The Inca trail is is an amazing experience that I will never forget. The sense of achievement physically as well as mentally is second to none when you finally see Machu Picchu in all it´s glory!. The altitude affects people in different ways and it left me really short of breath. A solution was to chew/suck on Coca leaves making a kind of sweet with a black Catalyst substance to get the best affect...it didn't´t taste too good but did provide energy!. The porters on the trail were chewing them constantly. On day 2 (Dead Womans Pass - so called because of breast shaped mountains!) I awoke to a case of diarroa and a relapse of broncitus! So It turned out to be a hard day, once I got to camp I slept for 9 hours straight, took medication (necessito drugs!) and felt lots better the next day. Infact a complete turnaround! The trek was for 3 days with 70 percent of the 25 mile hike was covered in the first two days. Still, travelling is all about ups and downs!lol It was 4 nights camping reaching Machu Picchu early on the fourth day...thats a 4am wake up call to beat the crowds who take the morning train to the site.

The Incas didn´t have a written language so alot of the original names for the sites have been long forgotton, Machu Picchu is just the name of the mountain near the site. The Incas used astrology, religion and the sun to keep their power. Alot of the Inca sites were built with the summer and winter solaces in mind with sun rising over mountains and converging on Cranneries and alters! Pretty crazy people intill the Spanish came and conquored.

The food was really good on the trail, we had 18 porters who carried food, tents, tourist bags etc..we were carrying a pitifull 7 kgs in our daybags, they were carrying 30kgs plus and running the trail chewing on Coca leaves like no tomorrow! These guys do the Inca trail something like 52 times a year...I think they have a screw loose! Still, they make their money from tourists tipping which is all part of the Peruvian culture as well as overdosing on ham and cheese! (not for breakfast again please!!!) We would arrive at camp and our tents would already be up, they carried a dinning tent for godsake along with plates and cutlery!! Flashpacker camping! lol

I cant explain seeing Machu Picchu for the first time covered in mist, visibility was zero at the sun gate but it soon cleared over the main attraction. Walking along pathways created by ancient civilisations with shear drops on one side was an amazing experience to share with the people in my group, I could have got a group of idiots to spend 21 days with!!! I miss the mountains but not the never ending stairs!!