Machu Picchu

We left Cusco early and headed towards Ollantaytambo to begin the Inca Jungle Trek. We had booked for 4 nights and 5 days to do a number of activities including mountain biking, white water rafting and zip lining before we went to Machu Picchu.

The first activity, mountain biking was probably my least favourite. We started off at 4,800 metres on a really windy road and at the top it was absolutely freezing. It started to rain heavily and we all got absolutely soaked - including our walking shoes. I did the first half of the biking but when we stopped for a break I started to feel light headed and so didn't continue any further.

After lunch we went to our hostel in Santa María and then went white water rafting. I've not done it before so it was really fun and the people who ran it made it even better by having a joke along the way.

The next day we did the jungle trek from Santa Maria to Santa Teresa where we were staying the second night. It was 21km up and down hills and through the jungle. We even trekked a bit of the original inca trail too which was stunning. The trail goes along cliff edges but the scenery is out of this world. We stopped off along the way at coffee plantations and local farmers shops which was nice. At one point we even got changed into traditional Peruvian clothes and our guide painted our faces. We finished off the day at the hot springs in Cocomayo and had a beer.

We did zip-lining the next day which was also really fun. At first I was a bit apprehensive because the lines were so high but once you got the first one out of the way it was really good. After we walked from Hydro-eléctrica to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Town) and got ready to wake up at 3.30am to climb the mountain up to Machu Picchu.

The walk up to Machu Picchu was really difficult (literally a vertical climb up stairs) but we managed to get up to the top in 50 minutes. We arrived just before 6am and we were one of the first groups to be let in. At first, it was really misty and you could barely see a thing. After a while, the mist cleared and for the first time we could see Machu Picchu. It was absolutely incredible. We had a guided tour around and then spent more time looking around ourselves. We climbed up to the sun gate for a really good view over the whole of the site. Overall we spent 7 hours there and then walked back down to Aguas Calientes which took another hour. Absolutely exhausted, we finally slept.Read more