We set off for our 4 day trek ending on the fifth day at Maccu Picchu with nervous excitment. We were excited by the enormity of the main event on our South American adventure but at the same time unsure as to how hard it would actually turn out to be.

After an hour and a half trek, a look at some Inca ruins and a huge lunch we arrived at a school in the middle of nowhere at the base of a Glacia- this was the beautiful setting for our first night camping and our base camp for the main trek. I must explain that we dìd not do the classic Inca trail ending in Maccu Picchu as all the licences were gone when we booked (only 150 people per day). However we did an Inca trail that they took us over the mountains to the forest where they used to trade their goods and buy things to take back to their town, village etc. Our Trek was 39 KM with the highest pass at just under 5,000M... HIGH! We of course thought that we are much harder than those on the classic Inca trail as it`s highest pass is 4,200!

As soon as we arrived at the school our trusty team of 14 support crew appeared, we were looked after like royalty by our crew who did the following for us...

1. Our 3 man cook team lead by Chef Wilfred put on 3, 3 course meals a day for us plus snacks of chocolate etc to eat along the way. These guys would leave the camp site about an hour after us, come flying past us up the mountain with 2 donkeys loaded up with cooking stuff and carrying huge packs themselves, arrive at the lunch area set up 2 massive tents and cook an amazing meal all before we got there! On the first day they got half way up and realised they had forgotten something, ran back down to get it, came flying back past us a little later and still had time for a full set up before we arrived!

2. A cup of tea as you are woken up in your tent in the morning

3. 2 bowls of hot water delivered tent in the morning to wash

4. Put up and take down our tents

5. With the help of Llamas, donkeys and Mules take all our bags from one area to the next (in sandals!)

It was all really quite embarrassing... but nice all the same!

When we arrived at the school the local children appeared and we played football with them, threw a frisby around etc. It was an amazing experience. After dinner in the school house the village`s teacher came and taught us some key phrases in Quechua so that we could talk to the locals along the way, he used the Spanish to translate which was tricky although we have picked a fair bit up along the way!

We were woken up the following day in beautiful sunshine and set off up and over the pass at 4,200 meters. The views were amazing and we were surprised, and relieved, by the slow pace set by our guide, Ralfie. The walk was difficult but not as hard as we had anticipated and once we reached the top we had amazing views all around. After half an hour or so we set off down to the next village of Cuncan where we set about our community project helping the locals build a wall around a school to stop the animals form getting in. This involved moving around huge rocks and dropping them in holes to build the foundations, it was great to do something to help develop the community and hopefully enhance their quality of life

When we woke the next morning the weather was altogether different with cloud sitting just above us at about 3,800M. We set off on our main treking day over the pass at just under 5,000M. As we set off we were wrapped up and soon it started to rain, however as we got half way up this turned to snow and a close on blizzard as we battled up the mountain. Luckily the cloud did not come in so we were able to see. By contrast to the previous day we spent about 2 minutes at the top congratulating ourselves before trying to get down as quickly as possible and as we arrived at lunch half way down the valley we started to feel the cold. We were an hour ahead of the last group so we had to wait for them- this was our low point! We left lunch shivering, cold and thinking of a night in a tent with rain pouring down, however after 20 minutes of descent into the valley it opened up into amazing scenery and the sun started to come out, our mood changed as our pace quickened towards our next camp site life was good again!!! The follwoing day we trekd out down the valley in the sunshine as Maccu Picchu grew ever closer...

Well that`s all for now, we have loaded up the Maccu Picchu photos so take a look, the text will be added next time as we are about to leave for a home stay with a local family. We hope you are well- all the best.