Matthew's Machu Picchu Adventure!

The first day was really rough, the altitude (3400-3800m) sickness hit me a lot harder than I thought. I had a throbbing headache and ended up going to sleep as soon as we made it to camp and skipped dinner! My altitude sickness was bad, but I didn't have to end up riding a horse and was able to walk the whole trail. The second day, I was feeling slightly better after having some coca tea (it helps with the altitude). The Incas didn't have any horses, so they used to send messages between cities with human runners. These runners would chew dried coca leaves for the energy it would give them.  We took some horses up to Humantay glacial lake (4200m)!The lake was absolutely incredible, it was so peaceful! After a (relatively) short walk, we arrived at our camp for the evening just as it was starting to rain. The third day was our most physically challenging, we had a very steep climb to the Salkantay Pass (4600m)! We enjoyed the incredible views before a long descent through the c...

Our second day in Peru was an acclimatisation day, so we thankfully didn't have too much walking. We booked onto a bus tour of some historical sites surrounding Cusco (the capital of the Inca Empire). We went to see a traditional Inca weaving demonstration in Chinchero. They explained the different materials that go into dyeing the alpaca wool and how they go on to weave it all together. I bought an alpaca sweater (see below) to keep me warm on the rest of the trek.   Next, we visited Ollantaytambo, an old Inca town. We saw the terraces and Guido (our guide) explained the dovetail technique used by the Incas in their terraces to stop them falling down during earthquakes. He also showed us the quarry that the rock came from, it was over 5km away! Our final visit was Pisac, another historic Inca town. This town had been completely destroyed by the Spanish and so was entirely rebuilt (included thatched roofs). The terraces were mainly for agriculture.

Thank you everyone for your support and interest in my adventure, I'm back in the UK alive and well! Unfortunately, I very quickly realised that trying to post to a blog while dealing with a packed schedule and long stretches without internet access wasn't a great idea.... But now I'm back home, I'll create some posts so you can see what an absolutely brilliant time I had in Peru!