I awoke on my 30th birthday by spending it hiking the inca trail. I really wanted to book the trail so that i'd be finishing on my birthday. However, I couldn't find one that was finishing then, so we booked this tour so my birthday would be on the 3rd day. I could not believe I was actually here for my birthday and it felt a bit surreal that it was my birthday. We got woken up with hot chocolate in the tent once more, and then went for breakfast. I didn't really tell the group it was my birthday either. We had pancakes, fruit and even a small cake for breakfast, so that was my ideal birthday breakfast. Some of the group found out it was my birthday so they congratulated me and wished my happy birthday, which was sweet.

After breakfast we packed away our stuff and headed off to the checkpoint . I especially wanted to get a stamp at Machu Picchu on my birthday! I got my stamp and we set off on the trail. The scenery was stunning today as the salkantay mountain range was in the background and more beautiful snow capped peaks too. Once we'd been walking a few minutes, we could see dead woman's pass from the other side. Our guide pointed it out to us but said we need a lot of imagination to actually recognise that it looks like a dead woman! John spotted it first, then he pointed it out to me. I could just about see it, but it was quite difficult to picture it.

We walked further up the trail and luckily today was not all uphill, so at least I could enjoy my birthday. In terms of hiking, it's the longest day today, but the nicest scenery. We came to a point where there a green lagoon which was pretty. We carried walking on up to meet our guide at the next checkpoint. I had a birthday badge, which my friends gave me for a surprise birthday meal before I left, I said i'd wear it while hiking the inca trail on my birthday, so I wore this pink badge most of the day! Once I was wearing it, more people noticed it was my birthday and random people would wish me happy birthday .

After hiking for a couple of hours, we came to the most stunning ruins, they were high up and we could see them from afar. They were called Sayaqmarka. We were waking downhill towards them so got a good perspective from above. Once we got there you had to go up some steep steps to get to the ruins, so not everybody wanted to see them. We walked up to see them as they looked interesting. There were lots of stone rooms and terraces, which looked like they would have been used as houses. We wandered around the ruins and looked out across all the beautiful surroundings around us. I was glad to be hiking this part of the trail on my birthday. Veronica, one of the Australian ladies was particularly interested in the aqueduct system and was waking around pointing things out to us about how they would have been able to get water here high up in the mountains. It had not even occurred to me to even think about this kind of thing, so it was great to get someone else's perspective . Our guide told us that it probably would have been important people who would have lived here at this site. It was interesting to walk into each room and see what that room would have used for. The ruins were surprisingly bigger than I imagined them to be.

We all came back down the steep steps and carried on walking. We could see the camp site for lunch, so it was spurring us on to walk quicker to get there. We're burning up so many calories, so need to eat well while walking. When we got to camp we had a lovely lunch as usual, but to top this one off, we had some jelly as our pudding which was a nice surprise.

After lunch, Elistan and Ernesto were play fighting in the reeds and mucking about, which was quite amusing! When they'd finished, we carried on walking to our next checkpoint. The guides held back and stayed at the back of the group, while everyone else walked ahead. We came to some of the inca steps that had been there ever since the incas built the path to Machu Picchu, so it's nice they have been preserved . I was glad I hired walking poles at this point, as some steps up and down have been really steep and they've been really useful. We carried on walking and our guides caught us up to say that we were now walking along the cloud forest. There were some beautiful plants and it looked like a tropical rainforest below us from the path. I loved hiking this section of the trail as it was something I never expected to see. Something I also really liked was a rock that had formed a kind of cave that you walk through. It was like walking through a small tunnel.

It has been a long day for hiking, and although not all uphill, you get so tired. Once we'd come past all the wonderful cloud forest, we had our next checkpoint. We could see Aguascalientes from there, well Ernesto pointed it out below us. When we got to the next check point, we stopped for some breathtaking views of all the surrounding mountains around us. It was lovely, but we couldn't stay there for long as we had to keep moving to see one more set of ruins- Wina Wayna before we got to camp . By now, all I wanted to do was rest and put my feet up.

After the high viewpoint, we had to descend down some steps, aptly names as the "gringo killer"! There were around 3000 steps apparently and this was going to take its toll on my knees. I must use the poles all the way down to try and save my knees. I saw many porters whizzing past me quite frequently, they were actually running down the trails. I could not believe how they could go so fast! We asked the guide if the porters ever hurt themselves while working the trails and they said quite frequently, which was sad to hear. We eventually made it down all the steps and I could feel it in my knees. We had to carry on walking towards camp. It was optional if you wanted to go see the other ruins. We decided to visit these ones, as they are suppose to be superb.

As we'd been walking down towards the ruins, you could also see these ones from above. It looked like a huge site and it would take a while to walk around them . Rachel had been walking with us also. Once we got there, the views of the other side was beautiful. You could still see Aguascalientes and we also got to see the back of Machu Picchu mountain. We walked around lots of stone terraces and the assistant guide Ernesto told us about the site. Once we'd wandered around enough, we had to walk down another set of steep steps to get to the bottom of the ruins. Once we got down, we saw some more llamas. There were quite a few this time and one had a baby, which was so cute. I went near them to try and get some photos. Some of them let me oh near, but not all of them. The baby was very timid, so if I tried to go close to it, it would run away. Our guide Ernesto said to be careful as llamas can spit at you, but luckily that didn't happen! We all took some pics with us and the llamas and went to the campsite.

On arriving back, we were given popcorn, biscuits and some chicha morada- which is a drink made out of maize that looks like a purple corn on the cob . It tasted like blackcurrant juice and was tasty. What a perfect day for my birthday! I have enjoyed it so much, and am glad I chose to spend my birthday here. We had to go and set up our sleeping bags and stuff in the tent before it got dark. Once we finished that, we has to go to the tent for a meeting about the tips pot.

It's our last night tonight and the time has flown by, we have a ceremony for the porters and chefs, which will be held after dinner. It's a big thing out here to tip the porters, cooks and also the guides. So before our dinner, the group has to come together to decide how many tips everyone will receive. We all sat down and came to our decisions about how much we wanted to tip. Once we were in agreement, we all pooled the money together and put it in some envelopes.

Birthday Celebrations

Next it was dinner time, so the porters carried all the food out to us. The food was excellent as usual and there was plenty of food to go around . Once we finished dinner, we were about to have the porters ceremony. I thought it was strange that we didn't get a pudding after dinner. Then the guides called the porters and the cook into the tent. As soon as they came in, everyone clapped and gratified them for making our inca trail trek a special one. Once we'd finished applauding them, the chef came in with a birthday cake and everyone started to sing happy birthday to me. I went bright red from embarrassment. It was a lovely gesture for them
to have done this for my birthday. I cut the cake up and gave everyone a slice. I couldn't believe they'd managed to bake a cake up in the mountains, but somehow they did.

After we ate the cake, we did the presentation for the porters and cook. We had to go round and either kiss or shake the hands of all the porters and thank them for their help and services they've provided us with. I thought it was a lovely gesture and it was good to show our appreciation. After this, Kew and Rebecca read out speeches which we'd prepared earlier. There was one for the porters, and one for the cooks. After they did the chefs speech, I thanked the chef for making me a lovely birthday cake in Spanish. We then presented the porters and cook with their tip envelopes, and gave them all another massive round of applause. When the ceremony was finished, we all had to go to bed as we have a 4am early start tomorrow to get to Machu Picchu. I'm so excited to be going there. I've had an amazing birthday, and it's surely one I'll remember forever. Roll on tomorrow....