David picked me up at 545 and we set off with Raul, the driver, for the trailhead at Chinchero (3762m). We shouldered our packs and set off with goodbyes from two little Indian girls that appeared out of nowhere. The pace was pleasant, David turned out to be a really nice guy and I got to chew cocao leaves like a real Inca. But, the air got thinner as we climbed about 2000m so I was breathing hard and taking breaks. We finally reacher out maximum height and began the long decent to the valley floor. The isolation at the elevation was amazing. A grazing llama is the only animal life I saw for 5 hours. Downhill started out nice, but an hour later my thighs were shaking. Finally we reached an Inca site, where we had a packed lunch on the green grass in the warm sun. We strolled around the site, looking at the buildings and terraces until we felt ready to start down the the valley floor. This part was not part of the Inca trail system, but a modern addition of steep switchbacks to get to a small town down by the river. This was agonizing. It felt like I was balanced on my right big toe for 2 hours. I was taking very frequent breaks; turns out hiking downhill doesn't use any of the same muscles as biking. I finally reached the bottom of the 5000m descent and Raul picked us up in the small village of Lamay. Turns out I was fairly sunburnt, despite lots of sunblock, and exhausted so I slept in the van until we got to Ollyantaytambo where I caught a train. I ended up meeting a very nice German girl, Katya, and chatted all the way to Aquas Caliente while looking at the beautiful moutain scenery and the raging, wet-season river. Aguas Caliente turned out to be the worst sort of tourist trap, being the entryway to Machu Pichu, so meals and shopping were disappointing. The hotel was very nice and the owner didn't speak English, but we were able to communicate pretty well. I prepared myself to hike to Machu Pichu in the morning went to bed early for a 415 alarm. Too excited to sleep, though!