2nd – 7th January

Day 1 – ‘Training Day’ – Sacred Valley & Ollantaytambo

Leaving early with one of g-adventures guides for the trek, Enrique, we all headed out of Cusco to our first stop at the Planeterra Weaving Project which was about 1 hours travel up in the hills and off the beaten track. Here we were greeted by a community of women who showed us round the village and introduced us to the alpacas and llamas whose wool they use for weaving which we saw before heading to the market to buy ourselves some hand made clothing (Charlie a trendy pair of alpaca leg warmers) and yet another coca tea before saying goodbye and heading to the Pisac ruins for our first taste of what was to come.

At the Pisac Ruins, Enrique set our first ‘training’ task to see how fit we were as a group. We had 15 minutes to reach the top of the ruins by stairs all the way to the top to be rewarded of a view of the Sacred Valley below.

Hot and hungry we then headed in the bus to ‘Incalicious’ to get lunch and then to what would be the last roof over our heads for 3 nights at Ollantaytambo. After checking in we headed straight out to see another ruin – The Temple of the Sun – where Enrique set us another challenge to get to the top of the ruins – and we thought we were supposed to be on holiday! At the end of the day we all went for dinner together only for Charlie to get a free dinner and Pisco sour having been given pineapple twice (which Charlie hates!) on her pizza. So we decided it might not be a bad idea to carry some pineapple chunks around with us and try the same again should we run out of money at the end of our trip!

Day 2 – ‘The Easyish Day’ – Start to Wayllambama. 11km / 5 hrs

Leaving Ollantaytambo Lodge we picked up our second guide for the hike, Piero, and made our way to the start of the trail to meet our porters, all 22 of them who would basically carry all our gear, cook our food and set-up camp for the 16 of us. These guys ranged from about 20 to 60 years old and were obviously very strong given all the equipment they had to carry for the full hike when all we had were our day packs. So through passport control off we set as a group on our Inca Trail adventure.

We set off at a good pace in ‘Monkey pee’ rain and were soon overtaken by our porters who were running up the mountain with massive back packs. After 4 hours of walking mainly up hill through stunning scenery and the first of many ruins we finally caught up with the porters who had prepared a welcome lunch of soup, fish with rice and pudding. As soon as we had finished they were washing the dishes, packing their packs and running again to set up camp where we would meet them later with all our tents already set-up – these guys were amazing!

At camp ‘happy hour’ started at 5pm when we all met in the food tent for tea, pop corn and to play cards with Enrique and Piero. The game of the trek was to be ‘Llama shit!’ (think of a game of a similar name in the UK). This was followed by a 2 course meal and the daily briefing before bed by 8pm as we had an early start tomorrow.

Day 3 – ‘The Hard Day’ – Wayllambama to Paqaymayo. 12km / 6 hrs

Woken at 5am with a cup of tea by Piero and out by 5.30 so the porters could pack the sleeping bags and tents. Following porridge and pancakes we were back on the Inca trail by 6.15 am for a 2.5hr uphill hike in the warm sun to our first stop where Jason joined Stefan for an 8.45 am beer(!)

We polished off our snacks and the group were allowed to split to climb up the very long and steep path to Dead Womans pass (Warmiwanusca) to the highest point in our trek at 4,215m above sea level. 2 hours later and pretty much short of breath we finally arrived at the top in time for a quick pic before the heavens opened. It rained so hard that we had to break out our ponchos for the first time for the next 1.5hr descent on slippy steps and rocks to camp.

After a slower ascent to the summit it was during the descent that Charlie came into her own as a mountain goat quickly jumping from step to step, willed on no doubt by the thought of lunch waiting for us at camp.

After changing into dry clothes we were fed a meat stroganoff followed by a delicious cake from the chefs which set us up nicely for an afternoon nap. Today’s happy hour and game of cards had a twist to it as a bottle of rum was put on the table with the losers made to drink shots. After a fiercely competitive first round all the group each managed to beat Enrique and Piero and with much noise they reluctantly had their shots.

In the next round we unfortunately found ourselves in the final two against again Enrique and Piero but with their professional reputation at risk it was with the last turn of the cards that we lost and had to drink the rum. Luckily dinner followed and rum was served again with a special Peruvian tea made with cinnamon.

Day 4 – ‘The Long Day’ – Paqaymayo to Winaywayna. 16km / 8 hrs

Woken again at 5am after a night of heavy rain we found our tents had let in water so we now all had wet and smelly sleeping bags – urgh. After a breakfast of toast and scrambled eggs we started our longest trek of the trail as lunch wasn’t for another 8 hours. The guides now had an idea of the fitness level of the group so marched us for the first two hours before a break at the top of another mountain. Following this we descended about an hour and found the cleanest ‘toilets’ we had seen on our journey as everyone had been holding out and we had never been so happy! Following our rest stop once again it was another two hour ascent into the Cloud Forest so called as you are walking through thick clouds at this altitude particularly in the wet season.

After we regrouped at yet another summit it was time for our final challenge for the descent to camp, the so called ‘Gringo Killer’ which was nearly 1 hour of steep wet steps in the clouds (not a problem for Charlie the mountain goat) before a steady path the remainder of the way to camp via more Inca ruins. Finally after 8 hours of walking we arrived at base camp for a massive lunch which we ate in almost silence as everyone was so tired. No happy hour today though, instead Piero took us to ‘mini Machu Picchu’ where we were treated to a rainbow following the day’s heavy rain.

Following dinner we had a whip round before a presentation by Ebba and Hugo to the porters as this would be the last chance we would have to thank them for looking after us. Then it was bed at 8pm as tomorrow we had to be up at 3.30am for our final trek to reach our goal at Machu Picchu.

Day 5 – Winaywayna to Machu Picchu. 6km / 2 hrs

Woken with a shake of the tent we were quickly on our way (after a breakfast of hot chocolate and toast of course) for our final trek to Machu Picchu via The Sun Gate where the theory is you see the sun rise, however due to thick clouds we were unable to see anything so decided to carry on to Machu Picchu itself only to arrive to more clouds! with everyone disappointed our moods soon lifted with an early morning beer before the clouds rolled off the mountain to reveal the 15th century Inca City.

So after Enrique’s final lesson about the Incas we had our final group shot and were left to explore the city on our own so lots of time for selfies! (See our Flickr pages to the left for a selection for our pics).

Having spent a couple of hours exploring the city – including a fast march to the Inca Bridge – it was finally time to complete our trek and exit the Inca Trail catching a bus down to the town where seeing so many people seemed a little weird after it just been the group of us for the last 4 days. Before we caught the (amazing) Peru Rail train back to Ollantaytambo we had time for our first meal not cooked by the porters where Jason gave a speech on behalf of the group to thank Enrique and Piero for looking after us and making our time as a group so unforgettable.

So it was with sadness but a great sense of achievement that we made our way back to Cusco where we all went out for a final meal at a Peruvian restaurant called Marcelo Batata.

We at last tried Guinea Pig (surprisingly tasty if a bit bony) and then a night cap at Paddys Pub before heading back to our hotel after being awake for nearly 21 hours. A very surreal end to an awesome trip with a great group of people.