Peru

Everyone gathered in heathrow all very excited as we were heading to Cusco in Peru, the heart of the Inca Empire.

We were planning on taking on the infamous Inca Trail. After a long flight via New York we finally made it to Cusco, at 3350mts, we made the most of some free time to relax and acclimatise.

The following morning we headed off on a short 4hr walk to help acclimatise. Starting of at Tambo Machay 3700Mt's feeling a little breathless we slowly made our way back to Cusco passing Puca Pucara, Qenko and finally the magnificent Sacsayhuaman Inca sites along the way. An early start the following morning we headed off for the Sacred valley of the Inca's stopping in Ollantaytanbo for our last supplies which included bags of coca leafs and chocolate. We set of from km82 happy to finally be on the trail. Our first day was nice and steady with stunning views of Veronica 5800mts as our back drop as we made our way through the valley following the Urubamba river and finally into camp at 3200mts. After a good nights sleep we were woken with a hot cup of coca tea then a good breakfast before we took on Dead Womans Pass at 4200mts. Everyone made it to the top feeling a little breathless while the porters just went sprinting past.

Day 3 in my mind is the best of them all starting off with a steady climb up Runku Raqay Pass and finishing in Winay Wayna passing through pristine cloud forest where the humming birds go whizzing past your ear even faster than the porters. As you pass through some of the most amazing Inca sites in the mist it just makes it feel even more mysterious.

We all finally made it into camp in good time and enjoyed our first cold beer in days.

Our final day and we said goodbye to the porters before setting off for the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu. After a couple of hours we made it to the Sun Gate and stunning views of Machu Picchu, thankfully no mist today.

We then spent the rest of the day exploring Machu Picchu and just soaking it all up. Next stop was the train trip back through the rain forest and Cusco here we come.....

We had a few quiet beers in Cusco before finally heading home.