Well after years of wanting to trek Machu Picchu...and after the months of planning it has now been conquered by yet another two tourists...a Mr Aidan Waters and Bronwyn Davis. As with any trips you undertake it is not only the sights that make the trip worth while but the people you meet along the way and thankfully we had a great bunch of people walking with us that made the experience one we will never forget. So let me introduce you to ... Victor-Our indigenous guide who had a cold on the whole trek. Javier and Susan-The Spainsh Professors who reside in Colorado USA or shall we just call them out interpretors. Guido and Barbara-The Italians who only spend 9 months a year in their own country and rest travelling the world! Shaun-The Canadian who has more energy than me! Vicki, Luke and Emily-Our other Aussie counterparts who call the Gold Coast home. So the scene has been set, let the adventure begin. DAY 1 A wake up call...4:20am (just typical for Peru they seem to make us start everything early!), and a short stroll to the SAS bus (our travel agency). After a 2 hour bus ride through the Sacred Valley we reached Km 82 and a breakfast on a clothed table. This also began our feast, as apart from walking and talking all day we ate, and we ate and we ate. First day was fairly easy walking and many signs of civilisation around us were visible. Such as the railway line, electricity cables, local farms etc because we were walking on the border of the national park. DAY 2 After a very huge dinner, a few card games to better acquaint ourselves with our fellow travellers and a fantastic night sleep in the mountains we are awoken at 6am with a tap on our tent and a serving of hot tea made to our liking. Can get used to this wake-up call! A hearty breakfast is served in our dining tent to get us ready for our big day of walking. Today is the tough day. Majority of the group have hired porters to carry their backpacks today but not us we went all the way with the packs, actually must say I was the only chick that carried a bag from our group that day! The first half of the day was up, up and more up. Majority of the path were rock steps which made the walk even harder. The start of the day we walked through lush green forest just as the vegetation began to change because we had climbed so far up in altitude we stopped for lunch. The clearing was the perfect view point, if it wasn't for the wind and rain coming in at a 90 degree angle. Never fear our kind porters had already set up our dining tent and had hot soup ready for us by the time we got there. Another hour or so of up the steep ridge to get to the pass. Fantastic views here as we hiked higher than the clouds. Unfortunately the view from the top of the pass was pretty much clouded in but at least it provided us with a stop for air (as thin as it was) before we began our descent. Descent was surprisingly easier than the up however the persistent rain made it a little slippery. And believe it or not no falls from either of us on the slippery steps down, down, down. We reached our campsite by 3pm, weary, exhausted and excited that the hardest day was over. The campsite was situated beside a river with an awesome 360 degree of mountains surrounding us in our little valley. DAY 3 Today is described as the tour companies as the únforgetable'day of hiking. Walking through cloud forests, past waterfalls, through inca ruins and spectacular views across the mountains and valleys. Unfortunately it rained pretty much all day. Although we did not get to appreciate the beauty of the area from the viewpoints we could appreciate the beauty of the cloudforests, mountains, ruins and sheer diversity of the area. That evening we camped with all the trekkers on the trail a total of around 200. Tent city! Our porters put on a fabulous final dinner for us with over 10 courses that we could hardly touch the sides of let alone finish. Early to bed this night so that we could be prepared for a very early start - 3.45 wake up call, 4.15 breakfast and 4.50 start! Why you may ask? So we could reach the Sun Gate (sunrise lookout point at Machu Pichu) for sunrise. DAY 4 We treached along the wet, muddy and lush path in the wee hours of the morning reaching the Sun Gate completed soaked from walking in the rain! Yep you guessed it no sunrise either. Well I guess there was one somewhere beneath the clouds that cloaked us in. Several dismal, wet and tired bodies dragged ourselves down to Machu Pichu city lookout point. Although we were very disappointed the day (and Machu Pichu) ended up being more beautiful and mystical than expected. The cloud covering over the city of Machu Pichu would move aside like a curtain parting to give us a sneak preview of the show ahead and then the curtain of cloud would be pulled back into place once again hiding the lost city of Machu Pichu. We spent a couple of hours walking around Machu Pichu with our guide explaining the importance of the main areas of the lost city followed by a couple of hours just sitting around taking the whole magical place in. Early in the afternoon we continued along the Inca Trail to reach the city of Aguas Caliente. A town with three rivers set in a valley amongst the mountain. A beautiful town with hot springs, no cars and in general a very pleasant resort town. We spent the afternoon chilling out with our travelling friends reminising about our Inca Trail journey. Some of our travelling party left this evening for a train bound to Cusco while the rest of us were going to get an early night and catch a train in the morning (5.45).