After our nightmare journey getting in Cuzco, totally self inflicted i admit, we tried to get into our hotel where we were being put up with our inca group a night early but they were full and as we were so tired and feeling beyond lazy we went to a hotel just up the road...we told ourselves it was because all the hostel were full haha! but we really were in need of a good nights sleep before inca started, we didn't want to ruin the experience of a life time! So we ordered some room service, ate some yumi food - well we yumi as can be in Peru! All the food in Peru and Bolivia has not been great and we've had some..umm problems shall we say haha! ANYWAY....we got us a very good nights sleep and then checked into our other hotel which was part of our Inca Trail package the next morning! After a briefing with the rest of the group...all of whom were couples, bar 3 other people haha, we spent the day chiling out a little bit more as we were both feeling a little bit under the weather, probably alcohol withdrawal symptons haha! no really!

We were really lucky with out group, we met an amazing girl from Dublin, Caroline who is just plain fabulous!! Love youuu lady!! Anyway, our group were all really nice, and we were all young! We ended up being in the same group as two guys we met in Buenos Aires...who lived in Cambridge like Lorna so that was nice, it's always nice to bump into familiar faces! We seem to be doing it in every place we go, so we're making lots and lots of friends :)

The company we went through, GAP Adventures (highly recommended) eased us into the trek starting us off with a tour of some Inca ruins just outside cuzco...going through the sacred valley which is one of the most spectacular views i have ever seen. It didn't look real, and was so beautifully green. We visited a little town of Ollyantambo where there is an ancient ruin of a city which was destroyed by the spanish during their invasion. The town is hidden behind a big mountain which had ancient food store houses as well as a face engraved into the stone, very interesting to see. The walk through, or should i say UP the ruin was tough and definately a taste of what was to come. Even though we had been at altitude for a while i was shocked at how quickly i was out of breath, we all had to stop after every 7 or 8 stairs, it was exhausting.

Our group had 15 people in it, 3 canadians who had decided they weren't going to do the hike (lazy bones haha) and 13 of us fabulous people who dared take on the inca trail itself :)

We stayed the night in the town of Ollyantambo in a lovely little hostel for the night giving us time to go and buy our walking sticks and enjoye one last pizza.

Our first day of the hike started at 7am, with a bus taking us to the start of the trail, well i think it was 82km in that you start it, and where much to our excitment got a stamp in our passport for the trail (we're sad and love stamps in our passport yes)

The first day of the hike is the "easiest", it was about 5 hours hiking at our own pase and stopping where we liked to take photos and for the guides to tell us some of the history of our surroundings. Myself, Kate and Caroline decided that we needed a team name so became known as the 'incaen warriors'. Part of our package was that we didn't have to carry our own stuff like clothing, tents etc...but the company hired porters to do it for us. Each porter is allowed to carry up tp 25k on their back. It used to be 50k until around 2002 when the government put in a law that they weren't allowed to carry more than 25k. One the first day i couldn't get over these porters, they are all superhuman i tell you! They had left after us, overtaken us, set up tents and cooked lunch way before we even arrived at the site for lunch, unbelieavable.

We'd heard that the food on the trail was amazing and it didn't disappoint. On the first day we stopped just next to a river and had a nice filling lunch. Along the way their were little stop offs where local people lived and sold water, power drinks and of course the all important chocolate that became so veyr important through out the trip! The scenary through-out the trail was breathtaking, but on that first day i really was struggling to get over where i was, very lucky to be on this trip!

The end of the first day ended on a big fat hill that i just wasn't prepared for, but i got there in the end. Just like it had been the case with lunch, the porters had arrived at the sight probably 3 hrs before us and had set up all our tents, put out hot water for us to wash out hands, face and feet and set our tea, coffee and snacks (yumi). Being introduced to all the porters after our snack was a really interesting experience for everyone in the group. We had 18 porters in total, the youngest was 20 and the eldest 61. We all stepped forward and told everyone our name, marital status and where we were from. As their were only 3 of us single ladies in our group, we got some woooops from the porters, was very funny! One of them in our group photo insisted on kissing my cheek through-out all 15 cameras being taken, was cute but very funny as i was at least 1.5 heads taller than him so i was bending down...the picture is very funny me thinks!

Anyway, our first night camping was so much fun. I was enjoying looking up into the sky which was amazingly clear. I was hoping to see my first shooting star but it didn't happen sadly. I definately forgot how much i love camping, despite how cold it gets!!

Day 2, we had been warned that it was the worst day out of all 4, this being because it if 6 hours hiking UPHILL! We set out at 6am (a time i don't usually see unless just coming in from a night out) but we all got up and started our uphill journey into Dead Women's Pass. Me and Caroline had already decided to do the hike at our own pace and just do it in our own time which we did through out...but i was not as slow as i though i was going to be. Infact, i am rather impressed with the fitness levels despite our drinking habits! The first half of the uphill trek was intense, as it was so early in the morning i was still a bit sleepy so wasn't concencerned with the hills, but i was woke up i really did begin to think at one point "why the hell have i paid to do this" but it was a momentary thing because i really did enjoy it! Have way up i actually bumped into one of the boys we went to the football match with in BA, such a small world. Although hiking up Dead Women's Pass was difficult, and actually got worse the closer to the top we got, with big steps, bigger than my legs could do, and i've got long legs! Some of them were tough. But getting to the top of that pass was such a satisfying feeling, especially as everyone always says that thats the worse day and i really didn't struggle with it, we all did it in a good time and I WASN'T THE LAST TO THE TOP wooop lol!!

But in every case, what goes up must come down, so for all the struggles uphill we had a downhill struggle to take on after. Incaen people were very small, made for sprinting which was nicely illustarted on our downhill hike as lots of the steps were teeeny tiny (perfect for Lorna's feet, on this note, Lorna - commmme back!!) and made for very difficult climbing down. This is where our amazing wooden walking sticks came in very useful, it stopped me slipping a few times. The downhill part of the trek lasted about 2 hours and by the end of it i really was getting a bit fed up of stairs....but now a normal flight of stairs will never look the same again i suppose haha! Getting to the camp site was another real sense of achievement, but i knew that the 3rd day was going to be equally as bad as the 2nd as it was a 9hr day of hiking, both up and down hill and well, 9hrs is a long time to hike for!

That 2nd night camping was not as comfi as the first as the ground didn't have grass so i slept for about 1 hour before waking up, and staying up until 5am which was when our wake up call was. They just kept getting earlier and earlier.

The third day started with an uphill section straight up, but it was worth it as at the top of it was the most breathtaking view i think i saw of the entire hike. We were right up in the clouds, the place is actually called city above the clouds (or something like that). The mountains seeped through parts of the cloud and it really was something special. It was on the third day that my asthma decided to give way and i started to struggle with my breath, but i had my handy little inhaler and did manage to avoid any potentially baaad situations!! The last 4 hours of the 3rd day was difficult and required much concentration. As everyone was doing it in their own time i wacked in my ipod to get in the zone to get down some horrible looking steps that were slippery and on the edge of cliffs! Getting to that final camp site i was soo excited not only because we were getting to Machu Picchu the next day (as the days went on we all got more and more hyped to arrive at Machu Picchu, the whole hike was such a buzz) but there were also showers as this site, and as we hand't showered since the start of the hike, a shower was much needed. Of course being the cheepos that we were, we decided to go to the cold showers and not pay for the hot ones, big mistake. I have never in my life had such a cold shower, i couldn't wash the shampoo out my hair as the water was hurting my head, brazin freeze to the max. The porters kindly boiled me water and i washed the shampoo out using a bucket! The porters were honestly the nicest people, so kind hearted. They all squuezed into the tent we used as a dining room each night with some of them actually sleeping outside. I couldn't believe it when i saw it, don't know how they deal with the cold so well. At night it gets freezing. As with Bolivia, once the sun goes in Peru it becomes very cold very quickly.

For our final dinner the chef and his assistant made us a cake - i don't know how they did it in the middle of know where using very little equipment but it was very yumi (Kizza, if i show you a photo will you try remake it haha) Saying bye to the porters was really quite sad, we presented them with their tip and went to bed early (as we did every night, don't think i've been to bed at 8.30pm since i was a little child lol) as the next morning our wake up call was at 4am....crazy i know!!

Waking up that early would have been a struggle had i not been awake and ready to go from 2am...couldnt sleep, was just soo excited. We left the site in a bit of a daze and lots of confusion as it was still pitch black, and we walked down to the first gate which didn't open until 5.30am! This meant we had a good hours wait in the cold until it opened but we were one of the first groups in the q which made us all feel very good about ourselves. Once that gate opened it was a hectic rush to the Golden Gate where you get the first view of Machu Picchu. I'm not joking when i say everyone was SPRINTING to the gate, it was exhausting. After a good 40mins running (more than i think i've done in a long time, me don't like to run) i decided to stop, and actually take the views in as i felt i was missing everything from rushing to the top. I'm glad i did stop as i then really started to appreciate everything around me that bit more. Getting to the top of the Golden Gate was nothing other than magical. That first view of Machu Picchu...WOW! Well worth the hiking...and the pain in my feet as my toe nails had finally decided to come off after damaging them in Pucon, Chile.

Following the road down to Macchu Picchu there was no wiping the smile off my face, I'd done it! Was so proud of myself. We arrived at Machu Picchu at 6.45am and started to take in our final destination. It's a shame that we had to get up so early in some ways as by the time our tour of the site started we were all exhausted and ready for bed. The site itself is impressive, a lot however has been refirbed but it's amazing! Up between high mountains it's a place the Spanish never discovered as they thought know one would be stupid enough to build a city that high where the ground was not good for growing food, how wrong they were!

Aunti Deborah, you have to go, you would love it! I know it's your dream to do it and you just have to do it....best 4 days!!!

After our guided tour we were given free time to look around the site and check it all out - and then we took a short bus jourey down hill to a near by town where we caught our train (which had some strange fashion show on it) back to Cuzco! Checking back into the hotel was incredible...showering was immense and a bed was just omg wow!! haha!

The hike was one of the highlights of South America. I enjoyed every second of it...and would recommend it to everyone! I am still so proud of my self for doing it and completing it...and i didn't cry once! wooop!! :)

I know this has taken a while...i ahve finally put up a gazillion albums, i will put up Cuzco soon and then start on New zealand which is where i am now...and loving it despite freezing my bum off!

Love you and miss you all

xxxxxxx