A 5.30am wake up with a knock at the tent and the offer of cocoa tea. We got up and ready and had some breakfast. At breakfast our guide Nick told us that we are heading over dead womens pass at 4200m and that we will be having 2 breaks on the way up. The first part was a little steep but soon after it was time for our first break, that wasn;t too bad I thought. The next part Nick warned of Inca stairs... I didn't hear that part so off I trotted. After lots and lots of stairs and coughing, 50 minutes had passed and I had reached stop number 2. Here a couple of the group were already waiting and there was a place ot buy pisco, so a bottle was bought for later. After about 40minutes, the rest of the group caught up and Nick warned of more steps and uphill before reaching the top of the pass. Again I headed out feeling good, 5 minutes in, the coughing again begun and I was getting fatigued quickly. Soon it became a mind game, just get to the next tree, then rest and then keep going. After about an hour of this I heard cheering and knew I was at the top. Here again 3 members of the group were waiting, another came 10minutes after me and then another hour until the rest came. It then started to become cold on top and so we begun the decent. I felt slower on the decent as it was steep and it begun to spit so the steps were slippery. I saw a few people in fonrt of me slip on the ground.

We made it to camp around 12.30pm and had a rest before hot soup and cooked chicken stir fry. After this it was time for a nap, I only managed a small nap as I was coughing alot. At about 5pm we got the pisco and a deck of cards and begun to play. Our assistant guide Carlos played and cheated a few times.

Dinner soon followed and we learnt that we had some more uphill before a long day of downhill tomorrow. Time for a good night sleep and less coughing hopefully.