Credit: iStock If you’re planning a spring skiing vacation or a summer of hiking in the mountains, you might want to prepare your mind and body for the physiological effects of high altitude. At altitude, the air pressure is lower. The amount of oxygen in the air is the same as sea level (about 21%), … Continue reading Tummy Troubles Up High: How Altitude Affects GI Physiology
Altitude Sickness
Fact or Fiction: Does Coca Candy Prevent Altitude Sickness?
This summer, I spent a month studying at the Universidad de los Andes in Chile. We visited the Atacama Desert, the driest non-polar desert in the world. It is nestled between two sets of mountains; during one of our excursions we hiked up the Andes Mountains to a village called Socaire, located at an altitude … Continue reading Fact or Fiction: Does Coca Candy Prevent Altitude Sickness?
Keeping Up with the Highland Natives
Machu Picchu. Credit: Anne Crecelius After spending three weeks getting to know the geography of Chile and making important connections with other academics, I treated myself to some tourist activity in Peru, Chile’s neighbor to the north. I met my mother in Lima, and we began a nine-day tour to visit the famous Incan sites … Continue reading Keeping Up with the Highland Natives
A 10,000-Foot View from the ALMA Observatory in Atacama
After fulfilling the main purpose of our trip—to build relationships with universities in Santiago, the capital city of Chile—we headed north to the Atacama Desert, the driest non-polar desert in the world. The small town of San Pedro de Atacama serves as a starting point for adventure travelers looking to experience all this beautiful landscape … Continue reading A 10,000-Foot View from the ALMA Observatory in Atacama