Day 22 to 26 - The Inca Trail

Well the day finally came to depart on that most extreme of adventures we were to undertake - the 46km trek through the Andes along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. This really was something I have dreamed of doing ever since I read about Pizarro and the conquest of the Inca. Machu Picchu is the lost city - one the spansih left behind and therefore fairly intact, waiting for four moderately over fed gringos to discover...

The first day of our trek was fairly easy, hiking along the beautiful Urabamba river.

We didn´t have to climb much and finished the day in good spirits. Day 2 saw us climbing up to 4,300mtrs at Dead Woman´s Pass - this was a real test. Basically had to walk up a pretty steep hill for about 5 hours. However, we did it, and the view and the feeling were pretty special.

After that we had to walk down the bloody hill on the other side which, strange as it may seem, is a little more painful on the legs than going up. That night we made camp in a little valley and the cook turned the bottle of rum I bought at Dead Woman´s Pass into a lovely hot drink with tea and lemon that got Neil and I seeing all sorts of constellations in the Peruvian sky.

Day three was not quite as tough as day two, and we began to see more Inca sites with still more amazing views.

Halfway through the day we caught our first glimpse of Machu Picchu before decending 1000 mtrs over about 3 hours - full on. That night we had a bar at our camp site and so congratulated ourselves with a few beers. Here´s e taking a rest during the decent - just kicken it on the Inca trail...

On day four we left at about 4am to hike the final two hours to Machu Picchu - this included climbing almost vertical stairs - just what you need after three days hiking. Arriving at the Sun Gate (the entry to the city from the trail) was just sublime. There it was - the amazing lost city if the Inca. We wandered down and spent a wonderful morning walking around the city and taking in its unbelievable views - I thought I had seen some amazing vistas during the previous three days of hiking, but that was merely the entre. Machu Picchu is truly one of the most fucking awesome places there is...

Neil and Luke - just kicken it at Machu Picchu - word.