Peru, The Inca Trail to Machu Pitchu

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It's probably the best known image of South America, but though we'd seen upteen photos of Machu Picchu nothing prepared us for seeing it in the flesh. Maybe it was the fact we'd spent four-days trekking the Inca trail up and down three mountains, passing spectacular ruins and traversing through cloud forest, high altitude peaks and lush jungle that made it extra special. This wasn't the easiest trek, there were days of steep uphill climbs and knee-destroying descents, not to mention a donkey peeing on our tent, so we felt like we deserved the spectacle at the end. Somewhat depressingly the Inca messengers ran it in three odd hours. In my defense I was suffering from yet another tummy bug (damn Bolivia's dodgy water) and couldn't eat food so was relying on high sugar gatorade to get through it, a godsend in a bottle. But when we reached the Machu Picchu sungate and saw the first rays of sun hit the ancient ruins, we were completely blown away. It looked bigger and more intricate than we'd expected and was really well-preserved due to being one of the few places the Spanish didn't find and destroy back in the late 15th century. The stone masons in us were gobsmacked. How had these people built temples with such precision over 500-years ago? How had they raised huge blocks of stone up the surrounding mountains to construct watch towers? And how did they know so much about irrigation and water ways? It was quite humbling to see how much they'd achieved with so little technology, it gives you a buzz just being here. We'd been trekking since 4am but with adrenaline on over-drive we decided to go the whole hog and climb the vertigo-inducing Waynapicchu, the cone shaped mountain you always see in the background of classic Machu Picchu shots. It was a cool ascent, with caves to crawl through and rope ladders to climb to reach the summit. The panorama from the top was mind-blowing with views over the whole city and surrounding jungle - well worth the extra effort. Then it was a scramble back down to catch a train back to civilisation - no more trekking for us, at least for a few days anyway. [Clare]