Inka Trail and Machu Picchu

This was so far one of the highlights of our trip, the wonderful Inka Trail. First of all, you can see the map of the trail. We started at km82 and from 2.600m to 3.000m on the 1st day. Then up to the highest pass on the 2nd day, 4.200m. From there it was mainly downhill, since M.P. lies at 2.400m! And Inka Steps are bloody high, believe me. It was really the toughest thing I´ve ever done, but it was well worth it! And we were very lucky with the weather, since it only rained 1 day, the rest was sunshine and clouds.

The Landscape is beautiful, very lush and green with high snowcapped mountains in the background and lots of Inka Stones and ruins on the way. However, after day 3 I did not want to see another step in my life! ;-)
Downhill was very hard on your knees and uphill was tough on the breathing, especially on the 2nd day when we climbed 1,200m in one day, also affected by the altitude. But everyone went at their own pace and it was fine to be at the end of the group. Day 3 was the hardest for me, since it was raining a lot and we walked for 10 hours altogether. But on day 4 we were rewarded with the fantastic view of Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Inkas. John did very well uphill, but was struggling a little with the downhill, since it´s very hard on the knees and needs a lot of concentration and coordination.
But words simply cannot describe the experience, get yourselves out there and JUST DO IT!
Enough said, check out the pics!