So, half five friday morning and our adventure begins with a struggle to wake up. We managed to drag ourselves downstairs to wait for the bus and when it arrives we climb on board and head off around Cuzco to collect the rest of our group and some of the porters. When the bus is full we head off towards Ollantaytambo for breakfast. On the way out of Cuzco everyone seems to be talking amongsts themselves in the little groups they have come in but as we leave the city and the views change from small hills (albeit at massive altitude), to even bigger mountains with paths running through them, there is a collective gulp as we realise the magnitude of the task ahead and silence falls upon the bus. It is also possible that I have blow this out of proportion and everyone just fell asleep, Regina for instance was snoring at one or two stages!!!!! So we arrive in Ollantaytambo, a town which seems to be a ruins itself, the entrance to the town is defined by the Inca style terraces that can be seen in most ruins. We park up in the middle of the town and get off the bus, queue the throves of women trying to sell us water, coca leaves, walking sticks, bottle holders.... is this what the trail will be like we wonder?¡?¡ After a nice little breakfast (pancakes for me and Reg) we head onwards towards KM82 where the trail will start. When we arrive in what is nothing more than a car park and a toilet hut, we are greated by yet more women selling the same as earlier but also this time they are selling straps for attaching things to our bags.... We are given the sleeping mat that I have to carry, and as I am watched over by a disapproving local woman I attach it to my bag using my belt.... she didnt think I could do it but I sure showed her!!!! We head down to the checkpoint, and are photographed by all the tourists sitting on the train that has stopped at the junction (they didnt do the trail... losers!!!). Quick check of our particulars and off we head on day one of the hike...

So day one is what they describe as "easy" and "training". The going is quite easy with only a few uphills and not too many staircases. The mountains all around are breath taking... literally and the other one. KM82 is at 2600 metres, which is the lowest we have been since arriving in Cuzco. We follow the Urumbamba river until we reach the start of the original trail. Passing a ruins which would have been a food supply town for Machu Picchu (it is translated to Fire Valley in Quechua language). We stop here for a little explanation from our guide Frank (a local dude), and on we go. The weather is a bit strange here, it is lovely and sunny one minute and next its all stop and jackets out for a bit of a downpour. Then by the time the jackets are on the rain stops again so we keep going for a bit before it gets to warm, take them off, and it starts to rain again... this only really lasted the first day mind (thanks to many offerings from the guides and porters!!!!). We pass through some small towns (bathroom and stall selling water) and restock before we push on. We stop at one more ruins (cant remember the name (or any more of them)) and some more intersting facts about the Quechua peoples and the Incas (mostly I am afraid I forget). On we go until we reach our first camp at Wayllabamba where we have lunch. I will say now that each meal we had was fantastic, we had a starter, soup, and a main course and occassionaly desert followed by tea. Since this is the first day the walking is over for now, and we head off exploring the area by ourselves. There is a ruins nearby and we go to check this out only to find some kids playing football on the side of it (sheer drop on the other side). Nobody seems to tired after the first lot of walking, but we are glad of the rest as the next day is due to be the hardest.... Challenging according to the map!!!!! After dinner, and some camomile tea, everyone heads for bed... yes, it was only half seven, so what!!!!!

Day two, and the dreaded "Dead Womans Pass". The porters and guides had made offerings to the Pachamama (mother earth) the night before, offerings of local beer (one for them, one for her, one for them, one for her, etc), so we had lovely weather for the climb... some 900 metres up, and about 4 miles across (I think). The going is hard enough, especially with the altitude, however as we ascend the pass, the porters more or less run past us. These guys are exceptional!!! They are carrying 25kg on their backs, and have to unpack the camp after we leave, pass us on the way to the next camp and set it up before we get there. We have also learned at this stage that we are a fast group and are ahead of schedule. At times we are passing porters as they break, then they pass us as we break. They run for 10 minutes and then stop for 5, we walk stop walk stop as we need.... but with good purpose. We pass through lightly forested areas and then break for a snack at about 3800metres. We all thought it would be lunch, but since we had started walking at about half six and it was only 9 or 10, we would have to wait for camp the far side of the pass for lunch. We keep going, slowly but surely, til we reach the First Pass, the highest point of the trail, and supposedly the hardest. Personally when we reached the top, I would have descended to the bottom and started again (since it was a nice walk), some others were nearly dead and happy to keep going. Onwards down the far side to lunch and base camp

All the while we are walking, there is mountains far higher than where we are walking, and they overlap each other as far as the eye can see through valleys. Some are snow capped, some are cloud capped. The sky above is blue, and there is the occassional cooling breeze. It genuinely feels to me like this is the nicest place I have ever been. Our group are working really well together aswell. We have in our midst, two Americans, two South Africans, two Swedes, three Aussies and oen canadian. There is 5 couples and two extra fellas (later to become an impromptu love couple to share a tent together). The front of the group, lead by Nick and Pat (the newly formed couple) race onwards to the next stage. Towards the back of the group (we are enjoying the walk), is ourselves the Americans and South Africans. Romy, the South African girl very kindly lends Regina one of her trekking poles (I dont think she could have made it otherwise so massive thanks to you). Everyone is great for a bit of chat along the route and in camp, and after the first day we are like a family. Our guide, Frank, is a bit of a joker, and he keeps us all going throughout the journey (highly recommendable guide for anyone interested). The walking part of day two ends at lunch time, and we are free to sleep or whatever else we choose. Regina, who is quite tired after the walking hits the hay, and I head up to the tent where I can hear lots of noise and commotion. To my suprise, the noise is coming from just three people, Nick, Pat and Brie (the American girl who likes cheese so much she changed her name!!!! I actually just dont know how to spell her name to be honest). They are deep in a game of Uno, so I sit down to watch and look over Nicks shoulder. Little do I know, but they are playing a new version of the game, which seemingly has no rules. Also, unfortunately, they are all quite tired and giddy, so things are a little messy. After a while Shannon (aussie guy) comes in, I try to warn him not to get sucked in, but its too late. Later Regina (who thinks everyone is in the tent) arrives, and then Beth (aussie girl). We suffer on watching the game for another hour, before Brie cheats her way to winning (or so the other two think). At this stage Jeff and Romy have joined us and we start a proper game and later Fred and Susan (swedes) join in too, biggest most confusing game of Uno ever!!!! Thankfully it all ends with dinner and again off to bed for half seven!!!!!

So, day three.... It seems hard to remember all the things we saw and all the funny things that happened even though it was only a few days ago. I think we will both rememeber the Inka trail either way, and hopefully in time it will be rememebered in a good way by both of us!!!! Day three is the longest day of walking. Frank had already decided that instead of having lunch at the usual spot on the trail that we would have it at the second pass instead, since we were walking so quickly and well. The path before us, as described by Augusto, the second guide, is "Inka Flat"!!!!! We already knew this would mean lots of up and downs. In parts the steps down got really hard for most, especially on the kneees. Having watched the amazing porters the day before, I worked out that the best way to descend was quickly, so that the knees werent really used.... it was lots of fun too!!!! It was on the third day that I learned the most interesting thing about the trail. At one of the ruins we stopped at, Frank was explaining some of the structure of the society. At the head of the group was the Inka or King (Inka means King), and then the queen and his other wives (the last one had about 40 wives and hundreds of children). At the bottom of the social ladder, was the people who built the trails. They were aged 17 to 18 years old, and it was their job to build the trails as part of a tax to the governments. To think that what are essentially children (at my age its ok to say that an 18 year old is a child), not only laid the paths that can be seen in the photos, but also built all of the support that is not visible underneath them. On the mountain passes, where the path is built into the side of the mountain, they would have cleared away forest, built up a wall, and laid the path on top of this. All of this was done using stones from the area to save on carrying them, but in some cases smaller rocks would have had to have been carried from nearby quarries... a truely unbelievable thought having seen the place, trust me!!! After lunch we continue walking, day three consists of about 14km of trails to get us within a stones throw of Machu Picchu for the short walk on day four. As we reach camp it just starts to rain, testiment again to our luck (we had seen an Eagle as we descended from dead womens pass, lucky apparently). At the last camp there is proper facilities. That is not to say that the facilities elsewhere were rubbish, although some of the toilets were quite manky. In each of our camps we all stayed in decent tents with really warm sleeping bags and ground mats. There was a kitchen tent for each trek group, gas cookers, the gas was carried by a 20 year old porter. There was also a tent for meals which is where the porters slept at night also. In the last camp, as I had begun to mention, there is a few proper buildings with showers, and decent toilets (until beth flooded them) and a bar. The strangest, and worst part of this was that the bar doubled as a night club, and even as we arrived at about five in the evening, the dance songs were blarring out over the speakers..... I really hated this, but we went for a drink anyway to celebrate our achievements (I would probably have sat in the tent starring out at the clouds all evening otherwise). After dinner on this third night, and our last supper, the chef presented us with a cake he had just made (took him two hours, and he even iced it on his lap). Needless to say it was a good cake and enjoyed by all

Along our trail I learned a few things, not about myself unfortunately as that might have been nice!!! Firstly, Inca means King, the Inca people are actually called Quechua (sounds like ketchup people (giggle)). They worship the Sun and Moon. They worship the Pachamama and the symbols of the Condor, the Puma and the Snake which represent the sky the earth and the water. One of the porters told us a very important expression to teh ketchup people, it is Dont be Lazy, Dont lie and Dont steal.... Ama Sua, Ama Kjella, Ama Lllulla! . Hmmm what else did I learn..... maybe that is it...

On the fourth day we walk to Machu Picchu.... would the offerings give us good weather, or had our luck run out..... it all remains to be seen

Regina - Ouh my legs.That is all.