After we'd spent a wonderful three days in the rainforest we got the boat back to Iquitos to then fly over to Cusco. Whilst there we explored the beautiful city, drinking Peruvian coffee and eating a lot of delicious dishes, many of which featured bananas cooked in various ways. We also made sure we went to the Coca Museum and bought some Peruvian chocolate. We drank coca tea in the 'Highest Irish Pub in the World' which was quite a novelty. (I think we've managed to drink in an Irish Pub in most of the places we've travelled to- They're everywhere!) Feeling the chill of the air in the evening we thought thermals were actually a good idea, in preparation for the Inca Trail so we spent a while finding these, which luckily we did. The day before we set off on the Inca Trail tour, we decided do go on a trip to Rainbow mountain. After it was booked, we did a little bit of research on it and found it was 5,200 metres above sea level! Higher than the 'Dead Mother's Pass' part of the Inca Trail which is the toughest bit because of the altitude. We went along anyway, feeling a bit nervous about the effects of the altitude but it was all okay really. It felt quite an achievement to get to see this colourful mountain, although rather packed with other tourists. We got back to the hostel rather relieved, and thankful that the Inca trail won't be that high up! We did struggle with the altitude on that trip! Luckily we had been taking tablets so it probably wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Then was the time to set off on our Inca Trail tour but before we started the trek, we stopped off in the Sacred Valley and visited some Inca Villages. One of which you can see portrayed in my illustration below. These ladies would weave all day and they showed us how they would spin the alpaca and sheep wool and then naturally dye it to some wonderful colours. We also saw how they build huts out of mud but also jewellery and other household items. It was a beautiful vision of a simpler life and the fulfilment one can feel with one.

We started the Inca Trail the next day with our tour guides from G-Adventures (which we'd highly recommend), all equipped with walking poles and a paper bag of snacks. James and I had trained for this but what with Kent's lack of big hills and low altitude there was only so much preparation we could do. We managed fairly well, however, rather quite behind the rest of the group and our constant nattering probably didn't help. The views were incredible, of course, walking through many different scenes. Some wooded, some mountainous, some with ancient ruins, it was so diverse! We managed to get to our lunch time and evening destinations ahead of schedule on most of the days. We did have it extremely easy to be fair, our food and tent were all waiting for us, ready, when we got to our lunch and evening stop and the food was amazing! Our group all ate together in a tent, looking out over the view of the mountains as we ate 2-3 course meals! After desert we would all have some Coca tea, have a good chat and head off to bed, thankfully not too late.

Arriving at Machu Picchu after 4 days of hiking was very welcome, as were the clean toilets! It was such an interesting site and we learnt a lot about it. After a good look around, we got the coach back to Cusco as it began to rain. At the hotel, we all said goodbye to the group who we had gotten to know quite well by then and headed to our room and a hot shower (luckily! Hot water in Cusco is rather touch and go.)