Not much going on today, just a long time in Lima airport. There's a massage centre where you can see all the Inca Trail just-about-survivors getting their backs sorted out. In the communication centre there is an American man in the booth next to me trying to book room 104 of a hotel: "Un Zero Quattro, Si? Un Zero Quattro, Si?" as he expertly combines four languages in four words. I've also been here long enough to see the staff at the cafe change shif...

The first bus up to Machu Picchu leaves Aguas Calientes at 5:30am. I'm not on it. Nor am I on the second. There is a giant queue of around twelve bus loads, containing around 500 people who are waiting to get up to the ruins before dawn, and ironically, the crowds. Hawkers are pushing their goods to the crowd, you can buy almost anything from an SD memory card, to a water holder, to a piece of cake. The reason I'm in the queue is that I want to climb Wayna Picch...

Awoken at 3:00am by banging from the nearby kitchen. It's every man for himself today in the big race to Intipunku: the Sun Gate, where we get the first view of Machu Picchu. The gates of the campsite don't open until 5:30, but some groups are waiting by the gates at 4:00 to be first in line. It's a sea of bobbing headlamps in the dark as the two hundred people wait for the gates to open. A quick pace is set, and the less-fit, disorganised and snap-happy are eat...

The longest day of the trek is 17km and starts with a short climb where the Incan ruin of Runcu Raccay is located. It is believed to have been constructed as a rest place for travellers and has a direct view to two other Incan constructions so may also have been used for communication. Another extended uphill section passes two lakes, where a deer is sipping water. The top of the second pass marks the 'pretty much all downhill from here' point. I scramble up a ...

Day Two of the Inca Trail. Enough to chill the bones of all but the hardiest of explorers. Well, maybe not, but this is going to be the tough day. The trail starts at the campsite at 3000m before rising to 4200m over the ominous sounding "Dead Woman's Pass" before dropping down to 3600m for the evening camp. All over the course of around 12 km. Out of the campsite the trail first rises through a tranquil cloud-forest. It has a very tropical feel with s...