We are in hot water, literally. Beneath the fabled "lost" city of the Incas, Machu Picchu, lies the little village of Aguas Calientes. From the base of one of the towering mountains, that make this part of the world unique, flows a stream of hot soothing water. Hot Water in Spanish! From this little town you cannot see or even behold where Machu Picchu might be. All you know is that it is somewhere above you. High above. It could any of the three or four mountains that call the sky their home.

To get up there before the hordes arrive, you need to get up there early. Really early. Like 0400 early. When the sun is still on the other side of the world and hasn't even thought about getting to your part of the world yet! The sort of early that makes it night in other people's vocabulary.

After a full, hearty and nutritional breakfast of chocolate Oreo cookies and half a bottle of yoghurt, we headed out into the rainy dark and made our way to the base of the mountain that gives rest to Machu Picchu high above and slowly made our way up and up and up; all the while sweating up a storm in our rain gear under a jungle canopy while the cloud and rain swirled around us.

Ing never looked better in her rain gear and sweat streaming off her face as we reached the top and took in the awesome sight of the......entrance gate and the falling rain all around! Slowly we made our way round Machu Picchu and marvelled at the beauty of this place and how it came to be. It felt as if we had just missed the ghosts from times of yore as they made way for the sunlight and what that brings.

Rain came and went, clouds swept in and covered the site and breezes cleared it again. From a high vantage point, it seemed as if a new part of the city was being revealed for us each time, allowing us to marvel at the city each time anew.

Since we had been up since what seemed like the night before, and climbed a mountain through the jungle and rain, lunch and a pit stop was needed, especially as Ing was not feeling so good. Damn....not part of the plan. But then again, there wasn't much of a plan......as I am the supreme opportunist when it comes to this sort of thing! A quick bus trip down and a hearty lunch saw the colour back in cheeks, a spring in her step and smile on her face. But a busy main road and train line is no place to pop a question. Damn!

Maybe when we had something at supper then? But I wasn't so sure. Especially when the little local place we went had two boisterous little kids under our table half the night demanding attention when their owner-mothers pulled them away. Somehow the baked guinea pig that steamed past our table didn't really add up to romantic. At least not in the way I envisaged. Or not what Ing thinks is romantic!

When then? When? These tanzanite stones had been burning a very slow hole in my bag since June and now they were scorching a furnace in my jacket pocket! If I was not careful, they would burn a hole right through my chest! I need not have worried for Ing came to my chest's rescue.

Since Ing knew I had kept chocolate for the hike in my other jacket pocket, she was surprised to feel what she thought was more.

"What is this?"

"Take it out and have a look."

After careful removal and the two little boxes extracted and with eyes all lit up and a smile a mile wide.

"What are these?"

"They are tanzanite stones from the slopes of Kilimanjaro. The rarest jewel in the world. You know those drawings I have been hiding? Well, they are designs for some jewelry I want to give you."

With drawings spread out, my thoughts spoken and plans discussed for the making of them, Ing was very pleased.

"What do you think this means then, Ing?"

"I'm.....I'm not sure.......what does it mean?" A hint of what might come next in her eyes.

"How would you feel about being my fiance and not my girlfriend?" Gasp. Gulp. Tears and a smile that her face could hardly contain!

"Do you want to marry me then?" I think the whispered yes and the long soft sultry kiss was all the answer I got. And will need.

Daft girl. Does she not know what she has got into?! Somebody help her........ : )))