Peru: We love the steps... all the bloody steps....

So our journey to Cusco, Peru began with us leaving our credit card in an ATM in the Lima airport - needless to say, not a great start. Even better was that we didn't realise until we were sitting on the tarmac. We dug out our piece of poo phone and called Citibank in an absolute panic, hoping some lucky Peruvian was not yet swanning around Lima with our beloved credit card. The lady on the other end of the phone could not seem to grasp how we could have walked away from an ATM with our card still in it, but we assured her it had happened. She was also struggling with the concept that we were sitting on the tarmac about to take off and perhaps the process of cancelling our card needed to be sped up.

Anyway, so we cancelled the card and took off for Cusco. The flight into Cusco was terrifying - literally flying in between mountains. Cusco is a beautiful city - once the capital of the Incas, before the Spanish turned up. Now it is a lovely colonial town with plenty of cathedrals (the Spanish love a good cathedral). We made the trip out to Moray, huge circular terraces where the Incans tested out their crops. This involved catching a couple of local buses - plenty of children pointing and starting at Tom, as per usual. 

Tom posing for a great FB cover picture at Moray

Main square in Cusco

Waiting for a ride near Moray

It was then time to embark on our 'Wayki Experience' - an optional extra our Inca Trail tour company offered where you spend the night before the trail in the porters' village. It was aptly named - it was an experience. We stopped on the way at a hut to try chicha, a delightful fermented corn beer that was hot and scooped out of a plastic tub and surrounded by flies. It tasted like ass and also managed to make Tom sick for the first two days of the trek. Needless to say, we do not recommend.

Mmmm... fermented corn

We then arrived at the village and proceeded to harvest potatoes with the locals for 2 hours: picking potatoes, dragging sacks of potatoes up hills and sorting potatoes. Oh, and eating potatoes. We then headed down to our host's house and set up our tents. The family cooked us a dinner of corn and potato, barley and lima bean soup. I think we were all a bit humbled by how basic the village was - our house had dirt floors, mud brick walls and a fire for cooking. There was no heating and it was absolutely freezing. Later a group of local kids came around and we distributed out our few little gifts we bought - coloured pens, stickers, lollies and balloons. They were so excited and polite, just the most gorgeous kids ever. 

Potatoes anyone?

KG learning the finer points of potato sorting

Blowing up a few balloons for the kiddies

The local kids checking out their new pressies

The next morning, it was time to begin the trail. I won't go into day-by-day detail, because there are a million pages around that will tell you what happens each day, but I will say it was effing HARD. Especially the second day. Holy moly, so many effing steps. The highest pass is at 4200m and we were struggling like fat kids at the gym. A special shout out goes to our camp chef, Fredy, who was an absolute magician. We had 3 courses for breakfast, lunch and dinner and what he pulled out of that 'kitchen' (a portable two burner gas cooker) was incredible. Our porters were also amazing - they would pack up our camp after we left, then overtake us and have camp already set up and lunch served by the time we arrived. Unfortunately, the camp gear was not designed for the 'ample gent' and Tom managed to break one of the kitchen stools in the middle of a stunning rendition of a Tenacious D classic hit.

Day 1 and already buggered. Excellent.

Norma and Tom

Reaching the top of the trail at 4200m... but only just.

Fredy working his magic in the 'kitchen'

The porters - legends! 

Turns out it's cold in the Andes. Note the artistically placed lens cap in the bottom left.

Arriving at Machu Picchu was incredible - we had perfect weather and were able to see the sun rising over the site. Right as we arrived our guide also received a phone call from the porters to say they had found our wallet - woot! We had left our last bank card in the tent. Oops. We had also paid for an extra hike up Huaynapicchu - the ginormous mountain at the back of Machu Picchu. We were wondering what the hell we were thinking booking it after having done 4 days of walking, but we sucked it up and climbed up to check out the awesome views. We also saw a 70 year old lady with a walking stick up the top and decided to stop whinging. 

Sun rising over Machu Picchu. Huaynapicchu is that ridiculous mountain just to the right. What were we thinking...

View of Machu Picchu from Huaynapicchu

After having woken up at 3.30am to get to Machu Picchu, we arrived back in Cusco at 9.30pm to be told by our hostel that, funnily enough, they had given away our room. Telling two backpackers that have not showered in 4 days, haven't slept in a real bed for 5 days, just walked 45km and had been awake for 18 hours that you don't have a room is not a great idea. Lawyer Katherine come out with guns blazing and a compromise was reached, but patience was tested.

Overall, an absolutely amazing experience we would recommend to everyone. It may be more expensive and you have to book a long way in advance compared to the other trails, but it was completely worth it!