircraft and no oxygen mask. Is the issue at those altitudes the low pressure itself, or the partial pressure of oxygen?
As I recall from flight physiology years ago, the reason we breathed 100% oxygen in jet training (the jets carried liquid oxygen, LOX) at altitude was to keep the partial pressure of oxygen in our blood at "normal" levels. wiki/Blood_gas_tension is germane

But that's just for short periods to high altitudes, not for living there. I'm sure living there is significantly different and requires the body to adjust. How much can a typical/normal body adjust? If time allows, how high can a normal surface dweller go and stay without an oxygen tank.

My longest time was a mountaineering patrol on Denali, over twenty years ago. We had been at the Advanced Base Camp (14,000 plus) for over a week and were planning to push on to the summit in a long day (according to our oximeter readings, this was quite feasible). We never got tofind out if this would have been the case, because on the morning of our attempt, we were engaged in treating a HACE victim at the ABC. He was staggering at 17,500 feet where he had been camped, and was coherent and walking normally by the time he had descended to the ABC.

So much for reaching North America's highest summit. The neat thing was that our evaluation and handling of this person was monitored and later critiqued by Dr. James Wilkerson, author of [/u]Mountaineering Medicine[u], the bible for climbing medicine. In a way, that was a more nifty experience than reaching the summit.

Descending does wonders for high altitude complications.

One quick word here ..

If you ever get the opportunity to go to Machu Picchu in Peru ... GO!! definitely go!!

It is the most spectacular place that I have ever visited. Just once in your life ... it is WORTH THE EFFORT!!

more on this later. we are heading to the high mountain jungles of Peru. Remote areas. Cheers :-)