Hi Everyone

Well finally I've got a chance to sit down at a computer and update this part of the site. Trekking in Peru was fantastic, and was definetly one of the highlights of our trip so far.

The first day we had to get up at 4am, pack our clothes (some of which were still wet because we made the mistake of washing them the day before), and pile into an overloaded taxi to catch a leaky bus in the rain and fog. On the bus we met Sarah and Anna from the USA, James and Bodil from Australia and Denmark, and Tony and Alba from Barcelona.

After about 3 hours on the bus, we had breakfast and started walking. The first day was wet and slippery in some places, and mostly uphill. We camped in probably the coldest place possible to pitch a tent on this earth, everyone ate and went straight to bed.

The second day was probably the most strenuous, we continued uphill from first light until about 11 am, at which time we reached the top of the Salkantay pass at about 4800m above sea level. everyone was breathing pretty hard for this, there not much air up there. Except for Anna that is, who is training for a triathlon and practically jogged up the mountain and didn't lose her breath. We watched our guide give thanks to the Gods for a safe passage through the pass, then walked downhill for the rest of the day.

The next 2 days were "Peruvian Flat", meaning they were up and down without really changing elevation much. Along the way we saw strawberries growing in the wild, ate fruits that we'd never had before, and went on a cable car across a river. Showers were either skipped, or were a brisk dip in a river. The food was Peruvian cuisine cooked by our cook and his assistant - and we ate pretty well. The sand flies were one thing that we could have done without.

On the fourth afternoon, we reached Aguas Calientes, which is the tourist town near Machu Picchu. We slept in beds here, and had hot showers. Also had a warm (not hot) bathe in the thermal baths. The next day we set off super super early (4am we got up) to climb the Inca stairs to Machu Picchu. This was incredible. When we arrived, the place was blanketed in fog, and you couldn't see anything. When the fog cleared, the size and perfection of the city were revealed. We spent probably half the day wandering around and climbing the mountain above it. After that, we were completely over walking, so we went (walking) back down the stairs to Aguas Calientes where we had a huge lunch (we were starving) and Dave and James haggled for some beer, some of which was cold.

It wasn't over yet. Our train didn't leave Aguas Calientes until late, and by the time we got to the connecting bus, it was gone. We had to get another guy to take us (luckily for free) back to Cusco. We arrived at our hostel at 1am.