The first thing I noticed when we got to KM 82 (the start of the modern day inca trail) was a Peru Rail train taking lots of cosy warm and sensible tourists to see the ancient ruins at Maccupicchu, and I swear they looked smug....

Our tour guide, Eddy, named us Pachamama group (named after mother earth) - as well as Jon and I, there were 7 Australians travelling together, 5 Irish girls travelling together, a girl from NY, and 21 Chaskis. Chaski's (which means messenger in Quechuan) are AMAY-ZING. Most of our chaskis were from the Pisac area, and some of them do the Inca trail up to 8 times a month. The record for a chaski completing the full 26 miles of the trail is just under 4 hours. We were going to take 4 days to complete. They also used to do it with up to 70kgs on their back, although there are now restrictions limiting the amount each porter can carry. The chaskis are also tiny - the groups favourite was 'chair chaski', who was about 5foot tall, and carried 17 plastic stools on his back, which must've been as tall as him, and twice as wide. But everytime we saw himhe had a massive smile on his face. But it makes you think...when these guys have a bad day at the office they have to go and collect unfit and overweight tourists and carry them on their back to the campsite that evening, which apparently happens a couple of times a month. Last year they had a really bad day at the office during the rainy season when the trail flooded and they had to be carried out by helicopter http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1246733/Machu-Picchu-mudslides-Peru-floods-cause-helicopters-problems-attempt-rescue-tourists-new-arrivals-swell-numbers.html

The main trail is split over three days - day one is "Easy", day two "Challenging",day three "unforgettable" - before heading down to Machupicchu early morning on day four. Each description doesnt do the day justice. "Easy" is relative. I think the young Australians found it easy. Actually even Jon found it easy. It made me sob. "Challenging" - well yes, climbing 900metres, then down again, then up another 300 metres, all before lunch. Yes, that's definately challenging. Particularly when you add rain, and lots of it. But day 3 was definately "unforgettable", trekking through the rainforest, mostly downhill and seeing the AMAY-ZING inca ruins at Winyawayna. It was my favourite day, and the only day I wasn't last in for lunch!!

The benefit of being slowest in the group (which incidentally, was the fastest group they have had in ages, and chef chaski kept panicing because we were turning up for meals too early) was thsat Jon and I almost had a little private tour with the assistant guide, Oscar, at the back of the group. Oscar is my kind of tour guide - on the way up he complainined he didn't like uphill, and on the way down he complained he didn't like downhills. Jon and I think he might be in the wrong job. But they taught us lots about the natural environment around us (including which bits of cactus to use as natural sunscreen), and Andean culture, which can be summarised as "Don't be lazy, learn/teach, and give back to your community". Jolly good common sense really.

The three days of trekking were spectacular, and a much better way to arrive that by Peru Rail, but the main attraction was alsways going to be Maccupicchu. We were woken up at 4am on the final morning for the final part of the journey, only to find it was raining again. And not just any rain, this was Peruvian rainforest rain. So Eddy decided we would be better off waiting under cover for an extra hour or so before heading off to the Inka Punka sungate. I think we were all a bit hyper by then and raced up the 100 'gringo killer' steps to the Sungate, overtaking numerous other groups enroute (which made me very happy). The view was not the picture postcard one we expected (see the pictures - if you squint, you can just about see some ruins in the distance!!), but pretty awesome all the same.

Jon and I stayed at Maccupicchu for a few hours, and gradually the cloud lifted and we got to see it in all its glory. And it was definately worth it - we have 5 1/2 months of travelling left, but its going to take something spectacular to top this week. Happy days.

This week we...

STAYED

• Mostly in a tent, which was just slightly too short for Jon;
• Then in a hostel in Aguas Callientes, although the original one we were booked into didn't have hot water. After 4 days of no showers we got moved PDQ!
• Finally we did have one night back in Cuzco in Ninos I, where we saw the greatest comment in a hotel guestbook ever - "The hotel is in a good location but I did not get any sleep because the person in the room next door had diarrhoea all night. 2/5 stars." - as though that was receptions fault!! (It wasn't us by the way)

ATE

• Really well thanks to chef chaski. Unfortunately we now think it is normal to have fresh salted popcorn at 5.30pm every day.
• Jon also ate beef heart and guinea pig. But the guinea pig was pre filleted, and didn't come spit roasted. I was a little upset, but think it was probably for the best as I was eating at the same time.

LEARNT

• Peruvian drivers are completely and utterly mental. In the taxi-van back from Aguas Callientes our driver wanted to overtake every other vehicle on the road, but only on a blind hill, a blind corner, or (bizarrely) on a speed bump. It is not possible to overtake another car on a speedbump.
• That sometimes the journey is just as important as the final destination

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH OUR FEATHERED FOE

• Only on day 1 of the trek. Chickens don't seem to hang out at altitude thankfully.