Well what can I say about Peru? Not a lot really, the city has very few tourist attractions, the hostels were dead because not many people tend to stay in Lima and it has no nightlife. The less said about the beach the better. There was one nice part of Lima called Miraflores which was a small little resort by the beach, with restaurants and bars, but the best part about Lima was that there was a Hooters bar there, of course I spent a few hours there, ok maybe an afternoon. After spending a few days in Lima, which was enough, I headed to Cusco, and the altitude really does hit you when you step off the plane. Was finding it hard to breath and the headaches also, or maybe that was just because I was hungover. Having spent the night in the hostel gasping for air trying to acclimatise to the altitude, I had to be up at 5am as I was starting my 4 day treck of the Inca trail. Our tour group was fairly small with only 5 of us, me, a german couple Anka and Martin and two American guys, Nate and Pat. Along with our tour guide Gerson who was a great laugh and 6 porters and a chef. Our first day was a reasonably easy day, with the first 11km being flat with a few hilly parts here and there. The porters and chef were just amazing and the food was even better. There was me thinking I was going to lose some tubby fat during the Inca trail, guess I was wrong. Our breakfast consisted of bread, jams, porridge, pancakes, eggs and fruit salad and that was just breakfast. The porters were just so hepful and humble but what really stood out was their fitness. We would finish breakfast and start our hike for the day, leaving them to pack the tents and the food and cooking equipment away and yet you will see them running past you twenty minutes later on the trail with twice the amount of equipment that you are carrying on their backs and running in sandals. By the time you reach your campsite, evertyhing is ready for you, food and your tents setup for you to crawl into. Each year there is a race between the porters, chefs and tour guides on the Inca trail and there are cash pizes for the top 3. Seeing as we do the 45km (just over 28 miles) treck in 4 days, the record time is 3 hours and 30min by a 17yo porter. Not only has this kid beaten my marathon time of 4hrs and15min which by the way is only 26.2 miles, he ran it in sandals up a bloody mountain!!! I think I need to do more training if I want to compete with that guy. Anyhow, the treck was amazing. Arriving at our first camp site and with views of beautiful snow topped mountains and clouds only a few metres above us. The nightsky was breath taking, I do not think I have seen so many stars in my life. The 2nd day was the challenge day, we had climbed from 2600m upto 3200m on our first day, now we had to reach the highest peak on the trail of 4200m. The weather helped as it was the only day which it wasn't raining and not having wet and heavy clothes helped us a lot. The german couple left half way through the 2nd day as Anka was not feeling well prior to the trail. Her boyfriend Martin went back with her, even though we could see he didn't want to, he didnt have much of a choice. So that left just 3 of us, me, Pat and Nate with our tour guide Gerson, chef and 6 porters, we felt a bit spoilt. I found the 3rd day the toughest as it rained the whole day, even with a raincoat and poncho I was soaked. We finally reached our campsite at Wina Wanya, where there are Inca ruins, it transalates into Forever Young. Having our Last supper was a sad moment. Our chef, Semon had made a feast for us, with steak, potatos, veggies, pasta and more. His artistic touch was humourous, making a Condor, which is a sacred Inca bird out of an aubergine and a porter made out of a carrot with a small penis made out of an end of a match stick, it gave us a few chuckles. Pat being fluent in Spanish prepared a speech after dinner to thank the porters and chef for their hard work and making the last 4 days such a memorable time. What with it being our last night of the trail, there was a party with all the other tours, after a few beers we were quite hammered with the altitude taking its affect. The final day was hard going as we started our hike to Machu Picchu at 5am, for we had to pass a few control checks. It was meant to take us 3hrs but becasue we are just so amazing we did it in 2hrs and 15min. Again the cloudy weather spoilt the day a little but the clouds did break enough for us to see the mounains around Machu Picchu. I was pleased to see some Lamas there, as I hadn't seen one on the treck so far, although they are placed there to add to the effect of the attraction, as they tend to live above altitudes of 4000m and Machu Picchu is at 2600m. Arriving back in Cusco and having a nice warm shower and feeling dry again was nice. A few more days in Peru and I go to Guatemala for my tour of Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Mexico for one month. I hope you are all well. Take care and of eachother Adios