The Ambulance Mule on the Machu Picchu Trek
The numbness in my thumbs was unmistakeable, and disconcerting. It was a cold morning, to be sure, but not that cold, and the numbness was isolated just to my two thumbs, so this wasn’t a reaction to the chill. I knew it must be the first sign of altitude sickness. What made this particularly troubling, as I sat there wringing my hands in the hopes of ending the tingling sensation, was that our five-day hike was 15 minutes from beginning. The assembled group of nine hikers, i