The Long Walk

It didn't really sound too bad... a 3 day trek in the Lares Valley and then a train journey to Machu Picchu... the first day was great. Collected from the hotel at 7:30am (30 mins late) and then headed to a market to buy some last minute essentials.

After a lovely drive through some fantastic mountain passes we were all dropped off at the side of the road and we began to walk... and walk... and walk.

After a few hours we reached our location for lunch and we were in for a treat. The lovely chefs on the trek had prepared a 2 course lunch. Soup for starters and then trout with some rice and salad for main. Once this had dropped, we had the option to go to some hot springs and we all took advantage of this.

When we had enough of the brownish water we all continued on our way and meandered up the side of a valley, following the river to our campsite for the evening, but that was after encountering some of the locals. What was lovely about the trek was seeing the local people in their remote locations - and I mean remote. We would walk for about 2-3 hours without any people, buildings, only Llamas and mountains and all of a sudden you had about 3 children sitting on the side of a hill in their colourful Peruvian clothes (probably watching the Llamas) and when you gave them what you'd bought - we'd toy cars (our nephew Josh just loves them) and some hair bobbles for the girls, their eyes lit up. Of course the parents of the kids we later met liked getting to coca leaves and bread too.

The second day of the trek was tough going - walking up to nearly 5,000mtrs, but the views we got were fantastic and even with us getting wet from the clouds, it was (in hindsight) worth the breathlessness and pains in the legs. That night - being so high was freezing - literally. It dropped to -15 degrees and when the ice formed on the top of the tents and on the mountain we'd just climbed, we pleased we packed so many layers.

The final day was an easier day - all downhill and only really 3 hours walking. We then caught a bus to Ollayantaytambo and then a train to Aguas Calientes (hot water) which is the town built for visitors to Machu Picchu.

On arriving here I felt like I'd arrived to Thailand - you are surrounded by extremely tall mountains and at night you think it's pitch black when the sky is higher than you think.

Chris and I enjoyed the Lares Trek - it was great to see the scenery of Peru and meet genuine local people, but apart from that, I didn't think it had a purpose. You walked from and to the same point and then went by train to the main attraction which is Machu Picchu. But on the group we had some great people and the porters, chefs and guides who helped along the way were fantastic. Next stop - Machu Picchu.