Sorry for the delay but it has taken verity 10 days to even talk about the Inca Trail let alone help write about it - very traumatic for her! The wedding was off a few times, but we got through it in the end. A few tears and quite a bit of flailing arms and that was just me!
We arrived in Peru (Lima) early in the morning and took a taxi to downtown Lima (not the nicest of areas). Peruvian drivers are unbelievably bad - it was like the start of the wacky races - it seemed you had to blow your horn every few seconds even if you were not near anyone.
The Hotel was basic and we set our alarm to wake for breakfast but did not put the clock to peruvian time and got up an hour late - missed breakfast - but after a bit of negotiating we were allowed to have some. Two bread rolls, jam and coffee. The coffee was thick and like tar but we drank some only to see later that there was also hot water to accompany it and dilute it - wired for the day!
We then moved to a nicer part of town (Miraflores) as it was Verity's birthday so i treated her to 4 nights in a 5 star hotel (not very back-packery i know!). Swim, sauna, gym and free internet!
The concierge organised a cake to be brought up to the room on her birthday and arranged a lovely restaurant nearby. The waiters (who could hardly speak english) came out and sang 'jappry birthday dear berity' to her and brought a cheesecake in a champagne glass.
Verity caught a stomach bug a couple of days into our stay here which was not good news when we were going to be treking through the Andes in a few days. We did not leave the hotel room for 2 days as she needed to be near the loo, at least we had sky TV.
We moved to another hostel which was part of the Inca Tour and met the rest of the people who would be treking with us. Seemed a lovely bunch - very keen! They brought us each a pisco sour which is the native drink - really nice but very strong. The next day we were up early and transported to the airport to fly to Cusco, which was 3339 meters above sea level, flight was cancelled, good start! - they informed us that we need to acclimatise to the altitude and to drink the local tea (coca tea) as it helped. They did not tell us it tasted of grass and contained amphetimines!!! But that took our minds of the inability to breath properly!
Cusco is a beautiful place - amazing views and architecture! We met the tour guide Jerry (or jezza to Verity and I - not sure he liked that name), who gave us our sleeping bags, mattress and duffle bags. He informed us we can only pack 6kg into the bag - which included the matress and sleeping bags - so we had 2kg each for clothes. Where was verity going to put her hair dryer and strighteners!!!
The next morning we were up at 7am and started the trip. Verity could still go through the eye of a needle so we were a little worried although a nice irish couple gave her some tablets and it stopped. We left the rest of our stuff in storage.
Verity and i turned up in a pair of trainers, track suit bottoms and a jumper! Everyone else had kagools, walking boots, sticks rainproof bottoms - check out the novices!! The first day was easy and gave us a false sense of security. We spent most of it on a coach visiting the local sites. A peruvian mountain village where we saw the locals making bags and jumpers from llama wool, a llama zoo- where we able to stroke and feed the animals - couldnt get too close as we had not had any rabies jabs (too expensive PJ). Afterwards we visited a local pub (actually someones front room) to sample the corn beer - very sweet but very strong.
We later arrived at Olyamtambo at the end of the sacred valley where we visited an inca ruin (sun temple) then checked into our hostel.
The next day we were up at 6 to start walking. We arrived at the check point and met the porters who were going to carry all our stuff for us. These guys were amazing, 40 years old, 4 foot nothing, spindly but as strong as an ox - they had to carry 25kg each on their backs and were still able to run up the mountainside - and we were moaning about a small day bag containing our sandwiches and a bottle of water! The weather was luckily very good as the paths we were walking could be very narrow and treachorous. The views were fantastic as you could see for miles - to snow capped mountinas hundred of miles away. We were walking for 11km on the first day which took us 6 hours up steep mountains and through canyons! Walking through jungles - then all of a sudden you would come around a corner and into a clearing and a inca town would be right infront of you.
The first camp site was on the side of a mountain with panoramic views of the valley below. The tents were quite small and Verity had just started getting a cold/cough so she had to keep stopping to blow her nose - until she thought it better to lodge some toilet roll up both nostrils to stop it dripping - very classy!
We had dinner which was a three course meal and went stright to bed as we were very tired. We awoke around 3am to hear something banging on our tent - i said it was the washing line - until we heard a huge loud snort - we were surrounded by donkeys!
The next morning we were up at 6am again to walk to the dead womens pass - 4215 meters above sea level. It took us 6 hours to get there and we still had another 4 hours hiking the other side!!!
The view from the top was breathtaking and there was definitley a sense of accomplishment - and in between coughing and sneezing Verity was secretly enjoying herself (i kept telling myself).
The descent was far easier but when we reached the campsite (which was full of mosquitos) we were really tired again. Another 3 course meal and straight to bed - the night sky was amazing and you could see for miles - the stars were so bright that you could even see the milky way.
We were woken up by one of the porters rattling the tent at 530 and leaving a bowl of water outside for you to wash with - there were no showers and the toilets were a hole in the ground (think trainspotting).
Walking again for 5 hours, on the way seeing more inca ruins, then lunch. We ate, then all the porters introduced themselves. There was 21 all in all, each had specific jobs. They worked so hard, as soon as we arrived at lunch or evening camp they had drinks waiting, mats laid out for us to lie on, and the water was boiled and cooled ready to drink. After lunch we found out we had another 4 hours of treking to do. By this point Verity had had enough and was on the verge of tears. The worst bit was when we approached a clearing and could heard voices and thought we had reached camp only to find out we had another 1hour to go. This is when i saw a side of Verity i never want to see again, stamping of feet, swearing, crying, sreaming! Her toes were bruised and she couldn't walk properly, so started an unusual high hipped, jaw jutting, fist clenched stomp, very funny but i dared not laugh, i just took her day pack and kept my distance. We eventually arrived at camp and joined the others for dinner. We got changed into warm clothes but Veriyt's only dry hoodie had got soaked from a leaky bottle of water, i made myself scarce while she calmed down!This particlar camp had showers although it was more hassle then it was worth. That night we also had a tipping ceremony for the porters, this is the main way they earn money for the trip as we found out they only get paid approx 150reals, which is approx 50pounds for 5 days work!!Early night again, as had a 4.30am start next day to get through the gates for Machu Pinchu. Had to use torches to get to the gates, then queue until they opened (could have had another 1/2 hour sleep!) We then trekked for over an hour to the sun gate to watch the sun rise. This was lovely and we took a seat and watched for 30 minutes taking in the view. It was a great relief to see what we had been hikking to for the last 4 days. Then we started our decent into the lost city, there was another mountain next to it that we could hike if we wanted to, it was called Wana Pinchu (more like Wana Punch u!). We then had a guided tour round the ruins, the weather was scorchio and we were exhausted so were pleased to get onto the coach to the nearby town, where we were picking up a train back to Olyamtambo. This was when Verity realised she could have actually got the train to and from Machu Pinchu instead of trekking, boy did she laugh, NOT!
We had time to grab some food before the train, Verity had a Machu Pinchu Pizza which wasn't very nice, summed it up for her really!!

Train back to Olyamtambo then bus back to Cusco. Nice to check into a hotel again and have a nice hot shower. We met up with the group again for dinner before going to bed. It was finally over!!
Early rise next day to catch a flight back to Lima before our connecting flight to Rio. We had booked back into the 5 star hotel for a bit of luxury and couldn't wait. We got to Cusco airport at 6am only to find out the flight to Lima was actaully the following day!! HA HA HA how we laughed, we just paid for a flight there and then!!

Next stop was Rio, so log in again in a few days when we've added the photos etc, we'll try and be a bit quicker from now on.
Miss you all lots, keep in touch
A and V. x