Much to our absolute delight, the start for the final trek to Machu Picchu was 3.30am!!! We were awoken by our porters with a cup of tea before we hurriedly had to pack up our things to make our way down to the control to gain access to the final trail. Nobody is allowed through the control until 5.30am when it is light so we had to stand around for an hour and a half in the complete darkness while the rain pounded down on our shelter above us. Eventually we were allowed through and started the hour long trek to the Sungate for a view of Machu Picchu. By this time we had to don our ponchos due to the rain so we looked pretty ridiculous as we trekked along the paths through the high jungle.

We made it to the Sungate and ditched our ponchos due to the rain stopping and luckily the clouds cleared for around five minutes to allow us views over Machu Picchu. We then carried on for the final walk to Machu Picchu which ended up taking around another half an hour due to our weary limbs. It was with both relief and delight that we made it to Machu Picchu by around 7.30am and whipped out the camera for a load of photos. We ditched our bags in the luggage storage and I had a celebratory beer with the rest of the group while Beth had a celebratory brownie at 8am. We then headed back up to Machu Picchu for a tour by our guide. We were quite tired by this point but we fought against this and the hoards of clean tourists to tour the ruins. The city really is incredible and some of the engineering and tools they employed to build the city blew my tiny little mind!!!! After having the tour, we grabbed our bags and made for the bus down to Aquascalientes where we were to meet up with the rest of our group for a couple of hours before we jumped on the train.

So we had finally made it back to civilisation where we met our guides in a restaurant for some food prior to catching the train. The first thing to check was the football results as I still didn't know the score from Sunday's game. Miraculously, Newcastle had actually won so I immediately ordered a beer to celebrate with Matt, the Australian lad from the tour who had correctly predicted the score. Cheers Matt!!!! So, we had our lunch and as more of the group arrived at the restaurant, we ordered another round of beers as we definitely felt we deserved them!!

We made it back to Cusco at around 6.30pm and collected our bags from Millhouse hostel. After making it back to VIP Hostel, we had a quick fight about who jump in the shower first which Beth won. We have to say that we have both never been more desperate for a shower in our lives!!! The next priority was tea so we went to the Italian restaurant which we had eaten at the night before the Inca Trail where I somehow managed to eat a family size calzone pizza and drank a litre of coke!! I wish we had have taken the camera out for the sheer size of this pizza but it was charging in the room. We were both falling asleep by the time we finished our meal so we quickly got back to the hostel and were fast asleep for 9.30pm.

To sum up, the Inca Trail was the best thing we have done so far in South America. The fact that it was so challenging, made the feeling when we reached Machu Picchu even better and we both felt a sense of achievement when we made it. Machu Picchu itself was fantastic and the fact that so much of the city remains 500 years on is testament to the skill of the Incan people. Finally, our group really made the trip for us. Everyone got on so well and helped to encourage everyone when we were inevitably struggling or tired. The fact that we were all able to have a good laugh while we struggled helped to make the trip. Hopefully, we have made friends for life!