We arrived into Cusco at about 6am; we seem to like seeing places for the first time at dawn!!! Our main aim of the day was to pay the balance on our Inca Trail Trek. So we headed to the office and met a few others who were going the same day as us. The general feeling amongst us all seemed to be nervous but excited about what lay ahead!

Once we had this paid we took a wander about Cusco. The next day we set about hiring our walking boots and poles for the trail. We had been reliably informed (thanks Sile) that Speedy Gonzales was the man to go to for these things....naively we turned up about 10.30, only to discover that Speedy is a fan of the lie in, and we were told to come back about midday!!....so off we went to discover Jacks, another recommendation from Sile & Aine!!! We treated ourselves, ahead of what was going to be a tough few days, to a high calorie, but very tasty snack of caramelised banana pancakes....and yes they were as good as they sound!!!!

So we headed back to Speedy, amazingly not only was he open, but they also had a pair of shoes to fit Shanes flippers....muy grande as they all said!!!! Once this was sorted we picked up our other few bits and then last but not least got the essential provision for the trek, ie chocolate!!!! We had been advised to pick this up, it wasn't that we wanted it!!!!

Day 1 Inca Trail

We set off from the hostel at 5.15, picking up our trek mates and then heading to Ollantaytambo, where we had breakfast and the trek began. As we approached the area we were looking up at all the mountains around us and ticking them all off as not possible to walk up and were seriously questioning what we had let ourselves in for!!!

So we parked up and a hoard of porters came rushing towards the bus to pick up all that we would need for the next few days. After we had all sorted our equipment out we set off towards the entrance, got our stamp and were allowed to begin!!!

First day was the 'easy day', even though there was still plenty of sweating and panting going on!!! We passed our first Incan ruin, Willcarakay, and got our first introduction into the Inca history from our guide Juan. After this we continued onto our lunch spot where they served up some of the tastiest fish we have had on our travels!! Then it was onwards to our first campsite for the night, Wayllabamba, passing through some picturesque valleys. In total we went from 2600m to 3100m, a nice gentle start!

Day 2

The tough day

We had all heard about this day long before we set off!!! It is the day where you go up to 4215m and walk along Dead Womans Pass...

So with this in mind we were all up and on the trail for 6.30am. The first few hours were through wooded trails, and were tough enough...some of the steps up were killers...or so we thought until we were doing the final push, when they seemed easy in comparison. So after lunch we began the final push up to the pass. This involved about 10 meters of climbing followed by at least 30 seconds rest so that we could breathe again and give our muscles chance to recover....this may be the best place to mention how impressive the porters are as they almost skipped past us carrying up to 30kg of goods. We eventually made it up to the top, with a direct quote from Shane saying 'this may be one of the hardest things I have ever done!'....once up there...it started to rain, so we couldn't really bask in the glory of having made it up..Or in the view!!!...instead Shane made like a mountain goat and started scampering down the other side...we had to go down 700 meters and I (Phil) think it took us about 10mins ........well it felt very quick to me as I was taking my life into my own hands trying to keep up with Shane!!

We made it down to Pacaymayu our home for the second night. We got some much needed hot drinks into us, and settled in for the night. Temperatures here go down to as low as -10, we were lucky it didn't get any cooler than this. A few crazies in the group took a shower, but these were unheated concrete shower blocks with FREEZING water...there wasn't a hope we were going in them!

Day 3

Another early start for our longest day, 18km. It was tough early on as we had to go uphill for a while, to the second pass, and the legs were very heavy from the day before. We stopped at another ruin, Runkurakay, which is where the runners stopped back in the day. Our guide described it as an old post office!!! Then we headed down to the ruin of Sayaqmarka, known as the inaccessible town, as the entrance path is no more than a meter wide and hangs on the edge of a cliff. Then we headed towards our lunch spot, this part of the trail is meant to have the most beautiful views of the whole trail.....for us, not so much!!! We saw fog, cloud and rain, followed by a bit more fog, cloud and rain!!! After lunch the section of the trail is called the Gringo Killer. This is a decent of 1000meters...once again the porters shocked us with their skills, running past us in sandals, with still about 28kg on their backs! Luckily the rain eased off but at this stage we were so cold and wet all we wanted to do was get to camp....que the second appearance of Shane 'mountain goat' Deane!!! So we got down pretty quickly, hoping the whole time that some of our clothes in our bags were still dry!!!...wishful thinking unfortunately.

That evening was our last supper together, and somehow the chef managed to pull a cake out of the bag!!! The food over the whole trek was pretty impressive, how they managed to move everything over these mountains and still put up a good spread we will never know!!!!

Day 4

Our earliest start yet, 3.45am, but it was all ok because this was the last day and we were close to the Promised Land!!!!We had a light snack and then got in line to wait for the entrance to the national park to open at 5.30. We were about the 3rd group in line, and once those doors opened the race to the Sun Gate began!!!! All the pain and tiredness was forgotten for a mad hour and a half as we all raced to get our first view of Machu Picchu....and it was definitely worth it. The setting of Machu Picchu has to be seen to be believed. Why and how on earth they built this structure in this setting is a mystery....Shanes appropriate quote of the day was 'those crazy Inca b******s'....that and he kept singing 'oh tell me why do we build castles in the sky etc'......They couldn't have picked a more inaccessible place to put a village....but we are really glad that they did as it made all the walking worthwhile....for anyone thinking of going to see it we would defiantly recommend it.

After having a tour and painfully walking around for a couple of hours we headed down, via bus (thank god) to Aguas Caliente for some tasty food and a well deserved beer and sit!!! We then got the train and bus back to Cusco, for a long overdue shower, use of a real actual toilet and a proper bed!!!!

The next couple of days were spent sorely wandering around Cusco and planning our next move!!! We even managed to find a lovely Sunday roast in the Real McCoy, with another sailing buddy Victoria, ..just what we needed!...although it wasn't as good as home obviously!!!:)

Some facts about Machu Picchu

It took 100 years to build

It's at 2500meters (so yes we climbed higher than we really needed to!!!)

It was refound 100 years ago, and is now one of the new 7 wonders of the world.

The agricultural terraces were designed so that the sun would heat the stones, which in turn would heat the soil behind it, allowing for plants to grow in the cool climate