Day One - 10kWe were picked up at 6am from our hostel in Cusco to begin the four day trek along the Inca trail over the Andes to Macchu Pichu. We met our fellow walkers, an Australian couple, Kaz and Aaron; our guide, Ramiro; and our team of porters and the cook. We stopped for breakfast at Ollantaytambo, an Inca fortress built into the mountainside where Manco Inca fought the Spanish conquistadors in 1537. We bought some Coca leaves to help with the altitude bef...

After the interesting journey to get to Cusco we afforded ourselves the luxury of a lie-in for the first time on the trip. We had purposefully left a few days extra in Cusco to relax and prepare for the Inca trail. And good thing we did because 'soroche' struck again. This time it was me who was affected. Constant nausea and not being able to breathe after ascending the slightest incline dampened the initial excitement of being in Cusco. What joy when it finall...