As soon as we got to Rio and started talking to fellow travellers, it became clear we wouldnt be ble to do the Inca Trail as they were taking booking for three to four months in advance. A few people had mentioned an alternative trek and in some ways a better option the Salkantay, which ended at Machu Pichu anyway. The Inca trail is unfortunately now very spoilt due to the volume of tourists (mainly old rich Americans) consequently theyve built shower blocks, washing facilities etc along the trek which have taken away from the natural beauty of the experience. Our trek was a totally raw and breathtaking experience in more ways than one !. The Inca trail is done over four to five days and is 45KM, our trek was discribed to us as slightly harder but turned out to be 85KM over the same time period !!!. When you bear in mind the majority of thoes 85KM where over 3500m above sea level, it was quite a challange. Also because the Salkantay is a less well known trak, we were walking as just a single group of six tourists, one guide, one cook, one horseman and the cooks son who was on school holiday. We rarely saw other groups and were able to appreciate the magnificent surroundings in peace. Weve heard that on the Inca trail, your litterally following a massive que of people from start to finish. (THE PHOTOS ARE IN DAY ORDER BUT NOT SEQUENCE, DUE TO THERE BEING 88, SO USE YOUR IMAGINATION !) DAY ONE We got up at 0345 to be picked up at 0430 where a bus took us to our start point, the tiny village of Mollepata situated at the top of a series of death defying hair pin bends and at about 3200m above sea level. We had some breakfast and met the rest of our group. Two german guys Benny & Henny an Austailian Girl named Brook and her freind an English girl Marsha. Our guide was called Christian, he explained the first few hours walk before lunch would be easy going ! Sam and I were both almost hyperventillating before long as the altitude really effected us, I think becasue we hadnt been in Cusco long, we werent aclimatised. In spite of feeling like we were breathing through straws the scenery was amazing and we eventually got to our lunch spot (see photos) after four hard hours. By the time we got there, the cook had somehow managed to create an amazing soup followed by spag bol. We were then told it would be about another four hours to our camping spot. The first hour would be hard then it was mainly flat. Well four hours turned out to be six ! and we werent walking slowly !. It was too much really as when we got to the camping area we were absolutely exhausted, niether of us could stomach dinner as we had that exhausted sick feeling. Mind you we where camping at the base of picture perfect glacier and the stars were absoultely amazing, so bright you could see the milkyway. DAY TWO Woke up feeling a little refreshed and ready to take on the hardest days walking ! It meant us climbing up to 4500m ! Sam wisely decided to hire a horse for a few $ while I drgged myself up to the summit. It was really hard going but the views at the top were awesome, you could look down the valley for miles, with glaciers giving way to morraine fields, then in the distance more huge mountain ranges. We spent a little time at the top then hiked for another two hours down through glacial rock fields and cloud cover untill we eventually had lunch. Thankfully after luch the rock fields gave way to slightly eaiser terrain and we had about a three hour walk to our second camping spot. It was a hamlet of typical mountain dwellings with staw roofs. The people are basically subsistance farmers but have an enviably simple way of life. Sam started feeling ill and ended up being sick all night ! I also had a bad case of diaoreah so all in all we got little sleep ! DAY THREE When we got up it was obvious Sam was feeling really weak as she hadnt eaten for almost 24 hours and totally emptied her stomach during the night, so we arranged a horse for her. It was mainly down hill and we saw an amazing vriety of flora and fauna as we passed from the mainly barren high pass into gradually thickening jungle terrain. We saw parrotts, wild stawberrys, passion fruit and countless more. We then got a truck to our next camping spot. When I say a truck, thats just what it was, we all piled in the back with all our kit and started a really hairy journey down a dirt road. At one point the driver missjudged a hairpin bend and got stuck over a huge boulder, his co driver then scrambled under the truck, which bearing in mind was pointing down the mountain at a really precarious angle, and somehow dragged the offending boulder out of the way !. It was an amazing journey as we passed through coffee and bannana trees. We assumed the truck was just for us, but it turned out to be the local bus and locals started piling in with bundles of wood, coffee and bannanas, their must have been forty people in the back by the time we got to our campsite. The town we had stoped at was Lluskamayu which had been completely destroyed in 1998 by a huge landslide so was now a bit of a hotchpotch place. Its one redeeming feature was thermal springs ! We walked down to them in darkness and after four days of not showering, they were great, it was the size of a swimming pool and as warm as a bath, awesome. The only problem was after having felt all nice and clean we then had to waslk up hill for 30 minutes to get back to our campsite, so we all got really sweaty and dusty again !. DAY FOUR We were now without the horses to carry our kit so we had our big rucksacks on. Our guide had also employed a few of the villagers to carry the cooking and camping equipment. One lady must have been in her sixties and was carrying a massive bag on her back which was bigger than her and I could hardly pick up. We had to cross the river so we had to go in a hanging basket which was suspended on a wire over the river and had a rope to pull it across. Sam and I didnt fancy going together as it didnt look too strong !. We then walked for a couple of hours to a hydro electric centre, where you could see the back of Machu Pichu high in the distance. We then got a train to the town of Machu Pichu, Aguas Calientes. It was probably a distance of five mies but took two hours !. The train kept going up a little bit then going bck down again, picking up another carriage, going up a little, then back down again !. Mind you after all the walking we had done, it was quite nice to be sat down !