To put this height in perspective, many of the highest mountains in the United States outside of Alaska, like the Sierra Nevadas in California and the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, are between 14,000 and 16,000 feet high. The highest point in New York state is Mount Marcy, in the Adirondacks, but it's only 5,344 feet high!
As soon as we landed, we noticed that it was quite difficult to breathe, not because of the smoke pollution, but because there is much less oxygen in the air when you are this high above sea level. After about a week at this elevation, we began to acclimate to life at altitude, meaning we could breathe easier and our bodies weren't as tired as they were when we first arrived.
