This was a big milestone of our year. We had been planning and looking forward to the Salkantay Trek for a while. And it was so much fun to have Ellen here to do the trek with us. We were all a bit apprehensive about how strenuous the hiking would be, and how we would fare with the altitude. It was a 5-day trek, and went up to 4,600m, camping over 4,000m. 

The first day was a relentless uphill slog to Humantay Lake, which was spectacular. Although the overall length of the hike that day was only 6km, it was hard due to the altitude, and we were a big sweaty mess by the time we reached the lake. 

Our first night was in glass igloos under the stars, with an impressive view of Salkantay Mountain looming over us up the valley. We were treated to a huge banquet of traditional Peruvian food cooked by the chefs and porters who would be with us for the whole 5 days. They also gave us 'Peruvian happy hour' tea time - coca tea and homemade sweet potato doughnuts! We were prepared for a very cold night as we were at 4,200m and there were big gaps in the glass, but it was actually quite warm. Nevertheless, we didn't get much sleep as the thought of the longest, most difficult day ahead was creeping into our subconscious! 

The next day was a big one - 22km up to the highest point, Salkantay Pass, at 4,600m. It was tough, but the guides had made it seem a lot more impossible, and we all made it up without the need for a ride on a mule! The views were spectacular - snow-capped mountains and crystal-clear blue lakes. After the Pass, we descended into the jungle, where we were told to cover up as mosquitos and black flies were waiting for us. It quickly got a lot warmer! We spent the night in mountain huts with amazing views over the valley. Another unique place to sleep! 

The third day was quite relaxed. We had 4 hours of hiking, all downhill, then we arrived at our camp accommodation for the night, where we had lunch. Then we were whisked off in 'local transport' to some hot springs - a mini van where we took over the stereo to play classic 80s and 90s hits, much to the 22 year-olds' confusion. The water was incredible on our achy muscles, but the problem was as soon as you got out of the water, you were attacked by black flies, and I mean attacked! Everyone's legs were covered in big angry red bites, with spots of blood dotted all over us. Safely back at camp, we indulged in happy hour cocktails, before another big feast, and a lovely warm night in our tents. 

Day 4 - a very long day. 23km of very up, then very down, then very flat, to finally reach our hostel at Aguas Calientes. Everyone agreed this was the hardest day, due to the extremity of the hills, and the fact our joints, especially our knees, were completely battered by this point. Ellen was managing to hike on feet that were now completely blistered! We eventually staggered into the town, full of tourists who had NOT just hiked for 4 days. They had all freshly arrived on buses or planes, were perfectly groomed, enjoying al fresco food, and waiting to be taken up to Machu Pichu on a leisurely bus the next day. We were all disgusting, covered in sweat and mud and desperately needed a shower. Unfortunately, we had to wait another few hours for our duffel bags to arrive via the one daily train. We passed the time in the square drinking cold beer and complaining about our feet. The shower in our room wasn't working so we had to use one of the guide's rooms which really stunk, but it was nice to be clean. 

Our guide for the whole trek was Edgar, who was an absolute legend. Very professional and funny and so kind when you were struggling. He is from an indigenous community 8 hours hike from the nearest civilisation, and spoke passionately about the Incan traditions, Pachamama and what the trek and Machu Pichu means. We were very grateful to have him. He said we had been the quickest group he'd had for 2 years! We always arrived a good hour before he said we would, mainly because half of our group were 22-year-old uni lads from the UK, who were hugely competitive and literally ran up the mountains! This sped us all up and was very tiring! 

The final day on the trek took us to Machu Pichu. We got up at 3.30am, had a very quick breakfast of bread, jam and coffee. We were at the entrance to the park with our head torches at 5am when it opened to start our ascent. We climbed 1,600 steps up to the entrance of Machu Pichu, no mean feat! Once there, Edgar took us on a guided tour of Machu Pichu, although for the first part it was completely shrouded in thick white cloud and we couldn't see a thing. The cloud soon moved on, and revealed the Incan ruins below. We explored the site for a while, said a reluctant farewell to Edgar, and then began the last challenge - climbing Huaynu Pichu - the mountain opposite, with another grueling 1,700 steps to the top for amazing views over Machu Pichu. Most of the group hadn't bought the separate ticket for this mountain so we were on our own. It should take 1 hour to summit, but we stormed it in half an hour. The top was very narrow and you could only spend limited time there taking photos. We were so high, and had such good views of the sacred valley. The climb back down was another challenge on our knees, but we managed it, and even opted to hike all the way back down to Aguas Calientes instead of getting a bus, as one last hurrah! 

Once back in the town, we quickly changed into our Crocs, got burgers, and went to catch the train to Ollantaytambo. It was a lovely, ornate train (think Oriente Express), with big windows showing off the picturesque scenery. Justin for some reason had a first-class ticket! We were getting picked up at Ollantaytambo in a mini bus to be taken back to Cusco. Rather unorthodox, but the driver insisted we do a bit of cross-country (in our Crocs) to take a short cut around a traffic jam. This involved jumping down onto a train track from quite a height! We made it, and had just 1.5 hours of driving back to Cusco. 

Unfortunately, back in Cusco, it was a national holiday, and there were parties all over town. We wanted a quite night's sleep after the exhaustion we'd endured for 5 days, but we found ourselves staying above a night club in an Airbnb. This was annoying, as we had a 5am start for a 12 hour drive the next day, and had all had about 1.5 hours sleep. At 2.30am, Em called it quits and got a taxi up to sleep in Pedro for a few hours in the campsite!