We survived the Inca Trail (and could still walk afterwards!)

DAY 1 (by Suz)

We left the hotel at 6am with our duffel bags and daypacks. It was a 2 hour drive to the last town before the start of the Inca Trail where we stopped to buy rain ponchos, water bottle holders and a walking stick each. As soon as we stepped off the bus we were attacked by lots of ladies selling their goods so we opted for the scariest one so she would leave us alone.

It really was a stunning place with a photo opportunity around every corner.

After a 20 mins stop we then set off for the beginning of the trail. Here we saw all the porters for the first time loaded up with our bags and equipment for the next 4 days. We stopped moaning about the load we had to carry after seeing them - they can carry up to 30kg (we settled with 5kg!).

We had to pass through passport control where we were formally registered onto the Trail and even got our passports stamped. The number of people on the trail at any one time has now been limited to 500 so they are very strict over entry to the Trail. After plenty of pictures under the sign at the beginning of the trail we set off very enthusiastically until about 50m when there was a massive hill. A good way to start!

We started pretty slowly as Wilbur the guide talked to us about various plants, tombs and towns along the way. We took plenty of water stops and picture stops and soon settled into the Trail.

It was not long until all the porters started coming past us ready to set up lunch further down the trail. It is no exaggeration to say that they were running the trail. It was absolutely amazing that they could run whilst carrying such heavy loads and most of them were in knackered old sandals too. It was quite embarrassing that we were walking so slowly.

It was a hard pull up to the lunch stop where we were greated by a dining tent and a 3 course meal all ready for us. The porters made sure we were comfortable by providing us with washing up bowls and soap so we could wash before lunch. They were always there with something on standby and always with a smile.

It was after lunch that I started feeling a bit unwell. Not wishing to be too graphic I thought I was developing cystitis and I was starting to develop pains. Just what I needed. I was soon struggling to walk up the giant hill at the top of which was the campsite. The others went way ahead so we were well and truly struggling at the back. It was at this point that I thought I would have to pull out as the pain was getting worse. We eventually made it to the campsite with cheers from the group and all the porters. It was then then I went to the toilet (if you can call a hole in the ground that!), felt excruciating pain and then it suddenly disappeared. In summary, only I could pass a kidney stone on day one of the Inca Trail (like father like daughter)! I was so relieved that I was okay and that I could continue on the trail. We were starting to think that it was a conspiracy that we were both going to be ill and so couldn't do the very thing we came to Peru to do.

The campsite had absolutely stunning views down the valley we had just climbed: it really was breathtaking. We had another 3 course meal (with a chocolate pudding no less!) and then had a presentation with all the porters. We had to introduce ourselves in Spanish and they then introduced themselves. We had 11 porters and a chef for just 6 of us. The porters ranged in age from 19 to 51 and were all farmers from the local areas earning some extra cash.

We were all tucked up in our tents by 8.30pm and managed to sleep quite well considering we were camped on a slope so kept waking up in a heap at the bottom of the tent.

DAY 2 (by Dom)

We woke at 6am to another bowl of water to do our morning ablutions and a smiling porter by the name of Abellino on hand with kitchen paper to dry ourselves. Breakfast was a bowl of runny porridge and an unappetising-looking omelette - not the kind of thing we needed as we set about the trail's hardest day. Suz decided to supplement her breakfast with two or three funsize Twixes.

The first leg of day 2 took us through a kind of jungle environment with a trickling stream and various small waterfalls at intervals. It was uphill from the word go. We had to make stops every minute to regain our breath before continuing. We also had to dodge the army of giant moths who call this place home. Still, they made for some good pictures. We finally emerged from the jungle to a clearing at about 3,600m - the last place to buy water/pop/sweets until lunch the following day. Our guide Wilbur was there to greet us and take a couple of smiley, if sweaty, pictures of the pair of us. At this point the two younger members of our group, Tim and Peter, both 22 and unhealthily fit, had stormed ahead while the oldies, Gill and Alex, 62, were behind us. It was nice that Wilbur left us to walk at our own pace, but always seemed to be on hand in case we had any moments of doubt or if we needed encouragement.

After a brief stop it was time for the trail's hardest part by far - the 600m ascent to Dead Woman's Pass, 4,200m above sea level. The scary name comes from the fact that the top of the pass looks like a woman lying down, rather than from the fact that someone actually died there, which was comforting. We could always see our lofty destination so it was just a case of keeping our heads down and plodding on. The path was mainly stepped but the Incas must have had massive legs as some of the stairs were huge. We were encouraged a little when we were accosted by a young, red-eyed porter who looked like he was about to have a seizure. He pleaded with us for food and water so we gave him a drink and one of our daily ration packs and watched him tootle off ahead of us.

As if to rub in the difficulty, the last leg up to the pass consists of 50 very steep steps but we were encouraged by Tim and Peter, in their bright ponchos, waving their sticks from the top. We finally made it, 4 hours after we set off from camp to a round of applause from the people already at the top. Tim and Peter had been there for 2 hours. The gits!

Surprisingly we soon recovered and began the 900m descent to our lunch stop (why couldn't the Incas build a tunnel?). The weather looked like it would take a turn for the worse as we marched down the hill but luckily the rain held off until we made it to the tent, when it promptly started tipping it down. In a way, it was harder coming down than going up as it put tremendous strain on our knees. Thank goodness we had our sticks - they were lifesavers.

After another large lunch (asparagus soup and chicken, a great improvement over yesterday) we set off on another ascent, this time up to 3,900m. From there, we were assured, it would all be downhill (sort of).

The walk again was all uphill. We saw a couple of people along the way not doing so well, one poor Australian girl was being sick (it later turned out she had a stomach upset). We, however survived. This leg, surprisingly, seeming a little easier than the morning stretch. We stopped at an Inca storehouse along the way and saw a wild deer making its way through the undergrowth. We also saw many hummingbirds, one of which hovered right in front of us for about 10 seconds before flitting off.

The sense of relief at the top of the second pass was immense as we knew we had conquered the hardest day and that things would be relatively easier from hereonin. With another brief stop we began the walk down to our second camp - again set in stunning surroundings marred only by the stench of the toilets which hovered over the whole site.

With both of us feeling pretty fit and well again we enjoyed a lovely tea and chatted with Wilbur the guide. We learnt that he'd done the Macchu Picchu marathon, running the entire Inca Trail in just over 5 hours (the record's 3 and a half). He was also a trained paramedic, had been a white water rafting captain for a time and regularly asked Pacha Mama (Mother Earth) for help and guidance on the trail. He'd done the walk over 600 times. Quite an amazing chap. And by the way his main job was working with disadvantaged Peruvian kids. Almost a saint, then.

Bedtime again was pretty early and this time we weren't on a slope although Suz's enormous 4-season sleeping bag made sure she almost poached in the night and we kept waking up every hour or so to regulate her temperature. Still, we'd broken the back of the Inca Trail and knew we'd make it to the end.

DAY 3 (by Suz)

The morning part of the walk was by far my favourite part of the entire trail. The first 2 hours of the walk was pretty much on the flat along the side of a mountain. As we came to each bend we had amazing views across the valley into the rainforest of Peru. For the first time we stopped only to take pictures rather than to breathe as we were not exerting ourselves too much on the flat. The oldies in our group were struggling a bit so after about 30 mins into the walk all of sudden we heard a panpipe come from nowhere - it was really quite eerie. It was Wilbur playing on his pipes to try to encourage the stragglers. Is there no end to this man's talents!

We paused for a moment at a clearing but unfortunately the cloud cover was too dense to actually see the view. We therefore thought we might as well start the most famous part of the Inca Trail - the 2,000 step descent to the valley bottom. Blimey, it was hard work. In some parts the steps had almost disappeared or were 3ft in height, hard work for little legs. It was incredibly hard work on the knees but after about 4 hours we were finally at the end of the steps. We paused for a little while at an Inca ruin and then walked the final few miles to the campsite. We had been looking forward to this campsite since the start of the trail as the campsite had hot showers. We all excitedly had our first shower for 3 days and chilled out for the rest of the afternoon. The final checkpoint on the Trail is just outside the campsite and so pretty much everyone doing the trail stays at this campsite. We therefore went from staying at secluded campsites to being with what seemed like hundreds of rowdy students with the odd mid-life crisis person thrown in. It was a little overwhelming so we soon disappeared back to our tents to avoid the drunk people.

We had our final meal with the porters as the next morning they would leave us to walk the last stretch up to Machu Picchu by ourselves. They sang us some lovely songs which I think were rather rude as they kept bursting out laughing, especially the younger ones. We said our goodbyes and went to bed, very excited about the next day when we would see the ultimate Peruvian sight, Machu Picchu (although we weren't looking forward to the 4am start!).

DAY 4 (by Dom)

The earliest start of the entire trail - 4am, ready for the 2-hour walk from our last campsite to the Sun Gate and on to Machu Picchu. Rather strangely we had to stand in a queue to get onto the last section - it was as a bit like queuing to get into a theme park. And we looked a lot better than the majority of the revellers who'd decided to celebrate completing the Inca Trail before actually completing the Inca Trail. Once the gate opened at 5.30am we wandered, sheep-like through and then marched pretty hastily so as not to let anyone past who may get to see it first. It was quite a pace and, as we were now at 2,500m above sea level and in a jungle, it was pretty humid.

We eventually made it to the Sun Gate, after negotiating some evil stairs, to be rewarded with a magnificent view of fog! We couldn't see a thing. You were supposed to be able to see Machu Picchu in all its glory but alas, not for us. We left people waiting for the fog to clear (good luck) and continued on our way down to the ruined city. It was quite an emotional moment for both of us and a few tears were shed as we came to terms with the enormity of what we had accomplished and the enormity of what has happened to us in the last year.

With eyes a little red we finally made it to Machu Picchu. Still covered in fog, which eventually cleared a little to give us our first glimpse of the ruins. Undeterred, Wilbur said we should go and get another stamp in our passports and show our tickets (and use proper toilets) and then he'd take us on a tour. By the time we'd cleaned ourselves up the fog had lifted somewhat and the place was already crawling with day-trippers. I couldn't help feeling a little annoyed that they were getting to enjoy something that we'd slogged our guts out to see but then, not everyone is lucky enough to be able to do the trail.

We soon realised that Wilbur was in his element - regaling us with stories of the Incas, theories still being formed and his obvious respect for a people as great as the Egyptians or Romans. It really was a stunning place with a photo opportunity around every corner. After a tiring two-hour Wilbur tour, with far too many steps, we said a sad goodbye to our leader of the last four days. He will truly never be forgotten (and a couple of his sayings have already found their way into our vocabulary). Before we set off to explore on our own we had an interesting conversation with a security guard who was trying in vain to get a deaf American off the grass. He approached and asked us what would be polite to say in such a situation. We told him that "Please keep off the grass" would do it. He then told us that on his first day some rather less polite tourists had told him it was perfectly acceptable to say "Oi! Get the $%&" off the %&"ing grass". We set him straight on that, although we would have liked to have seen it.

We went off and found our own little corner of Machu Picchu undisturbed by the majority and sat and put the world to rights for an hour or so. There was an option to climb a mountain, Wayna Picchu, which offers more stunning views but our legs had given up by then and we decided against it. It was enough for us just to have made it and to sit and enjoy it.

As the place became more and more crowded, the magic started to fade and we decided it was time to go. We caught a bus back to the nearest town, Aguas Calientes, where we were to meet our guide and catch the train/bus back to Cusco. After a quick snack and a spot of tat buying (Suz got a very fetching "I survived the Inca Trail" T-shirt for 2 quid) we made our way to the train station for what can only be described as the most bizarre train experience ever.

Things began with a traditional dance from a man carrying a toy llama and wearing the most disturbing face mask this side of Michael Myers in Halloween - Suz is still having mightmares about it. When he'd done we were treated to a fashion show by the cabin crew where they showed off a range of alpaca merchandise. A group of people at the back of the train lapped it up and were whooping as the bloke made his way down the aisle. He obviously had a sense of humour as he made more and more eleborate turns with each run.

We arrived back in Ollantaytambo and got on a minibus to take us back to Cusco. Once showered we went back to the Inka Grill for a celebratory meal which was only spoiled slightly by us having to start taking our horrid malaria pills. It wasn't long before our eyelids were drooping and we were ready for bed.

It felt strange to be under sheets and a roof after three nights under canvas. We were amazed at how good we felt and that after all the upheaval of the first couple of days we'd actually managed to complete the Inca Trail. Unsurprisingly, we settled down to one of the best night's sleep we'd had for a while.