So after taking the worst night bus from Arequipa we arrived in Cuzco early in the morning, very tired very dirty so all in all not in a good mood! We went straight to bed to catch up after getting no sleep overnight.

After much needed rest we headed out and the first thin we noticed was how touristy Cuzco is, there is even a McDonalds. THe first we had seen in ages. My friend Jon from uni was in Cuzco at the same time so in the evening we decided to go out for a drink. It was pretty wierd seeing him again (as we had already met up when we were in Melbourne) but we had a good night. The next morning the 3 of us took the long walk up the hill to the Jesus statue, we thought it would be good practice for the Inca trail. It was quite steep but the views were nice when we got to the top. After we got back we all headed for a local restaurant for cheap food where we sat for hours just chatting about random stuff.

The next day was spent relaxing and paying off the inca trail, this was when we found out that there were going to be road strikes and blockades and we would be setting off earlier than expected, this was roundabout the same time i (Rich) started feeling unwell, i felt really bad and we weren´t sure if i was getting a cold, really hungover or had swine flu. When we left for the inca trail i started to feel worst, luckily the road blocks meant that we couldnt start staright away which was a blessing in disguise as i spent the whole day in the tent asleep while Hannah and the rest explored the Sacred Valley. When we finally got started we were that far behind schedule that we planned to do 2 days hiking in 1 go. This meant hiking for 23km of which 11 were solidly uphill over a section called dead woman pass. We started at 5am and didnt finish untill 7pm it was so dark when we finished that porters had to come and show us the light. I had gotten worse and the last 30mins had to be carried to the campsite. Ii felt so bad and these little guys didnt seem to care and were more than happy to help.

Luckily we got back on schedule after that mammoth day and the guides were so happy and said that had never been done before by a tourist group. In the morning i felt better so we marched on ahead and got to know others in the group. Which was nice and i even felt ok to do an hour extra detour to some ruins that most people didnt bother with.

I woke up the next day and felt even worst, which sucked as we were up at 3.50am to get to Machu Picchu at sunrise. The walk wasnt that far but i spent the mojority if the time behind the final wall being really ill. I was so close but had no energy to actually see it. When i did though it was amazing the views were incredible and couldnt beleive we had both actually made it. After we had an hour guided tour but i still felt ill, i am probably the first ever person to take a nap on Machu Picchu!!!! Later we headed to restauarant wiht the whole group and gave a speech to the porters, cook and guides, who then sung us all a song and shook our hands goodbye. It was a really nice end to an extremely tough and rewarding few days.

Back in Cuzco we met up for a meal with Craig and Lisa from our Bolivia tour which was nice to catch up and tell them all about our inca trail and stuff. The final day we spent walking around taking pics and waiting before our night bus to Nazca, where hopefully we willl have enough money to fly over the Nazca lines. Now the Inca trail is over it feels like the end of our trip but we are still going to try and enjoy the last few days before we fly home. See you all real soon.