"All things are impossible until you've done them" - Fransisco

4:30am felt like a very early start after our night on the Pisco's..... but we made it to the bus for 5am.

We drove for an hour or so from Cusco to get to the start point of the trek and before we set off Cirillo our chef set us up for the day with the most amazing breakfast of pancakes, fruit salad and quinoa porridge.

The first day which is supposed to be the easier day was made considerably harder by the persistent rain, which by nightfall had turned to snow - thank goodness for our co-ordinating alpaca jumpers, hats, gloves, socks and for the playing cards that Francisco our guide brought with him. After a few rounds of 'Shit-Head', which was quite funny and 'Nervous' which was hysterical we'd forgotten how cold it was and that we had to be up at 5am!

Time for bed..... I hope no polo playing argentinians see this!

Day two saw us reach the summit of Sicllakasa Pass at 4,750m - it was hard work in the cold and the altitude - I'm not sure whether the coca leaves have a physical or psychological effect, but I chewed them at every opportunity and when I wasn't chewing them I was drinking tea made from them.

Although I found the walking hard I really enjoyed it, unlike the Inca Trail which sees 500 walkers set off each day we didn't see one other walker for the duration of our trek. We were however regularly mugged by the children from the local communities that we walked past - who on seeing us from afar ( to be fair I was hard to miss in my electric pink 'Mac in a Sac'!) - ran some significant distance up hill to meet us and ultimately beg for sweets, unfortunately we didn't know that this was going to happen and so the best that we could do was give them our snacks of apples and granola bars - which were received with varying levels of enthusiasm. I love this picture that Abs was able to capture - caught whilst Abs was trying to make her smile - without the smile this is one of my favourites (the granola bar was swiftly stuffed up her jumper as soon as she got it).

Can you spot the granola bar?

We were so lucky, not only with the group that we travelled with but also with the team from Llama Path, the tour company we used. Using just one calor gas burner, Cirillo our chef prepared some incredible food, each meal consisted of three of more courses ranging from wontons and apple puffs to steak & special fried frice and even a beautifully iced celebration cake for breakfast (there is a god) on our final morning.

Mmmmm, cake for breakfast......

The Lares trek is a great alternative to The Inca Trail (which you have to book six months in advance), it's a shorter trek which goes higher; you don't experience the 'thrill' of walking through the 'Sun Gate' and descending to Machu Picchu but the scenery is spectacular and there's something special about only seeing locals and not hundreds of other tourists on the build up to seeing one of the worlds most amazing sights.

See you in Machu Picchu!

Raine x