Today is the challenge a 3 hour hike straight up at a rise of 1000 meters. I managed to sleep in a little and didn't get out of bed until 6am. I did my exercises before waking the others for breakfast - luckily I had brought my breakfast with me but the others had to wait for theirs to be cooked. By the time we had all eaten and started the trek it was after 8am and the bus we were to catch was leaving at 11am. This added a lot of unecessary pressure and forced me to steam ahead a lot. The hike was difficult but I was feeling good, Chris and I agreed to walk at our own paces and see each other at the top. I steamed through the first half and overtook all the people on the trek - in my mind I thought it was going to be a lot simpler and easier. When I was concentrated on what I needed to do and my mind was focused the walking was easy, however when I started to doubt the distance to the top and worry about not making the 11am bus it became very difficult and I focused on the pain in my body, lack of oxygen and the heat. Climbing mountains is all in our minds and we are our only roadblocks - that is why I find hiking very addictive and rewarding and push myself through the discomfort. I made it to the top in 2 hours and 15 minutes and I was completely exhausted, drenched with sweat and very thirsty. I sun baked for about an hour before the others started to arrive and by two hours everyone had arrived tired and exhausted but very happy at their achievements. We walked back to Cabanaconde the town we had left our bags at, said goodbye to our friends and asked about the next bus. It was a two hour wait so we relaxed, sorted our things and enjoyed the last of the sun. The bus came and we all piled on, luckily I was able to sleep most of the way to Chivaz. When we arrived in Chivaz we were told we had to get off as there were no seats left as they had all been sold, after some wrangling I managed to convince driver to let us stay and stand the rest of the way to Pappas Calientas. There was a spare seat so luckily Chris got to sit for the first hour but unfortunately I was stuck standing and to go with that my legs were like jelly after the last two days of hiking. Two hours later we arrived at our connection point where we were to catch a bus to Puno, Chris grabbed some dinner but as we only had about $10 left in cash I decided to go without again. After dinner we had to stand out on the side of the road at the tariff office and try and flag down a bus heading to Puno - unfortunately this took nearly two hours and we were absolutely frozen. The bus was rough, smelled and we were both so cold we had to start putting on all the clothes we had. I really felt like I was close to death the cold was a piercing pain and the 4 hour bus ride was hell. We made it to Puno by midnight and took a taxi straight into the city. We wondered around for an hour before finding this motel thing and rushing for a warm shower. Today was a crazy day and I know tomorrow our bodies will be suffering.