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Ok it was time for the big one the inca trail and macchu picchu, the one thing we both wanted to do more than anyting else! From arequipa we caught a flight to cuzco the old inca capital and known as the naval of the earth! Cuzco was absolutely amazing in itself such an old and historical place and old centre of the inca empire which used to dominate south america until the spaniards came over and wiped them out in the 15th century! When u reach cuzco you really do feel like your in south america, thers churches everywhere and music and people selling all sorts of clothing and othetr things made from alpacca and if you hacve a bit more money you can buy baby alpacca, we got some baby alpacca hats to keep us warm on the inca trail. After a free day to explore cuzco we all got an early night to get ourselves ready for the world famous inca trail which takes four days through the high andes mountains to reach one of the seven wonders of the world machu picchu!! Thw trail starts over three hours away from cuzco in the mountains at a point called KM82 we all had small packs to carry and a porter who also carried 5kg of gear for us these porters were probalby the hardest people ive ever met, all locals from the highlands who only spoke a side languge of spanish still from inca days, so fully loaded and with walking sticks in hand we set off into the andes along one of the oldest trails int the world, the ancient inca trail. Day1 was tough going but was also tobe the easiest day out of them all on this day we gradually accended for around 6 hours to our first base camp set in between two cloudy mountains already the alttitude and erratic weather was getting to people, the porters who had gone off ahead with our stuff also carried all our tents and cooking equiptment, chairs, food huge gas tanks on there heads these blokes were just incredible, by the time we reached camp they had put up all of our tents set up the big dinner tent and made us afernoon tea!!! These people had nothing they climbed up the mountains in clothes they must of had for years and sandals they really earned the money! The dredded 2nd day, we all knew this was going to be the most painful from our base camp we had to reach a point high in the mountains called dead womans pass this was at 4219m, higher than any british mountain even higher than europes highest peak mont blanc!! The going on this day was slow some of the group especially some of the girls really suffered the path the pass was practically vertical and muddy and lots of steps we reaxhed half way after around three hours and were already high above the clouds, maybe a couple of hours later the first of us reached the top it was an amazing achievement for all of us it was so hard but so rewarding a lot of people getting very emotional we had reache the top of the world and we will never forget how we all felt as we stood up there in the freezing cold together looking round at the massive andes surrounding us, after this point there was another gruelling 2hour downhill walk to base camp 2 at 3700m that evening everyone was completely drained the day had killed us but we had made it and after another 3 course meal to boost our energy we all went to bed early after looking at the stars for ages which from all the way up there were just so clear and so many we even found orions belt dad! The second nights sleep was a cold one for all so the next day a weary bunch headed out for the third days hike into the andes this was not as hard as day two but so much further, our path took us past a few old inca ruins high in the mountains, its just amazing to think a complete civilization used to live so high in the mountains for so long there ruins all situated on the tops of mountains so they could see any enemies coming, our guide julio and marco knew so much about the incas so everyday was so interesting, after 10 hours of hiking on day three most of the hard work was done, machu picchu the lost ancient city of the incas was only hours away! Day4 we woke at 3 in the morning a plan we all agreed om in an effort to try and beat as many people there as we possibly could, i didnt think i had it in me but i just ran the whole way leaving my group and all the other groups behind to try and reach the sun gate first, after a number iof minor heart attacks i made it there, ALONE it was the mot amazing experience of my entire life, i sat at the ancient sun gate of the incas at the top of a mountain looking down at what we had both waited so mant years to see thew lost city of machu picchu i maybe only had ten mins until the next keen runner turned up behinf me but who in the world can say they had one of the seven wonders of the world, the lost inca city of machu picchu all to themselves even if it was only for ten minutes it was something i will always remember!!! erin suprising put in a massive effort and was not far behind as the group reached the sun gate we all just stood there and looked down at the hidden city and didnt say a word, we had done it the inca trail and machu picchu what a completey amazing thing we were all exhausted but a bit overwhelmed by what we had done i think i speak for both of us when i say i dont think i will do anythin in my life quite like that again! Machu Picchu and the inca trail truly unbelievable!!!!
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