The perks of being a Dane 3800m above sealevel

These last three days have been our training for living 3800m above sea level (3900 where our hostel is), and we've been learning it the hard way. We thought a day in Arequipa at 2300m was adjustment enough for the altitude in Puno, but we were wrong. And I think a Dane like myself has especially many lessons to learn about high altitude living, considering one of our highest peaks is 147m above sealevel and we call it the Heaven Mountain. 

Our first day in Puno was for Andrés spent at a conference without much water to drink, or sleep the previous night, and for me it was spent lying in the hammock eating watermelon - see the picture in my previous post. So I was rested and hydrated, but I was also a Dane hungry for sunlight after several weeks of cloudy winter days in Denmark. So, forgetting the fewer layers of atmosphere for the sun to reach through up here, as well as my winter pale skin, I got a pretty bad sunburn on my whole front side, except for my face which had 50+ sunscreen (at least I had some sense!). Poor Andrés came late back to the hostal with a bad headache, sick stomach and slight fever. I didn't know what to do with altitude sickness other than drinking coca tea. So I asked Luz the hostal owner, a really cool and friendly girl, who has grown up with the knowledge of the Altiplano about treatment of altitude sickness. She helped us so much! She went out to buy muño which is a plant that is sniffed to alleviate the sickness, and came up and made us sniff it, massaged Andrés with another traditional remedy, struck him several times on his shoulders, head and neck with my sleeping bag liner held tightly between her hands, put a warm beanie on his head and a cold cloth on his forhead, and Andrés was soon fast asleep. I was lying awake next to him half of the night because I could only lie on my back, with a mixture of chills and burning skin. What a pitiful couple we were! But lessons learned now! Next time we go from sealevel to a high plateau we will ascend slowly over many days! And from now on the sunscreen 50+ will be applied to more than just my face, if I at all will lie several hours in a hammock in the sun at 3900m.
Now three days later we still have slight headaches, become breathless after walking up the steep hill to the hostal and my hand and arm are swollen - which Wikipedia says are common symtpoms. But in a few days we will probably be free from this 'mal de altura' even though La Paz is also above 3800m.

Last minute update: We are staying in Perú a while longer and not going to La Paz tomorrow.