We arrived into Cusco and had 2 nights to sort ourselves out for the impending 4 days of hiking and 3 nights of camping. The full day in Cusco (23rd Nov was spent) a bit hungover, we had a bit of an unexpected big night out in the irish bar and then some dodgy club, a great night but we were certainly feeling it a bit. We hauled ourselves out of the hotel and made our way to the main square in search of the free walking tour people. We do love a free walking tour. Then the heavens opened, totally unprepared none of us had any waterproofs, we just got wet, luckily it didnt last too long. We were on the tour for a good 2 and a half hours and explored the little back streets of Cusco, admired the city from heights, and got tips on how to get into places for free. Cusco is really lovely, we then spend the rest of the afternoon buying stuff for the trek, which included lots of socks, i hadn't actually realised how little hiking stuff i had left, a really attractive pair of alpaca stylee furry leggings, a poncho that made me look like batman and other stuff that I had forgotton and left in hostels, like my new camelbak water bottle - useless, it being in Brazil!!! Oh yeah, and I have managed to source 2 really decent mugs of tea over the lat few days - very happy about that!

So this is where it begun to get a bit stressful, the 6kg weight restriction and of that 3.5kg is taken up sleeping bag and mattress so we had a mere 2.5kg worth of stuff we could take for 3 nights of camping and 4 days of hiking. Having thought we had this sorted quite well we grabbed another early night as we where off to the Sacred Valley fairly early the next day.

The next morning (24th Nov) we boarded the big purple bus, our final destination of the day was due to be Ollantayatmbo. We visited the the younger brother of Christ the Redeemer statue as well as overlooking the views of Sexy Woman, this is what it is nicknamed and i have no idea how to spell it properly. We then made our way to at the small community in Caccaccollo where we were able to see how they made all their handicraft products which was very clever, especially the stuff that they used to dye materials and wool. Then we got to feed the alpacas! Back on the purple bus, we made our way to the Pisaq ruins which was really impressive. We eventually arrived in Ollantaytamboo and made our way with our guide Enrique to the ruins and immediately had to climb more stairs, unbeknown to us this would become the norm for the next 4 days. The views of the inca site were great, it was however very windy, which became every apparent as i nearly lost my top whilst trying to fit though a small gap in a wall. Luckily for me it was only my roomy on the other side who unfortunately for her was faced with me and my bra!!! Having got my top sorted we set off to the markets in search of a baseball cap - that won't be blown off. So what they didn't tell us when we were having to pack was that the duffle bags themselves weighed 500g, this completely screwed me up - I was way over the weight allowance, so to be honest the fact the bag weighed 500g didn't really make much difference but it was a reason for my stuff being heavier than expected !!! Luckily for me, Sophie had gallons of room so after about 20 trips to the scales I managed to distribute my 'over the weight limit stuff' into other peoples bags. There are very strict regulations on weight, quite rightly so, to protect the backs of the porters, more on this fantastic group of individuals later.

The day has arrived, Enrique picks us up at 8:30am, stupidly I was feeling a bit nervous, similar feeling I had before the half marathon (years and years ago), i think it was a bit of a worry of could I actually do this, and my feet are really painful at the mo, which was not a good start. We were off, we followed the river that sits in the valley and arrived at the G headquarters for the Inca trail start. You suddenly see how much gear is needed for a group of 12 camping and hiking for 4 days, 3 nights. We had our own daypacks with the important stuff - chocolate, water, loo roll, waterproof, biscuits, cereal bars and yes more chocolate………the all important emergency 'I'm out of energy' snackettes.

Armed with walking polls (these turned out to be my best friend) and various other hiking gear we set off. So at this point we are starting out at 2700m above sea level and would be climbing 500m today. You'll remember that altitude has not been kind to me over the last couple of weeks, i had also forgotten to test the altitude tablets i d been given, for potential side effects whilst mum and dad were with me, so i decided i would not take them as i had been feeling better and didn't want to risk feeling worse from side effects. fingers crossed! We were off, and 5 mins in going up hill we are all (well nearly everyone) was gasping for breathe, but we soon got into it, today was filled with Puruvian flat, which is basically rolling hills, so a nice little gentle training day for us, it also gave the our guide Enrique and Carlos a chance to see how good or rubbish we were going to be. We arrived at our lunch spot earlier than scheduled which was a result. We arrived to a lovely welcome and round of applause from our support team - the incredible porters, the chefs and our international waiter as he was known. This incredible team of lovely guys were carrying 25kg each on the same walk that we were doing - this is like the equivalent of my big rucksack, my limit with that is 2 miles on the flat, these guys are doing the 46km with us and it is certainly not flat!!! And at times they run, yes, I did just say run! They are just brilliant. A while back they ran a competition between the porters without bags, one of them completed the Inca Trial in 3hrs 30mins!!!!! We had a feast at lunch, wow, very very very impressive and lovely and healthy, a really nice start to our adventure.

Then we saw the toilets, that, how to put this, well, for those runners of you will know that toilets before a race can be quite unpleasant, so that coupled with limited flushing water (none in some cases) and a hole in the ground, you can probably get the picture. This was to be a point for discussion throughout the 4 days, but I wont be going into that on here, I sigh of relief I hear from you all! It was an experience that is all I am going to say.

Kikie and Carlos said we had done pretty well today, then they hit us with it. We were to leave at 6:30ish and had 6 hours of uphill, climbing 1000m in elevation, and my god they were not wrong. This was one of those character building days, the language coming from my mouth (when i could actually breathe) was colourful at times, along with my breakfast which was constantly threatening to make a reappearance, however, I was never defeatist, and to be fair it wasn't just me swearing, it was a long and very tough day! We were told the key to the inca trail, is to just smile all the time, even if its a fake smile. I can well and truly confirm that all my smiles, bar 2 on day 2 were fake. The 2 real ones; 1) after the mouthful of rum 2) when i got to the top. I reached the top of Dead Woman's pass and had a round of applause from the group which was great, yeah I was towards the back…….again. But I like to go at my own pace and not have someone breathing down my neck which did happen on the one occasion I walked at the front with Kikie and Carlos!!!! I can also confirm that I did feel like a dead woman, but the sense of achievement was pretty damn good and we also had no more uphill today, just 2 hours of down. Which was not bad, but my ankles are already screwed and very weak, so me, my iPod and my walking polls had a nice little stroll to the campsite.

Yet again our fabulous support team had put all our tents up, had made us tea and were just being their fabulous selves. It had a lovely family feel to it, and as the days go by, the guys get less shy and have started to play cards with us and Ive been attempting to speak to the guys in spanish, confusion all around lol! I'm crap, but I do try! I have loved this part of the trip, its been bloody hard work, but well well worth it and have really enjoyed getting to know our team! Oh and before I forgot, one person needs a massive big up for day 2, our very own pocket rocket, Sophie! Bloody good effort girl, having spent the morning being sick and having not eaten anything, this amazing dudette got to the top unaided!!! I would have had a full on tantrum and refused to move. All I will say is this Liverpool skater chick is made of tough stuff! nice work girl!

Day 3, 26th Nov, we have been assured that this is the most enjoyable day, more peruvian flat, I can handle this, its the Peruvian hills that can quite frankly do one! So, we begin, 2hrs of up to begin with, with a little stop 45mins up to see an inca site, very pleasant! Ah today is going to be a good day i feel. We have 5 inca sites to visit today and we get lunch today. The sneery changed from the greenery and dusting rocky track to being on the cliff edge actually in the clouds, we were in the cloud garden. The views as the cloud parted was stunning, you'll see from the pictures. This was a lovely day, Sophie and I hung at the back of the group, Sophie accompanied by SlipKnot and me by Oasis. We had a great day and really enjoyed the day. Certainly my favourite. So day 3 was complete, after another hearty dinner, and lovely surprise, our team had baked us an organ cake which was delicious - they did this at the camp site!!!!!

Day 4, we get up at 3:30am, the team have to catch the train back with all the gear at 5ish hence us needing to be up and our of the tents early, having said more goodbyes to our little family we joined the queue for the final checkpoint, we nearly have our 4 passport stamps. The checkpoint opens and we are off, we are all quite knackered now, well i know I am, everything hurts and i developed knack for twisting ankles again. my god they hurt, thankfully i have my polls. We have a bit of up hill, then we hit the steps, but these are scrambling steps, they were actually pretty easy. S

hortly we reach the Sun Gate, which is quite frankly as unsunny as you could possibly get. Cloud and fog, and lots of it. So we sit, I eat my dairy milk at 7am which i had been saving for when we hit the top, we sit, we eat and finally the clouds part to a cheer from all the knackered and dirty backpackers! We could then see Macchu Pichu, the moment we had all been waiting for, a great view even if it was a bit grey. i would rather have done the hike and seen it like this rather than got the train with the camera wielding annoying tourists, this was very special, was another of my little travelling moments. Having got out snaps we made our way to Macchu Pichu, it was at this point just as we got in, both my ankles went, i hit the deck and apparently did a Bruce Willis stylee Die Hard army roll. All I will say is it hurt, more holes in my knees, i just wanted to cry. I was totally done in, my body had had enough. I am running on empty at the moment. But hey…….I do what I normally do ignore it and carry on lol.

Kikie gave us a great tour of Macchu Pichu, the place is awesome, you'll see from the pictures. Quite a way to finish the hike. A very memorable and specula few days. We go the train back and then the bus back to Cusco, had food delivered to the hotel ( nice work Fernando :) ) and was asleep by 9pm. The next day, I feel awful, glands are all up, just generally feel rubbish, but its sightseeing day and pedicure day ( a small apology from me to my feet for the last 4 day). We managed to cram in the Catheral, which was was incredibly impressive and very ornate, the chocolate factory and museum, this was very yummy, the silver market (no i refrained from more bracelets) and then the pedicure, the poor woman that got stuck with mine and Stacies feet, although my sympathies wore off after she made my toe bleed.

Then i packed, repacked and went for drinks……………and of course rocked the dance floor. I bailed early as was totally exhausted, the next day more souvenir shopping and lunch in the tea shop and another amazing mug of tea, then our flight to Lima. To be honest ive seen nothing of Lima expect the airport.

And I leave today at 3:30am for Chicago. I am sad to leave my G group, we have had a blast, a wicked bunch of people and fantastic guides! Cheers Pablo, Santi and Fernando, Kikie & Carlos! Good job guys! :)

Next stop Chicago………..

laters…….