11th November - Inca Trail Day 4

4am wasn't as painful as it sounded and darkness has its benefits as it was impossible to wake up to the sight of "Bryce Canyon" for the second day running. The porters have to rush the breakfast and the packing of the equipment as they have to run down the mountain to make the first train to Ollantaytambo at 5.30am and start another trail - amazing.

We walked the remaining 4km to the sun gate to take a magnificent photo of........ cloud. We waited for it to clear. It got worse. We waited some more and then suddenly the sun broke through and burned off all the white to reveal the city of Machu Picchu in the distance. A truly memorable sight. But this isn't the famous picture postcard view, that is much nearer so we trekked off for the remaining 45 mins. When we got there we were greeted by a herd of llama blocking our path but they seemed more interested in the grass.

The view our final meeting point was exactly the same as in all the magazines and TV programmes I have watched and we all looked on in silence. I took scores of photos and even tried to text home the image but it didn't work. We had a tour in the city for 2 hours which was great but we were all fazed after 3 and a half days of trekking and with the sun beating down it was a real struggle to keep awake. The architecture was amazing and the positioning of the major buildings with the points of the compass and the surrounding mountains defies belief.

We went on the bus to Aguas Calientes and into the first bar for a celebratory beer and/or Pisco Sour and pizza and a chance to reminisce and chill out. We gave the hot springs a miss after mixed reports on the cleanliness. By now I am in desperate need of a shower and a launderette.

Our train back to Cusco left at 5pm sharp but as is typical in South America the arrival time is unknown so we only went 3/4 of the way and got a minibus back to Cusco from a town called Poroy.

At the hotel the shower and shave was soooooo good. Even Bryce shaved off his goatee! We all met in reception for our "night on the rip". We have 3 more Irish join us today. Lindsay and Elaine, they will be with us for the trip to Lake Titicaca next. We went to Paddy O'Flaherty's pub.Very Gringo but as there are now 5 Paddies in the group it seemed fitting. We were all wrecked. Brigeene is still under the weather with her stomach but was sending home many a beer. There were also a few drop outs from the Antipodeans. Still I had a good albeit short night out. In bed by 1am.