The Inca Trail!

---

We did it! We arrived back to Cuzco after finishing the Inca trail at about 10pm last night. I´m still a bit sore and very knackered but quite proud! The walk was 42km in total and about half of that was uphill! Luckily we had a really great group and guide which made the whole thing fun instead of torture!

And sleeping in a tent wasn´t great for muscle pain. But the food was brilliant and luckily we had sunshine for the whole 4 days!

Day 1
We were picked up at 4am to get the bus to the starting point no wonder we were tired!You have to go through passport control to get onto the Inca Trail which is quite strange and after that we all posed for a group picture at the famous sign start of the trail. Then we had a day of walking 16km in the bright sunshine which meant that the scenery looked beautiful but made us quite hot and sweaty! We stopped for lunch before a 2hour uphill climb and were erlieved to discover that the food was amazing. Our lunch was trout, rice, chips, avocado stuffed with chicken and cheese and salad. It was just about enough to get us up that hill! Halfway up the hill we saw a grey deer about 3 metres away from us! A really pretty one with long eyelashes. It stayed for a few seconds before realising we were there and running off but it was really cool to see it that close. We finally arrived at the campsite at 4.30pm and were absoltuely knackered. All of us were ready for bed after tea and were asleep by 8.30pm. Unfortunately bed was a sleeping bag with a very thin sleeping roll in a tent in the middle of the mountains. It was a really lovely location but in the night it got absolutely FREEZING! It was so cold that on the first night I slept in 2 pairs of trousers, 3 fleeces, a tshirt and 2 paris of socks. Ben being Ben tried to sleep in just his boxer shorts then woke up in the middle of the night practically an ice cube and gave in to putting on more clothes! Sleeping on the hard ground wasn´t great for the muscles and we were all a bit achey the next day!

Day 2
14km walk starting with an hour and a half climbing up a mountain aptly named "Dead Woman´s Pass". We were so proud when we got to the top as it was the highest point of the trail at over 4200metres. As a reward our guide gave us some rum! (which has more effect than usual at that altitude and in the middle of the day). Then we had to climb 1000metres downhill which was not as strenuous but hard on the knees so i had to go sooooo slllllooooowwwwlllllyyyy. luckily there was another guy in our group with dodgy knees too so there was a group of us at the back! Tea was beef and about five different types of carbohydrates to get us through the next day!

Day 3
A more relaxed day but still not easy because our legs were ahing so much! We went into a kind of foresty bit with brilliant views of the mountains and bright pink orchids and blue hummingbirds everywhere! We then got to a bit with a 2 hour walk down really steep steps. Even the first few were hurting my knee too much so the guide concluded that I needed to be carried (pity knees can handle uphill) by 2 porters who tookit in turn. So I was fastened to a porters back and he literally ran down the steps which were not only really steep but also narrow and uneven the whole way. It was actually quite scary I had to keep my eyes closed for most of it. And guess what the names of the porters that carried me were? Jesus and Angel! No kidding! Back at the campsite there were showers which were muh needed after 2 days.

Day 4
Another 4am start to avoid the tourists then a one hour walk to Machu Picchu which is absolutely amazing. We were lucky enough to get sunshine too. It is really fantastic because its right in the middle of huge mountains. It has 4 temples, loads of farmland for different crops, and housing for about 1200 people (they think mostly women, children and priests) which is extraordinary when it took hundreds of thousands of people over 150 years to build it! Unfortunately nobody really knows anything about how it was built or exactly what for because it was abandoned when the spanish attacked and all of the Incas found in the area were killed. If you dont know what Machu Picchu looks like then google it now! Its one of the most amazing things I have ever seen and definitely worth the trek and the sore muscles.

We are heading to Arequipa tomorrow night (after the Champions League final of course) and then Huacachina for some sand buggying. Will update you soon! See you all in a month and a bit!

xxxxxxxxxx

---