Tuesday 23rd October - Nikki leaves us

After 7 weeks travelling with us, today was the day for Nikki to travel to Brazil to meet with her parents. We had a leaving meal in some posh place in the square in cuzco the night before, and we had the morning to hang out until Nikki left for her flight. It certainly was weird after spending so long with someone every single day, to say goodbye to them. We went to the Hentro cafe (our new fav cafe!!) for a late breakfast come lunch, then after a few chores headed back to the hotel. We waved goodbye to Nikki and was suddenly aware it was just the two of us left!!!! I think we planned to get all our blog up to date that day as we had nothing planned, but that didnt happen as Tom realised that the Arsenal game was on TV (the one they won 7-0 or something!!!). So we spent most of the day in our room, then in the internet cafes.. That night we decided to go to a chinese restaurant we'd seen. We thought that if we had it tonight and got ill from dodgy food then we'd have some time to recover before the Inca trail!!!! turns out it was very posh, very expensive, and VERY nice food :o)

Wednesday 24th October

Today we booked onto a tour called Sacred Valley..... and trust me the tour was as rubbish and cheesy as it sounds!! We were picked up around 7am then drove all around Cusco to pick up other passangers. When we saw and heard the tour guide we were sure we were not going to get an English translation but about 3 mins after that thought he decided to shock us with very good (American) English. Our first stop was at a silly liitle souvenier shop that was usefull for one thing. We both got to go to the toilet!!!! We drove for about 30mins then got off the coach and began a 30 minute walk (alongside a mountain) to the top where the sacred valley was situated. Basically the sacred valley looks like a very run down, and smaller version of Machu Picchu. Nothing really that impressive to see plus it was peeing down with rain so not a great experience. Once that was finished we headed back to the coach to our next destination. Lunch!!! Very nice buffet lunch, then we went to the restaurant playground to go on the swings and seesaw!!! We then headed off to our next destination which was another Inca Ruins site but this time it was up HUGE steps!!!! The huge steps are actually part of the Inca Ruins and are used for crop planation. Hard tp describe but we have photos!! We then had our final destination. first we watched a woimen weave wool and show us how they e.g. to make things red they use an insect that lives on cactai. wicked!!! then we visited a church (boring), then we left the group and got lost getting back to the coach. I think the others went off to see another church. No thanks!!!!! It then took another hour or so to get back to the hostel..... great!!!! For dinner we went to a great little cafe we knew for a clkub sandwhich and a milshake. Great food to send you to sleep.... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

Thurday 25th October - rest day before inca trail

This means today was a SHOPPING day!!! We had a list as tall as me of things to do today, and at 4pm we had to go to the office of our Inca Trail company for a briefing... So we had breakfast in the Hentro cafe again (hentro breakfast = fruit juice, tea/coffee, fresh fruit salad with natural yoghurt and a triple decker sandwich.... yum yum) then tried haggling for some waterproof trousers and a head torch (wicked invention!!!), oh and some wooly Llama socks. We also braved the post office to send things home we brought or no longer needed before heading to the tourist information centre to get some totally useless information about trying to find somewhere that sold Clinique (for tom, not me!!!)... The sun was scolding so we headed to the internet cafe for some blog time, which as per usual ended up as facebook time. At 3.30 we headed to the inca peoples office. We got there early and started to panic, the office was derelict and didnt even have a door or ceiling, what had we let ourselves into!!!! when we finally found someone they told us we were at their unfinished new office and needed to be on the other side of town!!! so in scolding heat and 3600m altitude, and up hill, we pegged it to the office!!! there we got herbal tea and met a norwegian couple and an austrian man who were on the tour with us (a spanish couple were joining us tomorrow as well). The briefing was good and calmed me down a lot, until they told us they didnt know we wanted a porter to carry our 16kg backpacks, which we'd booked at the start!!!!! there was no way i could carry my stuff with me, i could barely carry my 10litre ruck sack i was soooo weak!!!! we managed to sort that and went home with our Inca bum bags, baseball hats and water bottles, courtesy of the company!!!! We went home to pack for our 4 day hike and headed off nice and early for an Indian resturant, which was also nice, very fresh home made food made to your own preferences!!!! An early night was needed, we had to be up at 5am for 6am pick up....

Friday 26th October - 1st day of Inca trail

so we headed off at 6am with little more than a bread roll inside us!!!! The minibus STUNK as we had 4 porters (local poor people) in there with us (sorry, thats mean, but it did!!), and we drove for about 1 1/2 hours before getting to a small village for a wee break and to meet the spanish couple! Another 40 mins later we were at KM82 as they called it, which was were we started the Inca Trail, and had to go through border control... The sun was blazing and the first thing we had to do was walk across the most rickety old bridge i've ever seen (high over a river) which wasnt even joined to the ground, it was floating and wobbling around!!!! Anyway, the first day is supposed to be very easy, a nice stroll to the first camp. But as something was wrong with the camp we were supposed to stay at on the 3rd day, we had to walk further today to another camp, which took an hour off tomorrows 5 hour up hill hike, so we agreed that would be good!!! the first part of the trail was flat and fairly easy, we stopped lots to see flowers and ruins etc. We had a little 15 min hill to hike up and then a 10 min rest at the top, in the shade, which i needed by then!!! Onward we continued up, down, up, down, and then a VERY BIG UP in the blistering mid day sun!!!! so much for being easy!!!! eventually we made it to our lunch site and by now i'd started getting a migraine from the sun (lisa) :o( tom put ice cold river water in the sexy baseball hat we'd been given, put it on the smallest setting and put it on my head..... then proceded to laugh at how silly i looked!!!! not impressed but in too much pain to care, i kept it on!!! lunch was in a tent in a farm, with donkeys and god knows what walking around, and these adorable children, the young girl of whom entertained herself with emptying my bag and re-filling it!!!! Lunch i have to say was amazing, best food we'd had in a long time, all 4 courses of it!! so we headed off again, past the camp site we were supposed to stay at, then started hiking up the 5 hour hill we had to tackle tomorrow!!! My head was throbing, the rain had started, and tom literally pulled me up most the way, how the hell was i gonna cope with tomorrow!!! We arrived at the camp site earlier than expected and our little tents were all set out in a row, and the dinner tent and kitchen tent in front. I collapsed in the tent with a migraleve strip on my head and tried to sleep off some of the migraine!!! At 5pm tom went out for tea and popcorn, where they told the group the site used to be a graveyard.... nice!!! By 7pm i was much better and we went to the dinner tent for dinner, which was amazing food again, another 4 course meal, and cocoa before we went to bed!!! It wasnt as cold as we expected, so we slept ok, but on stone floors all your ribs and spine hurt the next morning!!!!!! The toilets werent great though, holes with feet marks either side.... this is when head torches come in handy in the dark (no electricity either!!!!!).. but still, we liked our tent and liked camping!!!!!

Saturday 27th October - 2nd day of Inca trail

Wake up call, 5AM.... 5AM!!! pitch black we were woken with coca tea and a bucket of hot water and soap to wash with!!!!! 5.30Am is breakfast, a 3 course breakfast of porridge, omelette and cake, well, we needed the energy for that 4 hour hike UPHILL!!! 6AM we start to trek... the first 15 mins is a shock to the system, after 30 mins your body is slightly used to the shortness of breath and constant use of the leg muscles!!! Tom was always in front with the norwegian couple, who were fit and used to hiking mountains.. i was always in the middle, struggling to lift my ickle legs over the huge steps!... and the spanish couple were some way behind... after the first hour we stopped at a camp site (1/2 hour ahead of schedule) and delved into our sweetie bag we'd brought in cuzco (charlene would be proud of the sweet bag!!!)... After a short break we headed up the final 3 hour hike, the hardest bit!!! We stopped every 15 mins for a quick breather and carried on up hill for what seemed like eternity!! Near the top we had to walk over a log bridge which was a sheer drop and you could see the drop through the logs... i calmed myself and told myself it was perfectly safe, took one step on it and the log i was on dropped straight down, the other end up, and i was left clinging to the cliff wall...... hmmmm so much for being safe!!!! After 2 hours, an hour ahead of schedule, we made it to dead mans pass at the top :o) it was friggin cold up there and on went the layers and layers of clothes and we stuffed snicker bars down before heading down hill for 1 1/2 hours!!!! Toms decided going down was too hard walking, so he perfected this bouncy run thing, very gay!! but i didnt want to be left alone, so i joined him all the way down, and before the rain hit!!! we arrived within an hour so had some time to rest before our 4 course lunch, but the rain started really heavy.. This doesnt stop anyone on the Inca Trail... After lunch we covered up in Ponchos and waterproofs and headed off again, another 2 hours UPHILL (god will it ever end!!) and an hour down hill.. The rain made it less enjoyable as you kept your head down, tried to stay upright and not skid on the wet rocks, and no enjoy the scenery... 2 hours went by in 1 1/2 hours (we skipped an inca ruin, too wet) and at the very top of the last uphill Tom discovered his waterproof trousers, and expensive waterproof helly hansen jacket were both NOT waterproof.. I had not put my waterproof trousers on so my combats were wet trough and see through, but my pink plastic poncho kept my top dry, but not my hair!!! The last hour down was very tedious as we all just wanted to be out the rain, and parts of it were very steep... FINALLY, soaked through we made it to the campsite.. This was a bigger site and we were out the way on top of a little hill, a trek away from the toilet holes!!!! In our tents we stripped our wet gear off and in the freezing cold fog we tried to get dry and warm, which we quickly learnt was not going to happen!!!! Tom was now OVER camping and his clothes were not likely to dry by tomorrow.. worst of all, he had no other clothes, only his board shorts!!!! I would like to add (Tom) that my stomache was really bad and I kept rushing to the toilet (in the dark) to take a dump every 10 mins and on one of the occasions that I ventured to the toilet (the hole in the ground) I tripped over the wire that holds up the other groups tent and the tent peg come pinging out. Oops!!! Luckily it was dark so I walked quickly away. That night we sat miserably in cold wet clothes eating our yet again amazing 4 course meal, and was introduced to all the porters (13 of them)... Those guys do an amazing job!!!! It was a pretty bad nights sleep that night, cold, damp, and worst of all tom was FURIOUS with me for leaving the tents inner door open, which meant a spider might have got in!!!! opppssss. so i had to check everything, with my head torch on, in bags, shoes, sleeping bags, you name it!!!! I dont think either of us got much sleep, huddled up in our sleeping bags, with hats, gloves, scarves, and endless layers!!!!!!

Sunday 28th October - 3rd day of Inca trail

Today we woke to realise that the majority of our clothes were still soaking wet from the night before. No surprise really as it was frigging cold out! I (Tom) was praying for a dry day because if it rained again and my clothes got wet then I would have had no dry clothes left for the next day at Machu Picchu!!!! Todays walk was not as hard as the days before but still pretty tiring as our legs were feeling the effects of all those steps from the day before. We had lots of up hills but they didnt last as long so we were pretty relieved. It took us about 30 mins to get to the top of the 3rd pass, and it was all down hill from then which I know sounds easy but still kills your legs!!! It was very misty out and the steps were very wet so the spanish geezer lent Lisa one of his walking sticks to help her down the steps as our shoes were very slippery. I kept to my normal technique of bouncing down the steps kinda like I had overdosed on Gummi Berry juice. BONG BONG BONG!!!! Much quicker and dont use your muscles as much!!! True pro!!! We went through a lot of high rainforest today, so the scenery was much prettier. We saw a few inca ruins and also a rock that was the shape of a puma. Got a photo so you can all see for yourselves!!! On the way to our lunch destination I started to get a little ache in my tummy that after about 30 minutes turned into a horrible grumbling pain and I knew at once that my poo (sorry) was starting to come out of my butt, so I dropped all my gear (I actually gave it to Lisa) and ran as fast as I could away from the group to the toilet. 10 minutes later and nearly 20 falls from running so fast down the hill I finally managed to offload. Aaaahhhhhhhhhh bisto!!!!! I felt sorry for Lisa cos when she caught up she used the same bog. lol lol lol We made our own way to the camp site to catch the others up and surprise surprise we got lost! Yeah cheers Lisa!!!!! AFter a porter was sent out to look for us we finally found our group relieved not only for finding the group again but also cos we was about a stone lighter each!!! We went to visit another Inca ruin were Reuben spent ages explaining about this site. Kinda all sounded the same to me as the previous 50 inca ruins we found. I was getting a little worried as it started to spit and I didnt wanna get wet so we all headed back to have our great 4 course lunch!!! We had about another hour of trekking, until we made it to the OH MY GOD steps!! Personally i thought we had worse steps previously on the journey but like everyone else I said "oh my god" as we reached them. We all made it up safely and waited for Lisa to finish crawling on her hands and feet like Gollum to reach the top. In fairness to Lisa she did need a ladder for each step! Abut 30 mins later we made it to the very top which gave us our first view of Machhu Picchu! I have to say it was a great site but the million Americans and Japanese kinda spoilt it a little but hey ho we took photos like everyone else and then headed down to Machhu Picchu itself as it started to pee down with rain. Noooooooooooooo!!! (Lisa wanted me to add that the fat american tourists took the easy route up that only takes 3 hours, not 4 days like us)!! We didnt stay at Macchu Picchu today as that was tomorrows bit of fun so we headed down the hill to our campsite! They have these little boys that run as fast as they can down the steps to beat the coaches that carry tourists to each bend. I have to say its very impressive how fast these kids run down steep slippery steps. When they get to the bottom before the coach they get on the coach and try and get a tip from the other fat american tourists. To be fair it is definately worth a tip. As we got to our camp site which was situated in a field full of turkeys, it started to hammer it down with rain so we all darted for our tents. We all then took it in turns to take freezing cold showers (really wasnt nice) then relaxed in our tent before tea and biscuit break. At one point I really needed the toilet but it was raining so hard I didnt wanna run the 200m to the toilet so I unzipped our tent, and my trousers and stuck my little pee pee outside and watered the grass. hee hee!!! Sorry mum :o) Tea break turned into a long chat with the other guys in our group, plus we all got a little tipsy on lots of beer!! Oh yeah and my cool thing for the night was seeing lots of fire flies! We stayed in the dining room tent till quite late as it was still peeing down outside. We then had our 4 course meal again and Reuben and the austrian lit up fags to try and smoke out all the hundreds of flies that had got in the tent. Every 30 seconds we had to poke the top of the tent with our hands to push all the rainwater away that had collected on top. After dinner all the porters gathered in the tent (tight squeeze) were we presented them with our tips! Money tips not tips on how to pick up women! We then retired to our tents to listen to the spanish couple bumping uglies all night! Really not a nice sound.... Ooooooo.... aaaaaahhhhhhhhh.......not like that!!! lol

Monday 29th October

Today we had a very very very early wake up call (4.30am) as we wanted to get the first bus up to Macchu Picchu to beat all the tourists. It was still pissing down with rain, but it was nice to get on the bus. We all felt like we cheated getting the bus up after 3 days of hardcore trekking, especially as the Austrian left earlier then us and walked up. What a wally..... someone should have told him about the bus. lol When we arrived at the top it was very misty and we could hardly see in front of us let alone the beautiful ruins of Macchu Picchu! Reuben took us on a long tour of all of the ruins for about 2 hours. Me and Lisa sat out about half our of this as we both felt ill (me more so) so we just hung around for the guys to come back. Whilst waiting I really needed a wee, but the only toilets were outside the inca ruins, down a big hill and all in the rain still so I threw caution to the wind and peed up against an inca ruin whilst Lisa stood guard. We later found out that the room I peed in was one of the royal family rooms. I have to admit I did feel bad and kept thinking an inca god would come and haunt me for doing it. Sorry Mr Inca man... I didnt mean it I just had a bad tummy!! After Reuben finished his talk we had about 3 hours spare time to look around as we wished or possible climb this big mountain that gives a great view of the ruins. Lisa still wasnt feeling that well so she didnt join us, but me and the norwegian couple hiked it up. We surprised ourselves and actually climbed it in 30 minutes instead of 50 minutes which we were told it would take. The steps up to the top were very steep and very dangerous especially as they were still wet from the rain. As some parts there was rope to help you climb the steps. Once at the top we had an amazing view, but I slowley started to realise that I didnt like heights at all. Every movement I took was very slow and I was hugging every wall like spiderman. Whilst up there we managed to get very close to an eagle type bird perched on the edge of the mountain. Was very amazing to see. On the way down Sylvie (the norwegian bird) Walked down really fast as she is not scared of heights were as me and Justin went down very very slowly (me more so) as we didnt like the heights. Some steps were so narrow and steep that I went down on my bum like a kid playing bumps on the stairs. When we arrived at the bottom we all took the bus back to the bottom and to the restaurant were we were to meet up with Reuben. We ate, drank, took a little look round the town then ended up in an internet cafe to catch up on mails. After this we took the train back to KM82, were we got on our minibus that took us back to our hostel in Cusco. We were so tired and hungry we ordered take out pizza (which came in plastic bags), stuffed our faces, showered then relaxed in bed to watch a film and fall asleep.