First we should make it clear that we didn´t do the Classic Inca Trail. About 500 people a day walk the classic trail and Dragoman, the company we are traveling with have decided that it is too busy and a better experience to do a different trek. So instead we did the Pumahuanca Trek in the Lares valley, it is slighty shorter than the classic trail but goes to higher altitude. On our trek we only met one other group trekking, the rest of the time our group was completely alone.

We had porters, llamas and horses to carry the bulk of our luggage and cooks to go ahead and prepare lunch. The porters would also have our tents set up by the time we arrived at camp. Each morning we were woken with a hot drink and bowl of hot water to wash so we were well looked after.

The first day we arrived in Quishuarani our first camp site, after visiting the Inca ruins of Sacsayhuaman and Pisac. We were staying in the grounds of a local school and had a Quechua lesson (local language) before our evening meal. Dragoman donate money to these local communities and the following morning we helped plant some trees (fruit trees and herbs) for the community project.

Our second day was wet, it rained just about all day and was quite miserable. There would have been beautiful views all over the valley but they were mostly hidden by cloud. We started off at an altitude of 3700m and climbed to 4400m before descending again to 3700m to the community of Cuncani where we stopped for the night. The altitude leaves you breathless before you start which doesn´t help when you are climbing uphill! I also had a bad head cold which made me feel rotten so I found it tough, and I suppose you could say I was quite grumpy!

The third day was much clearer weather and a harder day also. We had 8 hours of trekking and climbed to 4800m. We saw many snow capped peaks and there was a little snow at the highest pass. We had some hail on our descent to our campsite at Paccha where we bush camped as there are no local communities there. After a hard days trekking though, the sight of our tents awaiting us had never looked so wonderful!

The final day of our trek was all down hill thankfully where we descended to Urubamba. We then got a bus to Ollantayambo where we stayed for the night in a hostel where a hot shower was very welcome! As this trail doesn´t actually lead to Machu Picchu we had to get the train to Aguas Calientes the following morning and a bus to Machu Picchu.

We were afraid we would be dissapointed after already seeing so many photos of Machu Picchu but it really is quite spectacular to see it in real life. The city is quite well preserved and surrounded by stunning scenery which we were able to appreciate as we had a sunny day there and it wasn´t covered in cloud like it can be at this time of year.