At first I was afraid, I was petrified...

But we survived! The four-day inca trail was more than we had ever anticipated. I was so freaked out about getting altitude sickness or food poisoning or breaking my leg (4 out of 12 people suffered one of these fates to the point where one lady had to turn back) but fortunately Mike and I escaped all that and left with only amazing memories, sore calves, great pictures, and an admiration for the andes and the history.

Our guides were fantastic: the head guide (Carlos) was one of the funniest people I've ever met and was so knowledgeable about the trails and the history. The other guide (Ramiro) was the of the quiter "artist" type but who surprised us all at tea time by asking "does anyone sing? I do!" and then awkwardly serenading us with two spanish love songs in his high castrati-like voice. Mike asked him if he sings professionally and he responded "no, jus in da shower, wit my friends"... but without sufficient pause between those two phrases. Ramiro was a little less capable at english so Carlos quickly took over all story-telling on the trail after Ramiro tried to tell a ghost story that was basically just a horribly sad story about a dad who had a heart attack on the trail and his son was crying because he couldn't wake him up. eeeeeeh. Carlos succeeded in scaring the s#$% out of us with a REAL ghost story to the point where all 12 of us hikers had to walk together to the dark scary inka toilets (a hole in the ground).

The scenery on the trail was breathtaking... words cannot describe how overpowering the andes mountains seem when you're walking in their shadows and up their steep surfaces, looking at glaciers in the distance and the roaring river below. Almost even more mesmerizing were the porters that carried all the stuff our camp required. We had 19 porters for our group of 12 hikers, and they each carried a massive pack of over 50 pounds on their small frames. They would wake us up with a cup of warm tea in our tent and a bowl of hot water and a towel to wash our face with. Then they would feed us a delicious pancake and egg breakfast in our dining tent. We would head off on the trail much before them while they broke down camp, and then 2 hours later they would come running by us in their sandaled feet and giant packs, running straight up the mountain, to go set up camp for lunch. Then they would do the same after lunch, passing us to set up camp for the night. We were exhausted every day after 8+ hours of hiking a day in high altitude, I cannot imagine how they must feel carrying so much weight. We had tea time with cookies before dinner (dessert before dinner is ALWAYS welcome) and then the most delicious dinners of our whole trip. I don{t know how they whipped up such delicious food with such limited resources in the middle of nowhere.

We saw many ruins along the way, each one progressively impressive, climaxing with Machu Pichu on the last day. It was bigger and more impressive than I had anticipated, such an awesome example of the Inca's design, skill and philosophy (EVERYTHING they built is oriented around the equinox and solstice). But Machu Pichu was just a great finish to the even more fulfilling experience of hiking there with a group of people that we got through it with together. I would do it over again in a heartbeat.

P.S. thanks liz and dave for recommending SAS. they are the best.