There was one final day of training before I started the Inca Trail and that was in the Sacred Valley if the Incas. It's a lush agricutlural area that supplies surrounding towns with most of it's produce.

Our first stop was a small village/community reknowned for its womens weaving project. We were talked through the whole process from taking the wool from the roaming llamas in the village, to spinning it onto a loom, then dying it with all sorts of wierd and wonderful plant and insect potions, before finally weaving it into anything from gloves and hats to tablecloths and hammocks.

Then we went on to see some ruins in Pisac. This was the real test of the day as we walked for about an hour around the ruins, getting ready for the trail ahead of us. But no matter how short the walk is the altitude always gets you. The ruins were pretty impressive but yet again full of other tourists, which didnt make for the best pictures.

We had lunch in the vilage of Pisac and time to explore the market for a few more souveniers. They also had a random little guy hidden away in the corner of the market serving the best empanadas straight out of the wood fired oven. Cheese filled bread packages still warm and less than 10p each - yum!

Our final stop of the day was Ollytaytamba, the site of another large inca ruin, with hundreds of steps to climb up. But more importantly it gave us our first glimpse of the type of scenery ahead on the inca trail. The town overlooks the Urubamba river valley - the starting point for the trail.