We got up at 6am to be ready to leave at 7am. Our group was splitting into two as some were doing the classic Inca trail and we were doing the community trail.

Day 1:

We said goodbye to the others and got in the minibus with Jonathon our guide. First of all we drove to a place called Sacsayhwaman to see some Inca ruins. After that we went to Pisac to see more ruins. Jonathon explained about why the Incas built terraces and how they believed in the three worlds. It was very interesting. He showed us caves in the mountains that used to have mummies in. We also saw a poor pig being dragged around by its back leg. A man was trying to take it to the village obviously to become a sausage so no wonder it didnt want to go.

We went for lunch in Pisac before driving to where our trek began. The not so fun part!! We started at Fundo Huaran and were trekking to Cancha Cancha which is 3900m in altitude so that meant 6km uphill... no not uphill... upmountain!

Well I started off ok but the altitude got to me in the fact that i found it very hard to breathe whilst walking uphill. So I had to keep taking short breaks. I was at the back and seemed to be getting more and more left behind so my breaks got longer as there was no one telling me to keep walking! I kept on walking, slowly plodding my way along with my stick when the path split in two. It was decision time, left or right? Hmmm I decided left to keep following the river and it turns out it was the right decision but I could have so easily gone the wrong way and got lost! Then I also came to realise that if I collasped at that moment in time no one would know. After being overtaken by the horses carrying our tents eventually the guide Jonathon came back to look for me and then walked the rest of the way with me.

We arrived at the campsite just about as it was getting dark. We all went into the boys tent to play cards whilst our dinner was cooking. When dinner was ready it was massive! To start with there was soup which was very nice and warmed us up wonderfully. So being nice and full on soup then came our main course followed by a desert! Struggled to eat it all and went to bed feeling very full!

Day 2:

After a freezing night in the tent with not much sleep, despite wearing 6 layers we were awoken by one of the porters knocking on our tent saying ¨Hola, beunos dias, coca tea?¨ Followed by a hand coming through the tent with a cup of tea in it. It was great just to hold it in your hand let alone drink it. Didnt really need to get dressed as I was still wearing all my clothes so we put our boots on packed our bag and went to the food tent. There a 3 course breakfast waited for us, so much food! There was toast and jam first, then came porridge, followed by a bowl of fruit. Once again I struggled to eat everything and left some. Jonathon was telling me to eat as I wouldnt get up the mountain otherwise but I really couldnt eat anymore. I think id got the symptom of loss of appetite from altitude.

After breakfast it was time to set off on our hike. Today was going to be 8km. It was dull and misty, we had woken up in a cloud! Jonathon pointed to a snow capped mountain in the distance and said that is where we are walking today, up and over that mountain!! It looked miles away and really high. He saw the look on my face I think because then he said to me ¨ÿou will be ok¨. He had arranged for one of the porters to walk at the back with a horse, somehow I had a feeling this was for my benefit!! So off we set walking up rocky grassland towards the snowy mountains. Looking back you could not see our campsite as it had been swallowed up by the cloud. We walked for ages before reaching the snowy mountains which never seemed to get any closer but eventually we got to the snowy parts. So now we were still going up hill but on slippery ice / snow. The little donkey man behind me giggled everytime I slipped slightly and let out a girly scream, im glad I ammused him. Although I was at the back again this time I wasnt very far behind, I could always see everyone in front of me.

As we were now trekking in snow the sun was really bright and as I couldnt find my sunglasses the day we left, Jonathon was really concerned about my eyes. I had a cap on to keep the sun out of my eyes but he was worried about the reflection upwards from the snow. He asked me if I had anything black to put on my face, which I didnt so we kept walking a bit further. At the next rest stop we had he asked about black again and Nikkie pulled out a black eyebrow pencil. So Jonathon took it and drew big black semi circles under my eyes much to everyone elses ammusment! I looked like a panda! He also put mine, Dee´s and Collette´s bags on the donkey so we didnt have to carry them as they were hanging out at the back with me. We carried on up the snowy mountain until we reached the start of the pass. It was a beautiful view.

Now came the good part, for me. The pass at the top of the mountain was fairly flat and then we had a long way down to go. Now flat and downhill I can do without any problems. On the pass I was still at the back as it was single file but I was up behind everyone else and when it came to the down hill part I was overtaking some people.

Halfway down we stopped in a village for lunch. Im not quite sure what they thought of me with my black eyes! Once again it was a 3 course lunch, starting with soup, a pasta dish and more fruit. I ate all my soup, half of the pasta and didnt have any fruit. I was full again. After lunch we continued downhill to our campsite for the night. For once I was at the front and was in the first group of 3 people to make it to the campsite where it was my turn to wait for the others.

The campsite was in some school grounds that Dragoman sponsers in Quishuarami. So we could see where the money from our trek was being spent. We had tea and popcorn waiting for us at the campsite as a snack. Dinner that evening was once again a 3 course meal. The cooks were amazing! The food was incredible its just there was a lot of it!

The second night in the tent was not as cold as the first but it was still cold. I managed to get a bit more sleep though probably because of the 8km mountain I had done. That day we had been as high as 4800m above sea level!! WOW!!

Day 3:

Once again we woke up to the porters knocking on our tents with cups of tea and bowls of hot water followed byanother very nice but too big 3 course breakfast. We had a decision to make, we could do a 16km hike up and over another mountain or take the short cut of 8km down and round the mountain. Can you guess which I took? Thats right the short cut!! Four of us chose to do the short cut and four to do the longer one. Those of us who had chosen to do the short cut had to sit and wait for the porters to pack away the tents and equipment as we were going the way they were going. Whilst we were waiting I had a nosey in the windows of the school. It looked quite nice inside, proper desks and nice posters on the wall. When they were almost packed away one of the cooks signalled to us to go. He didnt really speak English but tried to tell us a few things along the way. As it was down hill I stayed at the front and kept up with the man (who walked very fast). It was a nice walk to the town of Lares where we had a five minute rest on a park bench. The other porters and horses passed us and then we followed them. We had 15minutes walk left but it was slightly up hill all the way to the hot springs where we were camping. When we got there we sat sunbathing on the hill whilst they put up the tents and made lunch for us. About 2hours later the other group arrived just in time for lunch. After lunch most people went in the hot springs but I chose not to as the water was brown and that put me off slightly. After dinner we said thankyou and goodbye to the porters as we had an early night as we had to get up at 3am the next day.

Day4:

3am came and we were woken up by a knock on tent. No coca tea today, it was too early for that. We had to get out of the tents as quick as possible so the porters could take them down. That wasnt a particularly hard task as once again we were still fully clothed! We carried our bags down to the minibus and waited while the tents were loaded onto the roof. We were driving to Ollantaytambo. We had to leave at 3am because the road closed at 6am for the rest of the day. We arrived nice and early at our hotel and had a well needed shower whilst the cooks prepared breakfast. We all sat down pancakes nice and clean wearing a new set of clothes. After breakfast Jonathon took us into the village to show us around the Inca ruins. These ruins had quite a few steps to climb to get to the top of the terraces. Once again Jonathon was very knowledgable in explaining what things were and why they were like that. Whilst we were there we saw a lady dressed in bright purivian clothes singing (well miming!) infront of some cameras. Jonathon told us she was a famous lesbien singer who had just got out of prison after being accused of something she didnt do. So we might be in the back of a Puruvian pop video!!

Afterwards we went back to the hotel for lunch and then we had a free afternoon to explore the village.

In the evening we went out for dinner to a local restaurant that had the local dish of guinea pig. You walked past the cages of the guinea pigs on the way in, poor things! Three people decided to order guinea pig. I didnt but I ordered alpaca which is still peruvian. I was quite hungry for a change and apparently there isnt much meat on a guinea pig. When they came out they were whole and stood up on the plate. They were longer and thinner than I expectedd, it looked more like a rat! The man took them away again to cut them up to make them easier to eat. They still struggled though as there really wasnt any meat on it at all.

After dinner we went back to the hotel for a good nights sleep in a proper bed before Machu Picchu the next day.

Day 5:

We got up and had breakfast before setting off up the road to the train station. We caught the Machu Picchu train all the way to the bottom of the mountain. From there we caught a bus up the mountain to the enterance to Machu Picchu.

We walked up the hill a bit more passing llamas on the way until we got a really good view looking down over the ancient ruins. We took our photos and Jonathon explained that Machu Picchu means old mountain. He then took us on a guided tour around the ruins explaining the different types of buildings and purposes, such as the store houses, sun temples, princes bedrooms and religious places. Towards the end of the tour we saw Mr. Peru 2011 flexing his muscles! So we had to have a photo ... it would have been rude not to!

After the tour we had a couple of hours free time and we bumped into Jake and Shanna who had been on the other trek. We sat in the sun on the terrace and caught up with each other. There were quite a few llamas walking around and we probably did something we shouldnt have done. We fed them!! They really liked fruit, they were even taking pieces of orange out of our mouths. Then we met ¨Jesus¨(an asian man dressedddd in white robes) he gave us a little bible each.

We then caught the bus back to meet everyone else at the train station. It was nice to see the people from the other group again. We caught the train back to Ollantaytambo, picked up our bags and got the bus back to Cusco. Our 5 day trekking adventure had come to an end.

That night we went out in Cusco for Toms birthday and spent the next day relaxing in the hotel.