The land of the iNNNkaaa (will vocalise pronunciation later)

Well we are back from the land of the inca. What can i say, we had an excellent time overall. so we had an early start, 6am, and I had already relieved my bowel and stomach of their contents (not a good thing). the bus ride to the start of the 42km trek was eventful (close encounter with a raging river). Day one of walking was good, nice day, sun, clear sky. I was sick numerous more times and could not keep anything down. Kylie carried my daypack and apparently felt like a pack horse, one on back one on front, for which i was extremely grateful. the rest of the group made it to lunch a TAD before me, i was so dehydrated i was almost fainting when i stood and asked to turn back, but they forced me to make it to lunch. i took drugs and fluids. after lunch was the worst part of the day, walking 4 hours up a inca mountain (going up over 700m in height to total of 3800m). this I stayed at lunch an extra hour to recover some, Kylie set off and after seeing the hill expected not to see me up the top. kylie says it was tough going but she made it. i felt better and set off. but soon ran out of energy having not eaten all day. after 2.5h of all uphill stair climbing with breaks every 10 steps, i was assisted by some local porters (used to carry out tents etc) .... they carried me .... about 5min each was all they could muster (slackers), but it turned out i was near the top anyway - so i made it. ate dinner. felt better. the next day we continued a further 400m up and made it through dead womans pass (the highest point in the trek and really cold).
pic below is us on arrival at the pass.
speaking generally, the view was mostly good but in a matter of minutes clouds would come over and you couldn´t see anything and in the same time they could disappear. it was very beautiful to see. when we arrived in camp each day, the porters had our tent up and some hot water to refresh ourselfs (no showers). early nights as there was not much to do with no lights, heating, or provided entertainment. day one we covered 17 km (11h), day two 12km (8h), and day three 14km (8h). cant really describe it, either well nor economically, you´ll have to wait and see the pics.and unfortunately same goes for machu pichu, but at least there is a pic or two below. suffice to say it was a great 4 days (the first excluded in my case), a real highlight of the trip as anticipated. and we are both now rightly stuffed and want to leave this internet cafe and SLEEP. so good night all. off to arequipa by plane tomorrow. love all.