After waiting for several months the day had finally arrived. The day before the most intense workout that would last for 4 full days, the Inca trail. But before we all got ready, we had to celebrate 2 birthdays, so we all had our last dinner as a group, since the next day, some would do the Inca trail and some would take another trekking route, the Quarry Trail. During the celebration you could sense everyone was nervous about the next morning. Questions like how much toilet paper did you buy?( one of the most important items, because no toilet paper was provided) or How many clothes are you going to bring? Etc..  everyone was making sure they were prepared including me!. That night me and Phil ate lots of carbs, just adding to that energy that we would be needing the next day.

1st day on the Inca trail

Next morning, we had an early start followed by a heavy breakfast and of course coca tea to help with altitude and energy. I was so nervous that day that I almost forgot English and made several trips to the bathroom but it was time to meet our guide to start the trek. 

After a short drive from Oleatetambo to the start point of the Inca trail we had a stop where we saw for the first time all our crew. About 22 porters ( little strong men that would carry all the bags, food, chairs, tents etc.) and 3 guides just for 14 people!. There we left our luggage and we kept our personal bags for the trek which were mainly was full of snacks, water and rain jacket and of course lots of toilet paper. We then formed a circle and met our new "family", mainly people from our tour plus new 4 members, and off we go, the adventure begins!. The adrenaline was definately running through my veins.. About 15 minutes later we got to our fist checkpoints. The first 5 people went through with no problem, then the guard decided he needed to use the bathroom so we all had to wait until he went to the nearest one and back, that was around a 15 min wait. We showed our passport, got our souvenir stamp :) and we started the Inca trail(ahhhhh).  For the first 30 minutes the walk seemed very easy, no steps yet and a very flat road. Then when we least expected the weather turned cloudy and cold and the trek started to change with long steps and steeper inclines. Everyone seemed alright, keeping the same pace, no one was left behind. During the first 2 hrs hike, there were a lot of little shops selling water, snacks, Gatorade, Coca candies and all that stuff. At that point I thought awesome!.. If I run out of snacks I will be good!. Until we got to our snack spot, there our guides told us that if we needed anything else this will be one of the last chances to do it. Everyone was enjoying their 20 minute rest until Orlando (our main guide decided it was time to go), but unfortunately one person on our group decided it was time for her to go back to the main town since it was hard for her. So there it was we lost one guide and a person in our group. 

Orlando said to us only 1 more hr until we get to our lunch spot!. I instantly thought that means maybe will have like an hour lunch plus time to rest but it didn't work like that. Once we got to our lunch spot, we were received by enthusiastic people clapping and taking us to the right direction. Next thing we go inside a big tent where there's chairs and a big table which they had set up after racing ahead of us where we would be eating for the next 3 days. I never thought camping was so "luxurious" lol.The first big plate was passed around all full of delicious stuff and at the end they brought out a large bowl of guacamole... Ahhh I was in heaven!... 

After everyone was done  with their meal and tea it was time to keep walking...no rest was allowed!. We walked for about 2 to 3 more hrs, but this time he let us to do it by our own pace. Basically he told us where to go and he said " you will see a bridge, after that bridge our camping site should be the second spot to your left". Luckily almost everyone made it except one lady that I'm guessing was happily walking slowly which meant that she didnt arrive at the camping site for about 1hr. Yep she walked for an extra hour and one of the porters found her and helped her back to the camping site. 

After that we got time to stretch our legs and relax for 20 minutes before our afternoon tea. This tea time was more like Latino tea.. With popcorn and hot sauce but always with delicious snacks!. After that we had about 1 hr before our proper dinner which was always amazing food followed by dessert. The first night it was Laura's birthday and the chef made her a cake without an oven(!)... That's right without an oven!.. Don't know how he did it, but we celebrated her birthday and the cake was very tasty!.
That night we were so exhausted that we went to bed right after dinner. 
The end of our fist day, I felt accomplished and happy that we were on our way to Maccupicchu. It's really an amazing feeling, because you know that after all this hard work an amazing thing will be discovered by us!.

2nd day

This was by far the hardest most painful day. We started at 6am. The routine was: wake up call by the guides with hot water to wash your face, and a cup of hot tea. After that we had about 30 minutes to change, pack and leave our luggage outside our tent. Breakfast was served on the dot. We had a lot of options always: fruit, pankcakes, bread, butter, jam,tea, hot chocolate and sometimes eggs. 
After breakfast we started our walking routine but this time we had to walk around 11-12 hrs. The first 4 hrs were horrible, very steep, long steps, just horrible. But like always we had little stops now and then but never longer than 5 minutes. This day Phil was like speedy Gonzalez. He was definately on a mission to get there as soon as possible. He was the first one to reach the top of the mountain and like you all know Phil he decided to scream like if he was the man of the jungle! Lol.. Obviously everyone heard him.. Even me and I was like 40 minutes behind him. Once we reached the top it was really cold and raining pretty hard. We waited about 30 minutes of the rest of our group, but they never showed up. Apparently a lot of people suffered from high altitude that day, so Darwin(2nd guide) was helping all of them but we had to keep up walking so for the next hour and a half it was all downhill with very slippery rocks. Me and Phil walked for the first time together. Once we reached our lunch spot I was soaking wet and it was so cold. I was really moody because I am not the biggest fan of cold weather or of being wet in it. Anyhow that day I drank almost all the hot water lol, but I was still cold. 

After lunch like I mentioned before no time for resting, so we had to walk about 5 more hours until we reached our camping spot. Once we did I was determined to got to bed. I was sooooo tired my legs were very sore. Phil was aching too and we were both ready for bed as soon as we arrived. But we skipped tea time and took a snooze before dinner. It is very important to eat lots when doing such big hikes. Like the day before after dinner was bed time. It was very important to keep on a schedule and have a good nights sleep otherwise the next day would've been hell.

3rd day

Ahhh my favorite!. My Birthday!!!!!. This time we were woken up at 6am by our guides with hot tea and all the routine of the previous day. But this time we formed a circle outside our tents and we got to meet one by one our porters by name!.. they ranged in age from 18- 60 years old, but Phil thought they all looked pretty old for their age. They had to say their name, where they were from, age and what were they carying. The funniest moment was when we got to our second guide at the end. He was like " hi my name is Darwin, and I am carrying my own sacks lol". His voice was so deep and so serious it was hillarious!. once they reached me I introduced myself in spanish which you will be surprised not all of them spoke. Their native language is quetzhuan ( inca language), but of course I was so excited that it was my birthday that i finished with " oh and its my birthday" and they all started clapping..Awwww It felt really nice!... But then they asked Orlando in quetzhuan if I had a boyfriend lol.. And I just pointed at Phil! Everyone laughed!. Then it was Phil's time and like a good student, he introduced himself in Spanish and at the end he said " mmm mi novia es muy peligrosa" (my gf is dangerous) lol. Anyhow they all were very nice people and they thought I was dangerous that they didn't speak to me after that lol!.

This day was just 5-6 hrs walk and not very difficult but it was very cold and was by far the most intense day for rain in that it just didn't stop raining. The first 3 hours of the walk was amazing. We were able to visit a lot of Incas ruins and of course Orlando was so passionate about it that it took about 1 hour to explain every ruin follow by more explanation by Darwin. Once again Phil was determined to be the first so he walked so fast no one even saw him.  

We met at the lunch spot. Like always there was very tasty food. We walked about 2 hrs more and we got to our camping spot around 4 pm which was the earliest of any day. But first we spotted a ruin high up in the mountain which was optional to visit and so we decided to do it and half way up I saw Phil who had been waiting for me like for an hour. This ruin was like a house of rituals it was very cool and the views were amazing!.. Then we walked together and once we reached the camping site we just relaxed, but we also decided to set up the tea time for the porters to say thank you to them. Everyone put their remaining snacks on a tray to be served. We made popcorn and everyone was helping out!. I was the waiter because I was the only one who spoke Spanish. Some were chefs, Phil was in charge of giving them hot water to wash their hands. But in the end it all worked out!.

Then like everyday at 7pm was dinner time!.. So we cleaned up and gave the Chef more time to cook!. Since it was my birthday I got a cake too!.. But this time was absolutely a surprise, because since I was a waiter I went in the "kitchen" ( small tent with a gas stove) and never saw a cake! Soo I was in shock  when they brought it over!.. And following cake we also had wine!.. Oh I felt very special!.. The funny part was like all the porters, Chef and guides started saying "mordida" ( which is a tradition in Latin America after you blow out your candles you are supposed to have your first bite, but it always ends up your face in the cake lol). Next thing I know my face was in the cake because Phil pushed me into the cake lol.. Anyhow I had a lot of fun!... But the fun ended early since tomorrow was the big day!.. For the last day we had to be up at 3am!!! No later than that, since everyone was camping in the same camping site and we all wanted to be the first to arrive to Machupicchu. 
 
4rd day 

The best day of my life!!!!!!!!  :))))))))))

Like I mentioned we got woken up really early, had almost no time to pack, have breakfast nothing, everything was so quick. I was not feeling that great either. I had the worst headache since I didn't have enough sleep the day before. We started walking with our torches, everyone was very slow because it was so hard to see the path, again in the rain. After 30 minutes we arrived to the last checkpoint before the gates to the last section of the trail. We were the 2nd group to arrive! so we got to sit on benches and a roof over our heads as we waited. It was another raining day!.There we waited about 2 hrs. Phil was super tired as well, so he just sat and waited and focused lol. Even one Eidin ( one girl from the group) was like Phil are you alright and he answered yes, just tired!.. But she went to me and said " I don't think Phil is a happy camper today lol" and I said he is fine he just gets like that when he doesn't have much sleep!. 

After waiting finally they opened the gate and we stormed down the trail towards Machupicchu. Phil stuck to me for the last 2 hours of our trek. We had a few stops on the way to take pictures of the view and to enjoy the clouds, because once we got to the sun gate which should be the first view of Machupicchu unfortunately the clouds didn't let us see....ANYthing!. So we just had to pretend to imagine how would it look lol. And finally we had our last stop which was a ritual stone. There we had a long explanation. But no one was interested everyone wanted to get there ASAP. So we did. 

The first time we saw Machuppichu me and Phil we went speechless!... It is such a wonderful place on top of the biggest mountain. It is just magical!!!!. But the tour didn't finish there, we had about 2-3 hr explanation so we went around it. Having stops now and then. But honestly I was sooo impressed with the view, architecture, everything that I was very distracted. Also the fact that I was stinky, tired and my legs were sore, didn't help for sure. 

Once the tour was over we had about 2 hrs to explore by ourselves. I even joked and said to Phil we should climb the adjacent higher mini mountain to get a better view of Machupicchu. Phil thought I was being serious but no I wasn't I just wanted to sit and enjoy the view. But Phil was so anxious to see the bottom. I was very confused so I kept saying no I want to go to the top.. And he was like there is a lot of people no look we can got to the bottom and get probably a better view. So I was like fine that's weird.. Better view at the bottom whatever lol... Anyways he found this balcony which actually had a beautiful view to the main town and the mountains around us. So we just stayed here for a while, until 2 people of our group joined us. But you could tell Phil was not in a chatty mood so they left quickly lol... Then he just gave me a bigggg hug and said beautiful words and my stomach started to turn.. And I was like noooooo nooooo noooo it's happening its happening ahhhh... Next thing he threw the magical question: " Would you do me the honor of marrying me.""" OMG my heart was beating so fast that I just started screaming ahhhhhhhhh.. Gave him a big hug.. But he was sooo is it a "Yes" and I was like of course is a Yes!!!!... And it was the best moment of my life!.

Machupicchu was the best place he could've done it. It really describes our relationship. All that hard work to reach to the top, and having to have positive mind when all the odds are against you, it's not easy but WE DID IT!... 
WE ARE GETTING MARRIED!

After the proposal we had just 30minutes left until we joined the group!.. My eyes were so watery that I couldn't control any emotion!.. The first people we told about our engagement was the people we shared the bus down to the main town!. Dave and Christine!.. They were sooo excited for us they even took pictures of us, like if they were paparazzi. We walked for about two blocks and reached the restaurant where the rest of the group was. Dave couldn't resist his excitement that he announced our engagement right away!.. All the girls started crying and giving us lots of hugs!.. It was just soooooooo awesome!.. I have no words to describe what I was feeling at the moment!..
All I have to say is that is the best and most memorable day of my life, and I can't wait to Phil's wife! :)