Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail

We did it !!!!!!!!! And aren´t we glad we did! It was an amazing four day trek. It did rain pretty much the entire time, however the weather cleared on our last morning, when we hiked the final two hours to Machu Picchu, and the SUN! was actually out for a few hours while we had our tour of the ruins. Couldn´t ask for anything more! Our group consisted of ten people, us five, plus a couple from England and three American gentleman. The three americans were just on vacation for 10 days, so they inevitably ended up having a bit of trouble with the altitude, and with their knees. We all had our complaints, of course!, but all in all it was a wonderful four days. We had porters to carry all our stuff (except for a day pack with water and a sweater), which made all the difference. One of the highlights was that, because of the rain, everyone was wearing these cheap, brightly coloured plastic ponchos -- so seeing all these ant-like people in plastic ponchos below you from various viewpoints along the trail was pretty neat. Our porters were amazing, they´d come barrelling down the trail past us and breakneck speeds with giant loads on their backs, wearing sandals no less. We took every opportunity to give them sweets and fruit when they were resting along the trail. The food was amazing, and our guides did a good job as well.

Machu Picchu itself was amazing, I was glad we were able to spend some time there! The Incas certainly sound like they were cool people ... they had a sundial which told them when to start planting and harvesting, and the stonework was absolutely amazing.

that is all for now, we are off to Arequipa (the white city), and I will likely write more from there!