I hope all are well... 

It's been a while since my last entry.  Currently in Cuzco, Peru's third largest town.  Following on from my last entry, we took an early morning flight from Arequipa to Cuzco, with our 4 day Inca trek looming.  We went to the Sacred Valley and hung out with some of the locals, one of which was a 100 year old man.  We went onto some ruins and hiked a mountain for a couple of hours in order to prepare us for Machu Picchu.  At nighttime we stayed in a town called Olaytambo.  That place was tiny, and all the locals were very welcoming towards us - an early night followed.

Having been woken at 5am, we made our way by bus to the starting point of the 4 day hike of Machu Picchu.  There are various different hikes to Machu Picchu; the hike we were doing was the more popular one.  In all we would be hiking 48 kilometres.  The firts day is said to be the warm-up; yeah right.  The effects of the altitude soon kicked in, more so due to the amount of steps we had to go up and down.  Once again, being my confident self, I thought I'd have no problems with this 4 day hike...... : (

That night, as knackered as we were, we made the most of it.  We would be camping for the three nights, with no access to hot water, showers or communications of any form, effectively cut off from the rest of the world.  The stars at that height are very clear, I'd never seen so many before.  It was so clear that I could see constelations up there.  The moon was as big as I've ever seen.

Historically, day 2 of the hike is the most difficult, due to the fact that, not only is it the longest of the days, but it is the highest climb (adding an extra 1800m to our altitude).  Every step was took that day was an upward one.  In our group of 14, our guide could see that 3 of us wanted to push ourselves.  So off we went (Dan, from Denmark, and Jacob, from London & I).  What followed was the single most difficult physical challange I've ever taken on.  Step by step, get higher and higher, the lungs were aching. Some 2 hours and 15 minutes later (1 hour and 45 minutes ahead of the average time), a very proud Dan, Jacob and Pete took our last steps up to the highest point on the hike, known as `Dead women's pass', no explanation needed.ç

We waited for a couple of hours for the rest of the group to catch up.  Their were tears from a few of them, clearly relieved that they completed the challenged.  Jacobs's done many hikes in different locations around the world, so to hear him say that this was his most difficult yet, was a real pleaser.

Soon followed another nose bleed.  I've had a few, nobody else has, which I can't quite understand.  All downhill for the rest of the day.  The evening was good.  We got to meet the 21 porters who were to cater for our needs for the duration of the hike.  Yeah that't right, 21 porters for 14 of us; they don't half work hard.  It rained heavy that night.  The tent Andy and I were staying in flooded, leading to an uncorfortable night.

The 3rd day was by far the most enjoyable for me.  I decided to hang back (feeling the effects from the previous day) and join the 2 girls (Alicia & Alaine) to give them some much needed motivation.  I found that I had the chance to look at my sorroundings, rather than looking down at that next step.  We walked through mountainsides and caves, which lead to the start of the Amazon Jungle.  That place was so hot and humid, we were walking through clouds all day.

With the Amazon to my left and dozons of snowcapped mountians to my right, this is when I saw the view I will most remember so far on my travels.  The clouds began to clear.  Everything was there, Parrots flying around, waterfalls flowings, light rain falling - absolutely fantastic.  I sat and enjoyed the view for a while.  I couldn't of asked for a better view, then all of a sudden a giant rainbow came along; got all of this on camera.  More rain and flooded tents that night.  We knew we'd have to be up at 4am to be at the Sun Gate in Machu Pichu for sunrise, so we had an early night.  I'll try my best to remember everything about that day, it was amazing.

I'll update you with day 4 in due time, and with the other things I've done since, however I've got to go for a briefing now...

Take care