Well I actually made it! After so many years of thinking about it I have successfully completed the 4 day inca trek. Was quite the journey of emotions; awe at the constant breathtaking scenery, anger at the Incas for building things on top of bloody mountains, massive respect for the amazing porters and frustration at my crappy knees. All that was forgotten when we finally reached the sun gate and peered down at machu pichu, magical.

The four day journey starts off in the Sacred Valley of the Incas near the inca town of Ollantaytambo. Crossing the start bridge looking up, you're surrounded by mountains. Beautiful to look at, a b**** to climb, especially given my friend, altitude. The first day is mostly a pleasant walk, Peruvian Flat they call it, up and down (though more ups than I personally like). There was one particular up that had me thinking "s***, what have I got myself into". Turns out that would only be a tiny hill.

The scenery on the first day was a patchwork of green and yellow rolling hills. We went past some weathered looking farmers selling us much needed aqua at greatly inflated prices, some moaned, personally I commend their business acumen. We wound along the river until we started to climb.

Our team of 18 porters would run ahead, set up a dining tent for lunch and put on a 2 course meal. These men are phenomenal, especially the 67 year old. Felt like a bit of a muppet watching him run pass with a full load on his back (usually 20 - 25kg). My 5kg day pack felt pretty heavy on my precious western back. I liberally gave out coca toffees and candies as they ran past to ease my conscience.

First nights camping was at a beautiful spot, half way up a mountain over looking the valley below, surrounded by snow capped peaks. Llamas roaming about added to the whole scene. No showers, baby wipes for 4 days and a rather suspect toilet, though by no means the worst I've ever met. A scary thought. Again a 3 course meal put on for us. No chance of going hungry. Bedtime at 8:30, unheard of for me but happy to do so with a 6am wake call on the other side. After all, one needs to be well rested to climb mountains.

Day 2. Hurt. Bad. We were reaching for "dead woman's pass", a big climb, 1200 metres infact. The name itself is enough to instill fear in me. Looking up at the trail that seemed to never end, I was ready to pay a porter a ridiculous amount of money to get me up there, or just start crying. Things became even more unpleasant as some altitude sickness set in, headache and nausea are not that fun when scrambling up mountains. Turns out my body isn't keen on anything near 5000m above sea level. Fair enough too.

Once I actually made it, largely thanks to Emmett and our amazing guide Ray, the Inca Gods rewarded me with rain. Not really a problem in the getting wet sense as I was poncho ready. Unfortunately after climbing 1200m it was time to go down 800m. Now the Inca were not tall people so I'm not sure what business they had building steps so deep you almost have to jump. I guess in their defense maybe after 500 years the rocks have all moved about a bit and become more slippery? It was kinda fun in an extreme sport way. I only slipped once and didn't break anything. Watching the porters run past I have no idea how they don't break everything. I think everyone's legs screamed a sigh of relief when the camp site came into view, once again in an astonishingly beautiful setting nestled amongst the mountains.

By day 3 we had reached cloud forest after going through various micro climates. Inca ruins along the way were becoming more frequent. Usually that of "lodges" for those on the way to machu pichu or sentries to keep an eye on their empire. Locals are pretty much non existent at this point, just Trekkers, porters and the mountains. The day was a long, but beautiful walk literally winding up around the mountains. Looking down there were some pretty amazing drops, best to stick mountainside. No guard rails in Peru.

We all knew what would confront us at the end of the day, 'the Gringo Killers'. Not intimidating at all right? This is basically 2 hours of steps down. When I say steps keep in mind the path is 500 years old. Many parts are now steep, slick, uneven stones parading as steps. Others are so deep my knees refused to bend, resulting in a jumping action, not overly safe in the drizzle. Hurling myself down and hoping for the best did cross my mind. Thank God I had my trusty poles, I will never make fun of anyone for using them again.

Day 3 also had Emmett and I pretty much done with the inane crap most of our group talked. To be fair I guess that happens when you get a group of 20ish year old guys together, but it seems my patience for it (If I ever had any) has all but disappeared. Honestly how long can one really talk about farting? This had us happily entrenched at the back of the trekking line talking to Ray about Peruvian life and not listening to chat about 'puds' (I'm sure you can all figure out what they were referring too).

There was definately a buzz about at our final campsite, which cascades down the hill reflecting the inca ruins across from us. We were so close, machu pichu mountain was insight, the magical ruins apparently just on the other side. We had our final dinner, very gratefully said thank you and goodbye to our porters who made the trek so much easier than it could have been and retired to bed. A very early wake up call was coming our way. Gross.

3:30am came way to soon. Got dressed, shoved down a pancake and scrambled down in the dark to join the front of the line to enter machu pichu national reserve, opening at 5:30am. No rain meant spirits were high but possible queue jumpers were still yelled at in various languages. One must be consistent about these things.

The gates finally opened and off we went. We'd been told it was Peruvian flat, there was some of that but mainly winding our way up a mountain on the steps the Inca lay so many years ago. The views down into the valley were stunning, not that we paid much attention, we were on a mission.

Everyone was very polite and civilized letting the faster people pass, as had been the case for the whole trek, guess we were all in it together so felt a certain sense of camaraderie. There's always an exception to the rule and of course they had to be Aussies. Two guys dressed like they were heading to Bondi bowled past everyone, not ideal on a narrow, high path. They were running to sun gate for sunrise. Being we were 2 hours away and the sun had already started rising we wished then luck with a 'muy stupido'.

After a particularly constant up section including ridiculously steep 'monkey stairs' I could see some form of old building up ahead. A second wind came to me, we had reached the top of the mountain, it was the sun gate. Making our way through, the opposite valley opened up and there in the middle of it all was Machu Pichu, looking all magical and majestic.

Having been on my list of must see's for so many years I can't tell you how excited I was to see it. There was a big dose of relief too; always the case when you've been thinking about something so long and it doesn't let you down. Plus my knees had doubled in size so the end to trekking thrilled me.

Trekking there is definitely the way to go. I have been lucky enough to see many wonders of the world, this one has them all covered for natural setting. Peering down at the ruins is spectacular, then as you wind your way down to them (about 30 minutes), more of machu pichu is revealed. Unlike the postcards it's not just the ruins in front on the peak, they spread out around it.

Walking around was a strange experience, a little other worldly for me. There I was standing in the Condor temple where 500 years ago the high priest was making his sacrifices, at times human. Being I have not yet come to terms with dinosaurs, contrary to some pretty compelling evidence, I struggle to comprehend this too.

Once again I was struck by the workmanship of these people. Many buildings that had been abandoned, swallowed by the surrounding forest and once again reclaimed are still standing as if little time had passed. Their obvious fitness also amazes me, constructing huge buildings up mountains. Even more mind boggling when one looks up at the peak behind mach pichu, hauna pichu. Almost a vertical climb reaching up to some stone work precariously perched on the narrow mountain top. Unfortunately entry rules have recently changed and our ticket didn't allow us up there. Thank God.

We spent a couple of hours wandering the terraces, ruins and just sitting soaking in the peaceful atmosphere. Even though the longer we stayed the more tourist swarms arrived it still maintains a strange calm about it. Definitely some positive chi about.

The usual clap of thunder early afternoon was our signal to reluctantly leave. Probably would have sat there all day otherwise. We jumped on a bus that winds its way down to the nearby town of Agua Caliente. Proper toilets were a highlight. A 5 hour train back to cusco was very scenic, especially being it takes a route through the valley we had been peering down into for 4 days. Looking up and seeing some of the inca ruins we had gone through perched on the mountains so high above I was amazed. Amazed at the incas and amazed that I actually hiked up there!

Most of our group had decided to do the 24 hour challenge, meaning no bed until after 3:30am. Being I have done the 24 hr "challenge" many a Saturday night, we'd just hiked for 4 days and we simply didn't want to, we gave it the big thumbs down. We got back to the hotel, put on a movie in English and ordered in a pizza. Is there a better way to finish off the inca trek?!?