Well Anna and I set off to conquer the Inca Trail at 4.30 in the morning, on Thursday 31st July (the best part of the day), and we survived to tell the tale! It was bitterly cold in Cusco and we were wondering what we were getting ourselves into as we jumped into the van with 8 others (all from the US – what we´d manager to avoid thus far!)! After meeting up with our chef in Ollantaytambo, who apparently went AWOL,  and driving a further 40mins to Km82, we began our trek with what was supposed to be the easiest part – the ´Ínca Flat´ - nothing overly flat about it.

Having heard from various sources, how tough the second day apparently is, Anna and I approached the trek with some trepidation, especially when we discovered that that ´flat´ was not really all that flan – what would Day 2 really be like??  But my fears were soon put to rest, and I knew that I would survive when we arrived at our lunch spot to find that the porters (and there were 14 porters for the 10 of us) had set up an eating tent, we were given a glass of Chica Morana (a cordially type drink made from purple corn – incredibly good) and there were little basins with soap and a hand towel laid out for each of us! I certainly wasn´t expecting this type of luxury, but I knew that somehow I would be able to cope!!

The porters were absolutely unbelievable – there were fourteen of them carrying absolutely everything – from the food to the tents, to the chairs and tables, to the cooker and even the gas bottle to run the cooker! Those guys were amazing. Even more amazing was watching óur´ porters compared with those from other companies (NB, I cannot recommend Llama Path highly enough to anyone considering doing the Inca Trail). Everyone had a job and something in particular that they carried.

After lunch we hiked some more, before stopping for day, which meant ´happy hour´ - popcorn, biscuits and MILO! And this was all before dinner, which was always a three course meal (as was lunch). Needless to say, it was early to bed that night, in our tents, wrapped in just about everything that we owned – I was finally pleased to be carrying all my thermals, sleeping bag and liner!

The next morning wasn´t quite so early, and just to add to the luxury of the trip, we were woken by the porters, bearing both cocoa tea (thought to help with altitude sickness) and basins with warm water to wash! The second day was the hard day – we basically did an M shape – up to 4200m (Dead Woman’s Pass), down 1 ½ hours for lunch (Pacajunga), and back up to 4000m, before traversing down through cloud forest to stop for the night. We passed a couple of spectacular Inca sites along the way, so fortunately that gave us all time to catch our breaths and have a break. I didn´t actually mind the hike this day, as it was not nearly as bad as what I had been imagining, and once I got into a rhythm, it wasn´t too bad. That said, I´d not be in a hurry to do it again, and I felt especially sorry for one of the girls in our group who was suffering from altitude sickness.

It was during this day, that I came to the realisation that two of the americans doing the trek with us – two guys from New York, were absolute morons. From their need to be the centre of attention, to their need to reach all the key checkpoints first, they drove me mad.  But this wasn’t enough to detract from the experience, especially as the others in the group were great (four friends from Colorado and two girls from New Jersey) and our fantastic leader, Casiado, who called us all ‘super-hikers’ started every morning with a cheer, called all of the other groups ‘losers’ (tongue in cheek) and was constantly playing ‘total eclipse of the heart’ on his wooden flute-thingy.

We had a little bit of a sleep in on the third day, and after a massive breakfast of toast, pancakes, porridge and more  cocoa tea, we set off for a ½ day hike to our final campsite.  The path was almost all downhill and there were lots of switchbacks, so it was actually quite hard work. Arriving at the campsite, it was very different to the others – every group would be staying there that night, so we  were all crowded in.  However, there were showers there (and hot ones at that!), and that turned out to be the best 5 soles I spent in quite some time – came out like a new person after the first shower in three days! Late in the afternoon, we went for a short walk to an Inca Site, Winay Huayna, and managed to catch the sunset from there.

In contrast to the sleep in that morning, we were up at 3.30 on the final morning, to make the journey to the sun gate (overlooking Macchu Piccu) by sunrise.  This was an out of this world experience. We were at the checkpoint at 4am, hoping to be first in line to then start the hike, had to wait there until the checkpoint opened at 5.00am. As soon as the checkpoint opened and our documents had been checked, it was virtually ‘every man for himself’. The pace was pretty quick, as each group tried to maintain their spot on the path, and within each group, people rushing to be at the front, and therefore get to the sun gate first. It was pretty spectacular to get that first glimpse of Macchu Piccu and know that you had made the four day trek, though you were quickly pulled back into reality as we jostled with one hundred other people to take a good photo. It was packed!

We spent a couple of hours walking around Macchu Piccu (being guided by Casiado), but if the truth be told, I think that it was more about the challenge of completing trek than Macchu Piccu itself, and by the time we got down to start our tour of the city, I was totally and utterly exhausted. That said it was still quite spectacular, and amazing to see how such an advanced city was built such a long time ago. Especially without all of the technology that we have today.

After lunch, we then caught a train back to Ollayantaytambo and a bus to Cusco. We got back, and much to our dismay, not only was there no hot wáter at the hotel, but there was no wáter full stop! The owners assured us that it would be back on in 10 minutes, so we waited ten minutes, then 30, the 1 ½ hours, but still no luck, so we had no other option but to go out to dinner without showering – gross! However, this was son to become the least of our worries as Anna discovered that her credit card details had been stolen and $6000 had been run up on her credit card. Given that money was spent in places such as ‘Hot Wheels Quito’, it was pretty unlikely that it had been her! So there were a few frantic phone calls to Australia that night.

Needless to say, we changed hotels the following day. We found a lovely hotel with big rooms, (very) hot showers (we checked before booking the room!), and an open fireplace in the bar. We spent the day recovering by shopping, emailing home and Anna even had a massage. The next two days were our ‘sheep’ days as we joined tour groups, 1 – to visit the sacred valley, and 2 – to travel to Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca. For two days we were herded around with 50 000 other tourists from market, to inca site to all you can eat buffet, where it was impossible to really appreciate anything as the archealogical sites were swarmed with tourists and rude americians pushed in front of you at every turn (not to generalise, but..).

On the way to Lake Titicaca we stopped at the highest pass along the way, and it actually started snowing! It was ridiculously cold, and fortunately there were ladies there selling scarves for about $10, so I brought one of those! Anna and I thought that it was only snowing here b/c it was so high, but no, turned out it would snow a couple of times in Puno also! We arrived in Puno and couldn’t get away from our hideous tour group quickly enough, but fortunately had booked ourselves into a great little hotel, and then found the most brilliant restaurant to eat in. It was an Italian restaurant (at this stage we are getting a little over rice and beans), which was run by a family where all the kids worked, and the wood oven pizza chef was the thirteen year old cousin who quite enjoyed practicing his English with us (and vice versa). The food was delicious, and in fact so good that we went back another two times! The best meal that I had there was an alpaca steak with a red wine and pear sauce – actually, it was one of the best meals I’ve had ever!

So we had a day to explore Puno, booking a tour out to the islands, climbing to one of the look outs – a little silly given Puno’s altitude and then our decision to climb even higher! and visited the Yavari navy ship.  The Yavari is a boat that was commissioned by the Peruvian navy back in the 1860s, that was designed and the pieces constructed in England, and were then shipped to the Peruvian coast and carried up to Lake Titicaca (at 3800m) by man and mule to be put together there!

We woke up the following morning to snow falling and Anna seriously questioning whether we actually wanted to go out and visit the islands, given that it’s apparently even colder on the islands! We did go, and purely by default we ended up on a nicer boat that what we paid for (reclining chairs and only 14 other people), which was a major plus, given that the first boat we’d been put on had about 30 people and they were all squished onto bench seats. It was a very slow journey out to the Uros Islands – the famous floating reed islands. There are more than 40 man made islands in the group, and our first stop was Isla Manco Capac where one of the local men explained how the islands are made and demonstrated how they built their houses and their ovens.  The islands really are terribly commercialised, so the island also had stalls set up, and each family trying to sell us handicrafts. We then caught a reed boat, powered by local men paddling, across to another island, and then we jumped back onto our actual boat for the journey to Isla Amantari. We arrived at the dock to see a group of locals all lined up, hoping to take in a group of tourists (and therefore receive a payment). Anna and I stayed with an older lady and her family, but in all honesty, we were a little disappointed with the experience. We thought (or at least hoped) that we would be living like the locals for the night, but we had our own room with beds and a table and chairs, which meant that we ate by ourselves in our room (so never really met the family), had comfortable beds and even electricity (even though it is particularly expensive on the islands).

Although it was freezing cold, we did walk up to Templo de Papatata (a temple up on one of the highest points of the island) for sunset, and then came back down to the village’s plaza for a celebration of the local artisans – good timing to catch this! Lots of dancing and bonfires being lit. We were also supposed to go to a fiesta that night, but it was absolutely freezing, so Anna and I decided not to go, and in the end, this wasn’t such a bad idea. From all reports, it was a very staged affair – and not surprising, given that the locals have to put on this show every night and most others only stayed about 30mins. The following morning, we had a whirlwind trip to Isla Taquile – not much to see there, and we never actually did anything. So it was more or less a waste of time, and then it was time to make the three hour journey back to Puno.

So one more night in Puno, and of course the obligatory visit to our favourite restaurant, and then we were off to the airport and for one last day together in Lima. Stayed at a nice hostel in the San Miguel district, and spent the day in and around Miraflores – walking along the clifftop above the ocean and trying to avoid waiters doing the hard sell for their restaurants. We did find a shopping centre built into the side of the cliffs (sounds a lot cooler than it actually is) but did find a bar that did good cocktails and calamari. After a bit of trouble trying to find a restaurant for our ‘last supper’ (Anna would be leaving at the crack of dawn the next morning), and discovering the most disgusting sangrias that I’ve ever tasted (and subsequently left almost untouched), we found a really nice seafood restaurant and a nice bottle of wine!

So we toasted our six week holiday, lamented the fact that Anna would be back at work in only a few days, and promised that we wouldn’t have to be cold or climb any more steps for a very long time!