Last time Brent was travelling in South America, he spent Christmas and NY in Cuzco in, what was then, the newly opened Wild Rovers. There he met one of the owners of the hostel, Colin.

When we arrived this time around, Colin greeted us like old friends. That night in the bar, he toasted us over the mic, shouted everyone in the bar two bottles of rum and offered us free accomodation for the whole time we stayed (which ended up being two weeks!). Brent was introduced to everyone as "an original", which he adopted for himself very quickly.

The bar was much more laid back than that of the Wild Rover hostel in La Paz. Colin played funny advertisements and clips, Christmas songs and Freddy Mercury videos on a big projector screen behind the bar. Colin's fav clip at the moment is the Jean Claude Van Damme Volvo ad, which he would have played no less than 5 times on our first night.

In our first two days in Cuzco, we bought a few nicnacs, went to the Pisco Museum and ate sushi and went to the San Pedro market. I got a three course meal for the equivalent of $1.50 AUD at the market consisting of soup, dahl and fried fish with rice and salad. It was delish! B was wary of eating anything as he has a sensitive stomach and the following day we were setting off to do our Inka Trek with nothing but bush toilets for 4 days.

The next morning we were ready, albeit bleary-eyed, at 5am for our bus pick-up. There were nine people altogether on our trek, plus our guide and nine porters. We soon met the three Scotish (living in Bogota, Columbia) and four Columbians we'd be spending the next four days with when we stopped for breakfast at Ollaytantambo. As we stepped off the bus we were swarmed with people selling all sorts of trekking paraphernalia. At this stop and the base of the mountain where more vendors were camped out, we bought gloves for me, a jumper, walking stick and water bottle carrier for Brent and sleeping mat straps for both our packs before we set off on the trek. I was sceptical about these last minute purchases, but we ended needing every one of them.

As for the trek... it was bloody hard. We really didn't know what we were getting ourselves in to, and I think if we did, we would never have signed up for it. The days involved 6 to 10 hours of walking depending on the steepness of the inclines. The second day near killed us as we climbed to approximately 4,300 meters above sea level by uneven stairs, most of which were higher than knee-height only to descend 600 meters straight afterwards and all before lunch. There were times when I was on all fours trying to get myself and my backpack up those stairs! Apart from the walking, wake-ups were at 5am, and on the last day at 3am. Toilets were at best, the Inka toilet, and at worst, camp ground toilets which were in the ground, without a flush or any light, and covered in poo, showers were cold if at all, and you had to pay for the pleasure of using either. The only redeeming features were the spectacular views (when we managed to look up), the food which our porters conjured out of practically nothing and which was really delicious, and the good company, which allowed us to laugh at our self-imposed misfortune.

By the time we reached Machu Picchu on day 4, legs aching, the steps around the ruins were almost too much. Scaling Huayna Picchu was out of the question but we did hobble around the site on a tour and then by ourselves to take in the grandeur and aura of the place. Machu Picchu is definitely something I am glad to have seen, but in retrospect, I would recommend to myself to catch the train, which we did on the way home following lunch and a visit to the hot springs in Machu Picchu town.