High in Peru’s Andes Mountains, nearly 8,000 feet above sea level, you start to feel the onset of what locals call mal de montaña—altitude sickness. Your head pounds, your body feels cold, and your fellow traveler’s annoyingly dumb jokes suddenly seem hilariously funny. The spectacular view from your mountainside perch—over Putucusi, or “Happy Mountain,” a jungle thick with orchids, and the angular, Tetris-like ruins of Machu Picchu—begins to seem dizzying.

Luckily, all you have to do is to enjoy and call room service when anything is needed. Within minutes, the staff at the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge will deliver steeped coca leaves, a local cure-all with a green tea–like taste, and the fog in your head will lift. Then you’ll realize once again how perfect your whereabouts are: you’re cocooned in comfort, but still on top of the world.

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