Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! What a brilliant few days it has been! I hope I can do justice to everything that happened and how I felt, but sometimes words are not enough! Arriving in Cuzco n the 1st May, we did bits of sightseeing for a couple of days, whilst also trying to catch up on some much needed rest and for me, get rid of my squits! Then Thursday was the start of the 3 day hike to the site of Machu Picchu, the famous lost city of the Incas set amongst the clouds. Our whole group consisted of 16 people doing the trail, being led by two guides Ali and Herby, both of whom were a great laugh. On top of that we had 21 porters and chefs who carried all the stuff. All of them really were amazing people. They would get up hours before we did, cook breakfast, take down all the tents and then we would see them running, yes running past us further down the trail, carried up to 25 kilos on their back and just wearing sandals. One of them, Benito, was 62 years old! And they we were struggling with a small backpack on and with the aid of a stick! Day 1 was a fairly gentle day; a good preparation for the gruelling day 2, which began with getting up at 6am and ascending 900m to around 4200m above see level, and then back down a further 700m to our lunch spot. To say it was hard work would be an understatement! The final full days trekking was much of the same, and by the time we reached our tents on the helipad just outside of Aguas Calientes, there was some serious foot massages going on! Because we had set a good pace, we had time to go to the hot springs, which was the closest thing we came to having a shower for the 4 days! It was really nice though just relaxing in the hot water whilst the whole group had a couple of beers - all that was missing was a cigar! As a group, we all got on so so well, it really added to the enjoyment of the whole trip. Added to that, from a personal level, I seemed to grow in stature s much, and was the centre of the entertainment each night. I don't think we stopped laughing for the whole 4 days, and it was great to be at the heart of that, even if much of the laughs were at my expense! The food we had was fantastic every single day - both lunch and dinner were 3 course meals and there wasn't a single thing that I didn't enjoy, even if every meal was a little cosy with so many people crowded round a flimsy little table! On the final night, a few of us stopped off for another beer on the way back from the hot baths, and then we had a few more with dinner, as the two Canadians in the group had lugged 3 crates of beer back to camp. We gave one to crate to the porters and guides, with it soon becoming clear that Herby couldn't handle much drink! Then we set about sorting out the tips that we were going to give to everyone. Needless to say the responsibility of handling 1600 soles (about 270 quid) fell to the "accountant" - I didn't tell anyone until after that I hadn't even started training yet! I felt so content falling asleep in the tent with the soft sound of the river only a couple of meters away being quite soothing, and a almost forgot about all my aching limbs. That was, until we got up at 4am in order to try and be the first ones at Machu Picchu! The site gets an incredible amount of hype, which obviously meant that there was a chance that it would be a bit of an anti climax, but it wasn't at all. It really does live up to its reputation, and the fact that we had gone through so much pain to get there gave it an even bigger sense of achievement! It is probably just easiest if I let the photos do the rest of the talking now! Back in Cuzco on Sunday night, most of the group met up and headed out for a right old session. I say most - Ballard cried off because he was too tired the big girl! Many more laughs were had, especially when some porn came on whilst we eating dinner, and there was a select group of 5 of us who made it past 4am - a 24 hour day! Stumbling up the hill to the hostel at around 430am, I muttered something to the guy on reception, woke Karl up, had verbal diarrhoea for 5 mins and then finally passed out, and one of the best days f the trip so far was over! The next day, I woke up at 3pm, and then we did it all over again as a few of us met up for dinner, where I tried the local speciality - guinea pig! Right now I feel on top of the world and am really excited about the things we have got coming up - less than 6 wks to go now! Until my next adventure................ Jonny