Peru Dec 09/Jan 10:

• 5 days in Cuzco
• 1 day Sacred Valley Tour
• 4 day Trek on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
• 4 days in Lima

We spent five days in Cuzco to do some sightseeing and acclimatize to the altitude before setting off on our 4 day trek on the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. During this time Tracey got pretty sick almost to the point where we were about to return home early. Luckily though, after seeing a doctor and taking some different medicines, she felt good enough to do the trek. Cuzco was a really cool city to explore, lots of history (both Inca and Spanish), and many Inca ruins to see. Since we were there for New Year's and the days leading up to it, there were nightly events at the city's main square, the Plaza de Armas. After spending some time in Cuzco, we began our guided trip with Gap Adventures. On the first day we saw different ruins and towns (such as Pisac and Ollantaytambo) in the Sacred Valley. Then we began our 4 day trek on the Inca Trail which would eventually lead us to Machu Picchu. Though it was a guided trek with porters that carried all of the group gear and up to 6kg (13lbs) of our personal gear, it was still more challenging than I had expected. On the second day we hiked through a pass in the mountains that took us above 13,000ft and the third day was our longest mileage day. We experienced pretty wet and rainy conditions on the 2nd and third day as well. Luckily, we did get some sun and blue skies on our final day of the trek at Machu Picchu, which was just an absolutely amazing and awe-inspiring place. It is a beautiful site that everyone should go and visit, just maybe not during the rainy season. After our trek ended we flew back to Lima and spent a couple of days there. I wasn't too impressed with Lima as it felt like another big city with a lot of pollution, but it did have some impressive Spanish architecture.