Hi!!!

We made it back in one piece from our trek! It was hard work, but well worth it!

DAY 1
We were picked up on the first day from our hostel at 0600 and driven 90 mins to a small town. We had breakfast and then drove a further 50 mins to the start of our trek; Kilometer 82. We set out on a 9 hour hike for the first day. It was a long day so we were very tired, but the views on the way were spectacular. We had a little taste of what day 2 would be like when our guide informed us that the short but very steep hill we had to climb was what our day would consist of on day 2!!
Our porters were amazing. They had already run ahead and set up camp. Our 3 course meal was ready and waiting for when we arrived. The first night was ok, we didn't sleep that well due to the horse in the next field breaking through the fence into the tent next to us, then it proceeded to chomp the grass around our tent through the night. We also had issues with the "toilets". They consisted of a hole in the ground, and if we were very lucky, there were only 3 other peoples faeces spread round the floor. The smell was awful, and so we decided that the bush would be our toilet for the next 4 days.

DAY 2
Our porter woke us at 0530 with coca tea, with breakfast at 0600. We then set off on our second day of trekking. This consisted of about 7 hours of trekking, 1500 meters up over a short distnace, so you can imagine how steep it was! We reached the summit of 4200 meters...but only just. We then had to hike down; just as steep which was almost as hard, particulraly on the knees and it gave us very shakey legs.
Whilst all this was going on, our porters packed up our stuff after we left the camp site (our tents, the dining tent, all the food, table, chairs, gas, cooking equipment etc), loaded it onto their backs, ran past us and had set up again at the next camp ready for when we arrived. And we were complaining about carrying our little backpacks! The porters were carrying around 28kg on their backs whilst running!
Our second night wasn't great, didn't sleep very well.

DAY 3
We were woken nice and early, again with coca tea, served our breakfast, then we set off for another days hiking. We hiked for around 10 hours, stopping for lunch on the way. We saw a few more of the inca buildings today, and again, the views all around were spectacular. We also had to walk through a bat cave, and much of the trek on this day was through the rain forrest. Lots of mosquito repellent was needed! We took the day slowly, as day 2 had taken it out of us. You can see many of the inca buildings in our pictures that we have posted today.
We made it to our camp at around 1730 where our tents and dining tent were ready and waiting. We then had an early night as it was an early rise on day 4.

DAY 4
At 0300 our tents were shaken by the porters! We all trudged round in a daze, had breakfast, then waited for the checkpoint to open at 0530. Our guide was a good one, and had woken us ealry enough to be 3 group in line. So we made the final part of our trek in the dark, gradually turning into light as the sun rose. We were told to keep close to the mountain side as there were a lot of sheer cliffs on the other side. It was a steady trek, some ups, some downs, and one particular set of "stairs" that was practically vertical and we managed it on our hands and knees!
We made it to the sun gate in one piece, in time to see the sun rising over Machu Picchu onto Machu Picchu city! It was that postcard view, and it was worth every second of hiking!
We then made our way down to the entrance, as one of our group had taken ill and had left the trek on the second day, so we met back up with them then, and spent the next few hours wondering around the ruins, accompanied by our guide Simba who gave us a little history lesson as we walked round.
We then caught the bus down to Agues Callientes town, where we had a huge lunch, and caught the train back to Ollantaytambo where a van was waiting to take us back to cusco.
First thing on the agenda on our arrival back to the hostel was to use a clean toilet with a seat, and have a shower since we had not had one in 4 days!

All we can say is it is something we would definitely recommend and the pictures don't do it justice!

All our love

Stevie & Sam xxx