The Inca Trail was immense, and, as with the hiking in Ecuador, it was all about the altitude. It was an early start on the first day, with a few hours travelling in a coach to a village called Ollantaytambo for a few last minute supplies. We picked up a little bottle of 'magic stuff' as our guide Hilbert called it, but it's actually called Agua de Florida and is a powerful ecalyptus based liquid that you sniff and it opens your nose and lungs giving your body more oxygen - why didn't we have that going up Cotopaxi? Anyway, another drive to the starting checkpoint, which stands at 2400m, and we were ready to start our four day, 49km hike to the eighth wonder of the world.

The first day was tough, but that may have been because of the shock to the system with six hours of hiking uphill. We hugged the Urubamba river for the start and for the trails duration Hilbert gave us information about the route and the ruins that we passed, including the difference between 'ruins' and 'archeological sites' - the difference being that if the Spanish found it and inevitably destroyed it then it was a ruin, but if they never found it, as with Machu Picchu city, then it was not a ruin at all.
There were seven people in our group and fortunately we all moved at roughly the same pace - a fast one, at times leaving our guide to play catch up. Hilberts catch phrase was 'hold your llamas' to encourage us to take it easy. We reached the first camp while it was still light - other groups were still arriving several hours later. We were treated to happy hour, as we were everyday, although not the happy hour we are used to. This type involved fresh popcorn, biscuits, tea and coffee - which we appreciated much more than two mojitos for one. With no showers available until day three, we were also grateful for a little basin of warm water to wash with. The night was chilly and it was bed to the tents early to rest the weary legs.

Day one was deemed the 'training day' as day two is the toughest. Still, we were up at dawn, served coca tea, which is used to combat altitude sickness, in our tents before breakfast in the dining tent. The food all throughout the trail was great. Both lunch and dinner were always four or five different platters of different food and breakfast was usually hot toast, pancakes and porridge.

Day two was definitely tough but we kept a good pace and took plenty of breaks - if anything, we took too many breaks. There were two mountain passes that we had to cross during the day, the first being the highest altitude of the trail. It's called Dead Womans Pass, because it's shaped like a woman lying down, and is 4200m above sea level. We started the day at about 3600m, climbed 900m to Dead Womans Pass, descended 800m to the lunch stop, then climbed a further 400m to the second pass, Runkuracay Pass, at 4000m, before descending 300m through high jungle to the second camp - that's a lot of up and down for one day.

The second camp was a lot colder than the first, because it's a lot higher up, but it didn't reach the -5 degrees that we warned about. It did rain that evening though, as soon as we arrived at the camp, so at least we weren't hiking through the wet. There were a few drips coming through the dining tent, which had us feeling sorry for the porters who sleep there. We had eleven porters, including a chef and an organiser, between the seven of us. They each carry up to 20kg on their backs, including tents, chairs, tables, food and gas canisters. Until regulations were introduced they were carrying an astonishing 50kg on their backs. They move very quickly too - a lot quicker than us with our measly 9kg bags - as they leave camp after us and arrive at the next camp before us, and they do that twice a day.

Day three was the easy day. We only had to hike about 800m downhill for about five hours - but that still meant a dawn start in order to beat the worst of the mosquitos. We were treated to a stunning sunrise across the glacier mountains before setting off. We arrived at camp for lunch and were there for the rest of the day - it rained for lunch but dried up for dinner. There was also an interestingly awkward conversation regarding tipping the porters, with the five Irish and English backpackers facing off against the American couple who were both consultants and on a ten day holiday.

Day four was the earliest start of all as we were up at 330 in order to see the sunrise at Inti Punku (the Sun Gate). The final checkpoint opened at 530 and it was about an hour and a half of hiking, including the 'Gringo Killer' which is an incredibly steep set of steps, to the Sun Gate to watch Machu Picchu city slowly become bathed in sunlight.
We took plenty of photos, both at the Sun Gate and during Hilberts two hour guided tour of Machu Picchu city. The sun was hot and by the time we had our free time to explore we were ready to leave. We did take a bit of pride in being amongst the smelliest, dirtiest tourists there, proving to the clean, fresh daytrippers that we had done the proper, full on Machu Picchu trip.

The Inca Trail is hard work, and we did hear about and see plenty of people who struggled far more than we did, but it was totally worth it. We heard of one elderly woman who was literally carried over Dead Womans Pass by a porter! Machu Picchu and the surrounding mountains are not done justice by any photo or postcard. The only downside is that the photos do lie - no you not have the whole city to yourself. There are plenty of tourists crowding your photos, but we still got plenty of great shots.

Inevitably, we tried to compare this trek with our other four day trek - the Lost City - but they're entirely different. One has you fighting the heat and humidity in a jungle, the other fighting both hot and cold as well as altitude. They are as hard and as tough as one another, but the Inca Trail comes up trumps on the final day, with Machu Picchu living up to it's 'wonder of the world' title.

After getting the all important passport stamp, we got a bus down the curved mountain road to the town of Aguas Calientes for a well deserved trip to the hot springs to soak our muscles. Thankfully the baths were a lot cleaner than those in Banos, plus it was quiet. After lunch, it was a train and a bus that took us back to Cusco.

That was Thursday, and we are still in Cusco. Friday was quiet as we couldn't make a decision on whether to move on to a new town or not. Up until now, it's all been a bit rushed, because Machu Picchu was fixed in the calendar, but now we are free of that burden and can take our sweet f-ing time.

Today we tried to organise a bungee jump - 122m high no less, apparently the highest in the Americas - but the adventure park is closed on Saturdays. How that makes business sense I don't know! So, instead of getting an adrenaline fix, the three macho men that we are decided to get a massage. It was unbeatable value at only S/15 for a full hour.

Tomorrow we are going to try the bungee jump again, because the adventure park does open on a Sunday (?). Then, after the hurling of course, we are off to Copacabana, Bolivia, for a new currency, a new timezone and my fourth country.