Inca Trial - Day 55 - 23/11/2012 (Friday)
We woke up, got ready and got in the van to take us to the starting point of the trial; KM82. Once there we meet the guides and our porters. We had 25 staff for 16 of us doing the hike. We got all our stuff together and then had to plaster ourselves in sun cream as it was boiling. We set off but didn't get very far as we stopped for group photos and then had to clear the ticket office. We set off along the river watching the lazy people getting the train. There isn't much to say other than we stopped way to much for way to long for breaks but I guess some people in the group aren't as used to hiking as us. We had our first steep climb of the trek and we were rewarded with our first Inca ruins. The guide told us about all about them and then we walked down the other side of the hill and came to our lunch stop. The porters had set up the a tent for us to sit in and eat. We got served a 3 course lunch then just as we were about to leave the rain set in. Being the rainy season we'd expected to get used to it. However after putting on our poncho's and water proofs the rain stopped. For the lunch stop it wasn't far to the camp site. We arrived there at just gone 4 and there was nothing to do. We sat in our tent for a bit and then a lady came round selling beer so being so bored it would have been rude not to buy one. We then had tea followed an hour later by dinner. Dinner was done by 7 and as it was dark and nothing to do we went to bed.

Inca Trial - Day 56 - 24/11/2012 (Saturday)
It started to get light about 5am and shortly after we were woken up by the guide. We had a few minutes to get ready then had breakfast in the dinning tent. By half 6 we were on our way. Day 2 of the Inca Trial is the hardest as its a 5 hour walk up hill and you climb higher than Ben Nevis. The first hour was up but easy going. We had a break and were left to walk at our own speed. The next 2 hours wasn't to bad either and we had another break. It then was then another 2 hours to reach the top of the passed called dead woman's pass (nicely named!!) I wish I could say we ran up but it was hard going. However the views are we got higher and higher were amazing. Towards the top we were all struggling. We were over 4200 meters and it was hard to breath but we made it in the end. We were told to wait for everyone in the group but after an hour of waiting the guides and one of the girls had not made it. Some do the group were getting cold so they set off on the next section while half of us waited. The weather was really strange. Where we had come from it was warm and sunny and 10 meters away on the other side where we were heading was cloudy, windy and raining. We out our wet weather gear on and set off down the other side. It was steep and there where hundreds of slippery steps. 90 minutes later we arrived at he camp site. As soon as we did the sun came out so it gave us a chance to dry everything that had got soaked. It was about half 2 and again we had nothing to do. We had some lunch and then sat around until afternoon tea and dinner. There wasn't a lot to do so played cards to pass the time. After dinner around 7pm again we were in our tents and sleeping.

Inca Trial - Day 57 - 25/11/2012 (Sunday)
Day 3 started the same way as day 2. Half 5 wake up and then 45 minutes to get ready. And the walking started the same way ie up a hill. Day 3 is the longest day and you walk about 10 miles. It was really foggy so we didn't see much all the way up. After 45 minutes we stopped at some Inca ruins and then it was another 45 minutes to the summit. It was then a couple of hours down hill to some more ruins. These ruins were the biggest so far and the guide spent way to much time going into do much detail about them. We then had to press on for another couple of hours to reach the lunch spot. It started to rain so out came the wet weather gear again. At this point we had reached the edge f the amazon rain forest. The path we were walking on reminded me of death road. Steep edges but being so high the views were amazing and you could see for miles. We reached the lunch spot and it was still hammering it down. We had Lunch and then as a surprise the cooks had managed to bake a cake. No idea how they did this with just a gas stove! After lunch it was 3 hours of down hill. By this point we'd got so used to the poles that we flew down the hill. Left most of the group behind. We reached some Inca terraces and took some photos. A llama decided it wanted to be apart of these to and followed us everywhere. Look out for the wicked picture of the llama looking over Sarah's shoulders lol.
We reached the camp site about 3 and waited for over an hour for the rest if the group to arrive. Played some more cards and had afternoon tea. After dinner we had to present the guides, cooks and potters with a tip. We gave all the money to the guide and Danielle said thank you to them. She was picked as she knows more Spanish than the rest of us out together.
Then after dinner we went to our tents for out 7pm bed time and all the porters were gathered around. We had no idea what was going on but as Danielle came up they all rushed to her tent. Not sure what was going on we went to check on her and they were all in their asking where there tip was. These were the guys we wanted to ensure got the best tip as they had run the trial with our stuff and food etc for the last 3 days. Not knowing what to do we went to the guide and explained the tip was for everyone. He wasn't was a bit of a t*** about the whole thing but once it was explained we left them to it. Went back to the tents worried that the guide and cooks could have pocketed half the cash and made us look bad to the porters. We tried to make sure everything was okay before going to sleep but there wasn't a lot we could do about it. It kind of ruined what had turned out to be three amazing days.

Machu Picchu - Day 58 - 26/11/2012 (Monday)
We were woken up at the ungodly hour of half 3. Had breakfast which consisted of a piece of bread and by 4:15 went to get in the queue to enter the last and most important part of the trek. However the gates didn't open until 5:30am and we ended up being the last ones in the queue. We could have slept another hour and still be in the same place in the queue. The gates opened early and before we knew it we were on the 90 minute trek to the first stop. The sun gate is about 45 minutes from Machu Picchu and looks down over it however when we got there we couldn't see a thing because of the fog. We waited for a while and as the sun started to clear the mountains the fog lifted and over the next 30 minutes we were treated to a gradual reveal of the mountain and then the city. It was a breath taking site and the pictures don't do it justice.
We walked for another 45 minutes and reached the city. We did the typical tourist pictures and then had to walk out of the site to be given access to the site. Very strange. We had a 90 minute tour from the guide which could have been done in 15 minutes and then we walked around the rest of the site. We spent ages at the site but it was only 11am. We decided to get the bus down into town were we were meeting our tour leader Martin. The bus down took ages and when we got to the town we found him in a restaurant. Our train out wasn't until 3 so we had time for a nice big lunch and a well earns glass of champaign. Most the group slept and then at 3 we got on our train back to Ollantaytambo were we started. The train ride was 90 minutes and I ended up sitting alone because of my seat number but I didn't mind as the scenery was amazing. Back in Ollantaytambo we got on a bus and headed back to Cuzco. That took a coupe of hours and by the time we got back it was dark. We rushed to our rooms to have our first shower in 4 days. Some of the group wanted to have a big night out which started with a KFC. We couldn't be lathered wight hat so Sarah, Danielle, Alice and I went for a nice dinner and then a well needed sleep in a comfortable bed.