This has seemed like a looong week. We arrived in Cuzco City (3600m above sea level) early Tuesday morning having heard a lot about altitude sickness, but it wasn't too bad… neither of us suffered the nausea, dizziness and headaches. So we managed to steer clear of the chancer selling oxygen to tourists at the airport terminal, it was a good effort tho, not as if its abundant in the atmosphere or anything…

That said, we were totally knackered climbing 4 flights of stairs and about 12 metres to our hotel room - which made the prospect of the 4 day hike pretty daunting. We met our guide, Fernando, assistant guide, Carlos and the rest of the group, who were a mixture of ages and from a variety of places. We had a days rest in Cuzco to acclimatise (lying down and drinking tea from coca leaves) and then a further day driving towards a town near the start of the Inca trail, a place called Ollantaytambo. On the way there we visited a number of Inca sites (a good introduction to the climbing ahead), a Peruvian village in the hills, the sacred valley, and a place that served Chincha (Peruvian drink made from fermenting corn, quite rank).

Then d-day arrived… Thursday morning 7am it was off to km82 to start the hike. Armed with all our gear and 2 hiking poles each (thanks for the tip!) we headed off on day 1. Lucky for us the sun was shining and we had a great day… lots of stops and commentary from our guides and we arrived nicely at the campsite in good spirits. The campsite overlooked the snow capped mountains, an awesome view from our tent, and the stars came out in thousands…. All very magical. We also got the chance to meet all the porters that were carrying all the gear, 30kgs each, along the trail (VERY FIT/CRAZY PEOPLE… putting us tourists to shame). We had dinner and awaited the 6am start for the dreaded "dead womans pass" of day 2.

Up and on the move at 6.30am we faced a day of a 1200metre climb over 6km, followed by a steep 4km downhill… dead womans pass. The climb, which reached 4200m above sea level, was certainly challenging and the whole group were tested out… me and rich tuned in the ipods and dug deep. Fernando split the climb into 3 sections, 300m, 500m and 400m… by the last steps of the final 400 we were really feeling it, but the achievement at reaching the top was great! Our very close group/family then all waited till everyone had reached and we had a great group photo at the top.. even tho it was freezing cold. Then for the downhill… started ok, but our legs were tired and it just kept going for much longer than we had expected, I think after the climb everyone had peaked for the day. But in good spirits we all made it down to the campsite and again enjoyed the stars, company and warm sleeping bags.

Day 3 started at 5am… 16km today, with a 300km steep uphill for starters! This day was actually our favourite day as we visited 3 Inca sites along the way and the route was full of fantastic views. Fernando, who was consistently at one with the mountain and the culture of the Incas, played a few tunes on his flute looking out across the vast Andes and it was a really perfect moment… very spiritual. The final stretch of the day is known as the Gringo Killer.. a long steep 6km downhill. However, after the advice to move as fast as possible to avoid over-stretching our quads and knees, we made it down pain free and in good time due to the promise of hot showers and cold beers in a campsite that had electricity! We had a good night with our new friends, supported Peru against Argentina in the world cup qualifiers (they, and we, were gutted that they lost), and said goodbye to our porters.

On Machu Picchu day we were woken at 4am, which by now we were almost fine with, having not really slept for much of the trip… packed in the pitch black and headed to the final checkpoint and then Intipunku (Sun Gate), where we sat above the clouds waiting for them to clear so we could see our first glimpse of the City in the Clouds, Machu Picchu. Within 15 minutes, it appeared, and then disappeared again just as quickly - Bob Marley was smoking down the mountain, according to the joker Carlos Tevez, our assistant guide…

Machu Picchu was amazing, worth all the hype. Only drag is that we couldn't have the whole thing to ourselves. The pictures and videos we took will say much more than we possibly can. We had a tour, then found a little spot on the back of the mountain to admire the view, watch the birds, even a fantastic soaring condor, and enjoy the spirit of the magical place the Incas had built hundreds of years ago…

Some more little observations and things we have been told: of the 2500+ potatoes from previous post, 95% are poisonous… shame; machu picchu is often spelled, and pronounced, wrong by the gringos and unenlightened, as machu pichu (one c and sharp "ch") the misspelling is unfortunate as the meaning goes from old mountain to old penis; South American bugs like Rich's blood more than Michelle's; walking downhill is harder on the calves and quads than uphill, although easier if you go faster and don't extend the muscles as much, and also generally easier for ladies and others with a lower center of gravity; you can bake a cake at 3600m above sea level; pisco sours (type of brandy with bitter, citrus juice, sugar and egg white) are awesome! We ate guinea pig, it was alright actually, but looked like it had been tortured to death before it was served… in Peruvian they are called Cuy, after the noise they make when you break their necks… macabre perhaps, but just reporting what we were told!