Our visit to the past and true experience of the Inkan cultures began on Tuesday with a private van from Cusco city through the Sacred Valley and in to Ollaytaytambo - close to the beginning of the Inka Trail. Our first stop of the day was a village that GAP sponsors and has been able to build up whilst maintaining the local people's culture and the people who live here still do everything in the traditional way. So we saw woman dying, spinning and weaving wool - alpaca, llama and sheep. We also visited two Inka ruins today, Pisaq and a large fortress in Ollaytaytambo, that I can't quite remember the name of with our undercover guide Martin who was discreetly guiding us around (really you're meant to be registered as a Local Guide, tour leaders aren't allowed to guide) and telling several stories and sharing the fascinating history.

Wednesday - the beginning of the famous Inka Trail - the main thing I wanted to complete when I came to South America. For someone that wanted it so much, I didn't really know that much about it or really what to expect! It was, a challenge - but it was amazing to do and the feeling of walking across the top of the ridge into the sun gate and your first glance of Machu Picchu really is indescribable. Next time, I might be slightly more prepared for four days of hiking and a crazy amount of stone steps! I often thought, if the Inka's were such small people - why'd they make such massive steps?? During the fifteen century and earlier the Inka's created over 40,000km of treks through the Andes around Cuzco, these treks and still even different ruins are still being discovered now. There are so many treks you can do through the mountains, all of which would be amazing - the Inka Trail is just the most famous. Even that has only been running as a tourist activity since 1985. It has continually improved since then yet it is still quite rustic. Our tour however included porters, who carryed most of our stuff for us and all of the tents and food. These guys are so amazing, they have packs bigger than themselves but still blits past you everyday in time to make you food when you get to the camp site and have everything set up for you! Recently the government has imposed restrictions that porters are only allowed to carry 25kgs .. 25kgs! I certainly started to feel by 4kg day bag ha.

Day 1 is really designed to lull you in to a false sense of security I think. We started at an elevation of around 2,500m and camped at around 3,000m so it's only really 5ish hours of walking, 6ish km and most of it is relatively flat with only slight gradients either way, and not too many steps! There is gorgeous landscapes, snow-capped mountains, green mountains, valleys and rivers and on day 1 you have the time, and breathe, to really enjoy them. We saw one pretty impressive Inka ruin this day, 'Llactapata' which was the political and judicial centre for the surrounding area. We only saw this from a top but looked very large and very impressive for our first sight! The point we saw this from was an important lookout as you ccould see where all four valleys from each cardinal direction came.

Day 2 is the day everyone says is the hardest - It was pretty tough. 12k, climb a million steps to the highest point of the trek 4,200m at 'Dead Woman's Pass' and then down another million steps to the campsite which was around 3,600m. I think it was the steps that killed everyone really, and then once you get to Dead Woman's Pass ( the point of no return, from here you have to keep going you're not allowed to turn back) it's really quite cold. A bunch of us ended up doing this part of the trek faster than expected so we ended up having to wait over an hour up the top. Gorgeous views though! The campsite on Day 2 actually had a shower and by this point I was so dirty I felt I had too, this was the coldest shower I've ever had in my life! Straight from the mountains - ice fresh brrr.

Day 3 is the longest day - 15k overall decent of about 1000m and three mountain passes to cross - but also there is the most to see in terms of landscapes and ruins. From camp we went straight up to our first pass and ruin of the day 'Runkuraquy' - a circular lookout point for the Inkas. Because we left so early (around 6) is was still very misty when we arrived and it was quite a cool feeling exploring the really well preserved site and listening to Henry's (our local guide) story time in such conditions. We then went down and up again to the second major ruin 'Sayacmarca', which means 'inaccessible' and acted as a fortress for the Inkas and guarded the trails in to the main city of Machu Picchu.

After the second pass we also went to 'Phuyupa' which was next to a stream and you can still see the canal system they had set up. This place was quite a bit smaller and apparently would've been used as some sort of laboratory for all people around the area.

Our final ruin before our campsite for the night was 'Intipata' - this was solely agricultural terraces and was really quite amazing. There were just so many of them, it still boggles the mind to think how long it would've taken to make them all and, how far they had to trudge those stones in from in order to create them.

The views throughout Day 3 were amazing and really actually reminded me of NZ a bit, lots of green hill/mountain tops and valley and rivers ... we also walked through a lot of what I'd call bush trails very similar to what we have at home, they were even lined with fern type plants. However, the difference I would say is - Peruvian safety standards - there were a lot of sheer cliff face drops right next to the trail!

Day 4 - Wake up call at 3.45am! Last campsite pack up and simple breakfast to go join the masses waiting at the control to be let through at opening time - 5.30am! Only just over a two hour trek today so, really the easiest day ... relatively few stairs! I will be a happy girl if I don't need to climb another million stairs again anytime soon! As everyone left at the same time today the pace was pretty much dictated to everyone as we all headed toward the same goal - The Sun Gate ' .....' by 7am to see the sun rise over the mountains and light up our first glance of Machu Pitcchu! We got there in time and we miraculously had a beautiful clear morning - apparently rare - and it was simple breathtaking. The hugest feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction, the city is so much bigger than I ever imagine - truly a city. The first glance is indescribable really. From this point, only 40mins easy down hill until the next control and the official entrance of the city! Once there, Henry gave us an extensive tour of the whole city and shared so much of his history and the Inka people - really fascinating. No body really knows why Machu Pitcchu was abandoned as the Spanish never officially discovered and overtook it but there are several interesting, and some outlandish, theories. The whole city has been so well preserved and in a couple of places the government has attempted to recreate some examples of how it would've been in the fifteen century when the Inka's were at their Prime. It is truly amazing and so open and free, you can walk pretty much anyway, you can touch everything and really feel like you're getting involved in everyday life hundreds of years ago - Henry's story time certainly helped with that! In saying that, I really hope some restrictions are imposed soon - it would be an amazing shame to not preserve the city as well as possible. But, I am also very lucky to get to experience it in full while I still can ... people have only been doing the Inka Trail to Macchu Picchu since 1985 - so it's still a relatively new thing.

The most amazing day ever.