San Agustin Urubamba

4:00am and the porters are rousing the hikers from their tents. We are off early today, looking to reach the Sun Gate in the early morning where the view of Machu Picchu below promise to be breathtaking...if the weather is on our side.<br><br>The rain overnight has me wondering if we will get the views we hope for. In any event, it is pitch black and with a queasy morning stomach, I lace up and trudge off to the bathrooms to see what my body thinks of today ...

... mountains collide with lush tropical rain forests.<br><br>When we booked our trip in Cusco, we were told that the first day was the **********e, but we should have known that Peruvians were liars! No, the entire 5 days were hard!!<br><br>The first day began at 4 am respectively 5 am as the pick up-service from our hostel was an hour late. Then, we drove from Cusco to Mollepata, our starting point which lies at an altitude of 2.803m. The actual ...

... paths lead us to our first spot overlooking an ancient Incan site. I´m dying of thirst again and gulp water down like a desert fiend. Feel like Im torturing my body already and my rucksack seems to be getting heavier. Sweating like a dirty b*****d. Maybe Ol´ Dirty. <br><br>Wow!, as we stumble down into a stream crossing a narrow bridge, the 20ft tent and banquet table comes into sight from a tree-clad glen that could come straight from wind in the willows ...

... only to those chewing sufficient coca. Anyway, it made a good story along with other &#8216;facts&#8217; such as there are over 400 different types of potato in Peru (this includes coca) and 540 different types of bean (also including coca).<br><br>After lunch they made us walk an extra hour, past our official campsite and on to another that was, apparently, more pleasant. We stopped at 5.00pm and sorted out our stuff before Happy Hour at 6.30 when we all met in the dining tent to ...

... Dead Womans Pass.<br><br>There was no pressure to walk at a certain speed so we took it very slowly! The scenery got more fantastic the higher we got although there were no ruins to see this time. We rolled into the camp at about 3pm for lunch and a well deserved rest. I can´t really comment on the quality of the food because I didn´t eat anything, but it looked ok!! Early night after dinner.<br>

... good! The food was great, the service was good and the price was outstanding. The only problem was it was more of a tourist restaurant - even though the prices were good by our standards it is pretty much the highest priced restaurant in town so the locals can't afford to eat there. What a shame because it was delicious! I had a seafood stew with local trout and shrimp and Amy had an alpaca steak. Yes alpaca, those animals that look like llamas, only fluffier ...

... at the ruins and pretended to perform a sacrifice . Apparently, up until a few years ago, they actually did perform a llama sacrifice. I&#8217;m sure PETA jumped all over that. <br><br>I chose not to go to the rave, went to a hostel, where we took a shower, met some people and chilled. I went to sleep, and woke up about 4 hours later to music that blaring from downstairs. This place was a real dump and run by 2 16 year old girls. They were partying it up and there was no ...

... to find itnernet to settle lukeys flights. ´we head out the next day to see some ruins on the tourist ticket. another thing you get ripped off for in cusco. costs 70 quid each to see certain sites you have to have it...little do they tell you , you could have paid A LOT less for individual ones you did want to see. argggghhhhhhh! anyhoo... i drag lukey to see these crop circley thingies...laughing ...

... with Juan. He pointed things out and explained their significance. He was a great young man. After the conclusion of his part of the tour we stayed on the mountain for lunch at the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge which was included in what we had paid for our tour. It was a good buffet and the best part was unlimited cold drinks.<br><br>After lunch we decided not to go back in to the ruins so we caught a bus back down to town. As we started down the switchbacks a young ...