So the Inca Trail was no walk in the park. We were very lucky in that it didn't rain any of the time that we were actually trekking, just a couple of times during the nights. Our ´family´ of 27 for the 4 days were 22 x Argentinean, 1 x Kiwi, 1 x Spanish, 1 x German and the 2 of us. It just so happened that the Argies were some sort of fitness freaks and insisted on completing each day's walk in half the time given.

The first day was quite easy in comparison to the other days but even the coca leaves that we chewed to help with the altitude could not prepare of us for the 1200m climb we had awaiting us the next morning. We left a tad early to get a little headstart on the Argies but it wasn't long before they came steaming past and they were lost to us for the remainder of the day. With one of the guides constantly supplying Gina with muna (Peruvian plant used to combat altitude sickness) to sniff all the way up the last 500m, some hours later we made it through the clouds to the top peak of Dead Woman´s Pass (4215m) and celebrated with a big bar of dairy milk G had had sent out from home - it was well worth the effort to look back and see what we had climbed.

The third day was the longest day of walking, and the day to see other Inca archeological sites, but instead of the usual 9 hour trek, our group had finished and started lunch within 7 hours (us within 7.5 hours), so we had plenty of time to recuperate before the 3.45am rise the next day for the trek to Machu Picchu. On our arrival at the campsite however, we were welcomed with the bad news - the promised hot shower that we could have there (and only shower on the trek) was in fact icier than ice cold. But anyway, after a couple hours of trekking in the morning, aching and exhausted, we made it to the sungate…being rainy season however, meant that there was no sun…but what a relief it was to finally see Machu Picchu. Short lived as it was, as a few minutes later it was covered by a huge cloud!

So we wandered down to the site, had a 2 hour tour and took all the postcard pictures - a really beautiful place, and completely surreal to finally be there. We were a bit worse for wear by this point so made our way back to Cusco fairly soon afterwards on the really scenic train journey, unfortunately though this could not to be completely appreciated as most of the journey was spent by the side of the toilet - oh dear!