We choose to do the Inca Jungle trek which was 4 days 3 nights but also consisted of mountain biking and rafting and was half the price of the actual inca trail.

Day 1 - We left our bags at the hostel we were going to be staying at when we got back and went to meet at the travel agency . Surprise surprise we were picked up late again and put into a van full of pepole from other tour companies who were all doing the same trek but had paid all different prices and were promised different things. It's almost like a little game we have to hop into a tour bus and see who got the best deal and was promised the best stuff. It was a great group though, Stuart from England, Sarah and Lea from Switzerland, Claire and Pierre from France and Julie and Nora from Germany. It was a 4 hour drive to the top of the mountain in the rain where we stupidly got out of the van to start our decent for 1.5 hours to the start of the road works. Within about 3 minutes of riding the rain went from a light spit to heavy and our water proof pants that we shopped around for and had bartered down didn't work. We were soaked! It was so funny everyone was wet and cold but noone wanted to stop and put the bikes back on the van so we carried on. We were told that it was a 4 hour bike ride on the first day but they didnt tell us about the the road works that have been happening for about 2 years now . So after the 1.5 hour bike ride on yet again bikes that looked good but were actually rubbish we got back in the car wet through and then drove for about another hour till the tour guide said we can get back on the bike now but we couldn't wear the flouro vest from the tour company because we weren't really ment to be biking here. I didnt go but Junior and another 4 did. As we drove past them the tour guide says if the police do approach you don't mention the company and say you're doing it on your own, better yet pretend you don't speak spanish. We met them an hour or so down the roadat the first nights accommodation in Santa Maria where we had a few beers and got to know everyone.

Day 2 - Early start and a great breakfast we headed off to Santa Teresa which was our second night. We were trekking along the river up and down which had some amazing views. We stopped at a place called monkey house which had one monkey hanging round and a couple of dogs. We then carried on and finally got to the actual Inca trail . It was amazing. There is 27,000kms of the Inca trail through out Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador they are all built up high and with stones. The drop was about 500mts anyone scared of hights would have hated it. In the arvo we stopped at some hot pools which were beautiful even after the 2009 flooding where they lost alot of the pools. The only problem was the mossies. If you weren't in the water they were on you straight away! After a quiet beer and watching numerous people slip and slide all over the wet rocks we had only 1 hour to walk to our next hostel. We had a great dinner then Stuart Junior and I went to a 24hour disco for a beer which didn't really turn out to well. The bar had Abba playing at full noise and the girl who we guess was ment to be running the bar was asleep in a chair and there was noone else around. We let her sleep and went back to the hostel.

Day 3 - Today we trekked along alot of road cause once again after the flooding they lost the path that they usually take . It was pretty crazy our guide pointed out a house teetering on the edge of a hill and said there were more next to it last year but the flooding swept the hill and them away. It was a pretty hot walk all day and then we randomly stopped off at the local power station for lunch. After lunch we had to walk about 3 hours along the train line to Agus Calienti which is a town close to Machu Picchu. It wasnt a bad walk but we were looking forward to getting to the hostel and a shower.

Day 4 - It was a very early start. Meet at 4am in the hotel lobby and then walk 20mins to the gate. From here we waited about half hour till they let us through the gates and then it was all go. We were told that it was about an hour to 1.5 hour to the top, Junior took only about half hour and us girls took our time and it only took about 45 mins so we were happy with that because it was bloody hard. We had to wait around at the top till the gates opened. You have to get to the top of Machu Pichu so early because they only let the first 400 people in climb to the next highest mountain Huayna Picchu . We walked into the entrance gate and about 5mins in there was Machu Picchu more impressive than I could have ever imagined. It was spectacular. Even after all the pictures you see and everything you hear it still doesn't prepare you for actually going there. It was breath-taking. And because we were there so early we even got photos without hundreds of people in them! We had a 2 hour guided tour to start with which most of us fell asleep on, not because it was boring just because we were shattered. Then I chilled out with the girls while Junior and Pierre went exploring untill 10am which was time to climb Huayna Picchu. Another hard climb in the heat but well worth it. It was amazing up there with great views of the whole area.

After the day up there we opted for getting the bus back down to Agus Calienti. We were stuffed. That night we had a 2 hour train trip back to a town still 2 hours from Cusco and then we took a small van back to Cusco. Tired and stuffed we got to our hostel and they had not reserved a room for us so we had to mission around for about 1 hour to try and find a cheap and hostel with a free room. Not really what we wanted after a 4 day trek at 11pm. Lets just say we slept very well that night.