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So the time had come for the Inca trail. We weren't sure if we had adapted to the altitude well enough to do it but were excited when the bus collected us at 0500 from our hostel. The bus journey to the start of the trail (km82) wasnt too long and we were ready to go after a breakfast of scrambled eggs. First stage was to get our passports checked it was nearly like going into a different country. There were 16 people in our group and 21 porters and 2 guides so all in all we were a big enough group. The first day was the introductory day so it was handy enough apart form the boiling heat. We made it to lunch where I eat way too much food and then struggled for the afternoon but we arrived at our first campsite with no casualties. The chef was amazing by the way and somehow he managed to whip up an amazing meal each morning/midday/night. We just rested in the campsite for the night.

the second day began at 0445 with coca tea. This is meant to be the toughest day with a climb to the height of 4200 meters above sea level. Mairead hired an extra porter for the accent. For me the walk up to the pass was handy enough but it was on the walk down to the overnight campsite was what killed me the downhill walking didn't do much good for my knees. Spent the evening playing cards and shivering due to the cold at the high altitude.

Again we woke at 0445 on the third day. We walked for the first two passes without food in our stomachs which was tough but when we arrived at breakfast site two hours later I was glad we waited. Our cook cooked omlettes, pancakes and lots of nice things. We walked trough cloud forest for the rest of the day and arrived at our final campsite in good time. This was where the party/disco was meant to happen but it was full of young school kids so we just went back played more cards and went to bed early because we decided to get up extra early to reach the sungate first in the morning.

Final day and our decision to leave early cost us our breakfast. Then when we reached the sun gate where the iconic view of the Inca terraces and house is meant to appear we were disappointed with cloud covering the whole scene. As we treked down the hill towards to machu picchu the cloud blew over and we saw the amazing town of the Incas. We walked past one day tourists of Machu Picchu and they asked were we the 4day campers I think they could smell us coming and they smelled so good with their cleanness.........

We spent a bit of the day in Machu Picchu and then went to Aguas Calientes where we nearly plunged to our death when we met another bus on the way sown the steep decent luckily the bus driver was awake. As we got on the train back to Cusco I think we appreciated what we had done and we really felt the tirdness so it must have been tough its difficult to take it all in at the time........but it will take something amazing to knock the Inca trail off the top spot in our experiences.....



The next two weeks were not great because i was a little sick and that caused us to miss our boatride in Pisco and our sandboarding in Huauachina which was a shame. We went to Lima so I could recover and I eventually relenquished my manpride and went to the doctor where he said I was severely dehydrated and needed a drip. Anyway after i was rehydrated it felt like I had been detoxed. You would spend alot of money on that at home. All you need is a dodgey Peruvian dish and your sorted..........

We flew from Lima to Santiago and then to Sydney ready for the next stage in our adventure..................it took a while to get there though and we lost a day in our lives due to the time changes as well........

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