LIMA, CUSCO AND THE GRAND FINALE...THE INCA TRAIL

Ever since leaving New Zealand, excitement and anticipation have been building about visiting Peru, finishing my trip with the Inca Trail in the Andes.

After a long day´s travelling, via Colombia, from Santiago, I was in Lima. Peru´s capital city is home to 9 million people. As I weaved my way through the streets in the back of a "taxi" from the airport, the crazy traffic and lack of road rules reminded me of Ho Chi Minh...apart from the scooters are replaced with cars. Lima is situated on the Pacific coast, and has a prevailing wind that brings sea fog in over the city. It combines with the traffic pollution to create a continual choking pollution, that made me feel permanently nauseus.

I had two days before Greg was due to arrive, so I spent them exploring the city. As Peru was previously ruled by the Spanish, the city centre has some great architecture from may different periods, dating back to the 12th Century. Many of the buildings have a number of different styles, as parts of them have had to be rebuilt each time there´s an earthquake (which is a regular occurance - Peru averages two earthquakes a day, although most can´t be felt).

I visited the main cathedral in the city centre, and the monestary that´s situated by its side. We went into the dungeons of the monestary, where we saw the remains of up to 25,000 bodies that had been buried there. Apparently, the dungeons were completely off limits to the public until relatively recently. When archeologists went down there, they were greeted with thousands of skeletons. In order to determine how many skeletons in total there were, they counted the femurs (the largest bone in the body). 50,000 femurs were counted. Strangely, they had been laid out in rows and some were in patterns...I found it quite weird that this was a visitor attraction, but very interesting all the same.

After Greg arrived, we had another day in Lima, so decided to visit the ancient ruins of Patchacamac. This settlement dated from pre-Inca times and consisted of a huge temple that had been built on the top of a desert hill. The scale and complexity of the building was amazing - pretty hard to comprehend how difficult it must have been to construct.

With the start of the Inca trail nearing, we flew to Cusco, the former Centre of the Inca world and now home to 400,000 people and many tourists who go there as a base to see Macchu Picchu. At 3,600 metres above sea level, the altitude and lack of oxygen in the air was noticeable straight away (Ben Nevis is 1344 metres above sea level to put it in perspective). A brisk walk up the street and we were feeling like old men...don´t say anything...!

We made the most of our free day in Cusco by going White Water Rafting on the Ulamba River. It was one of the best experiences of my trip, as we came down the rapids for two hours, with spectacular scenery all around and some hilarious Peruvian and Chilean guides and rafters, who were hell bent on making it a great ride. Freezing cold from jumping in the river when we got out, we dived in the sauna, before Greg decided to go down the four zip lines that crossed the river.

And so to the grand finale. The Inca Trail started the following day with a journey through the Sacred Valley, where we visited numerous Inca sites. Often situated on the side or at the tops of mountains, we just couldn´t believe the effort that must have gone in to constructing these huge places. Our guide showed us examples of how the Incas constructed terraces for agricultural purposes, and also to help protect from the erosion caused by earthquakes. We also saw the aquaducts that took water from the glaciers at the top of the mountains to the settlements below, with amazing precision and engineering.

The trekking started the following day. Fourteen of us and two guides set off on day 1, an 11km hike to our campsite. Over the next 3 days, we covered 40km, which wasn´t a long distance in itself, but factoring in the altitude and the fact I suffered from altitude sickness until I got some tablets at the end of the first day, and it was still a challenge.

We wound our way along the trail, stopping at Inca ruins and climbing all the way up to "Dead Woman´s Pass" at 4200 metres on the second day. The glacier capped mountains, combined with beautiful weather meant we were able to take in the spectacular scenery right through the trip. Merely talking about it just doesn´t do it justice. You´ll have to see the pictures.

On the fourth day, we were up at 3.30am and en route to the Sun Gate at the entrance of Macchu Piccu by 4.30am. The aim was to see the sun rise over the ruins and get the best of the day there, avoiding the crowds. After two hours walking, we arrived at the gates and weren´t disappointed. Our guides, Abel and Pedro said it was only the fourth time in three years that Macchu Piccu had been visible from here at this time - it´s usually covered in cloud. Amazing.

We spent the rest of the morning exploring the enormous Inca settlement, that was home to up to 700 people when it was used by the Incas. Amazingly, it remained a secret until 1911, when an American archaeologist re-discovered it by accident, whist on his way to find another Inca ruin.

The Inca trail was a truly great way to end the trip. I know Greg loved it as much as I did. We met some great people in our group, but a special mention has to go to the porters. There were 18 porters and 2 cooks who carried all of our gear, including tents, food, clothes atc for the entire trip. These guys are absolute machines. Running past us up and down the mountains, they would arrive at the campsite, pitch our tents, cook our food and clap us in as we arrived about two hours after them! We would then set off the following morning, leaving all our gear behind and an hour later, they would be running past us again, in order to get ready for us the following day. As we rocked up at the next site, they´d clap us in again as if we were the ones who´d put the effort in. I was totally humbled by their amazing work ethic and kind nature and we felt embarrased at how good they were. The BEST service I have ever received, bar none.

So that´s it for now. I´m in Lima airport and my plane takes off in a couple of hours. Subject to volcanic ash and British Airways staff turning up to work, I may or may not be back in the country very soon.

Keep the comments coming and I might just continue the blog in Europe!