Am asking Santa for a baby llama in my stocking...

With tiny duffel bag and very lightly filled day pack (I learned my lesson from the island!) in hand, began the long trek to the famous Inca ruins of Machu Picchu. We loaded onto yet another bus on our way to Ollyantantambo, where we spent the night at a hostel before our official kick off day of the Inca Trail trek. Of course, we had some cultural stops along the way: a local weaving co-operative where I ignored the weaving demo and tried to abduct Eric (the baby llama!!), an alpaca wildlife reserve where we got to feed the animals (and I took a self pic with one), and then a stop on a cliff overlooking the Sacred Valley of the Incas (where they did the majority of their famous farming... see pic of me overlooking the valley). Then we stopped at the Inca ruins at Pisaq. I´ll spare you the guidebook details here, but the history is interesting and I´m sure you´ll all hear about it anyway from me later. I decided to go ¨exploring¨ here... not listening to the way our guide Victor told all of us to go, a group of 5 followed me up the wrong side... I made everyone scale the wall up and then jump down it, then accidentally put my same injured hand into the middle of a thorny cactus plant and had to pick the needles out.

Next we arrived at Ollyantantambo, an Inca site with a very impressive history and a big-ass terrace. Guidebook in 30 seconds or less: the Incas took huge rocks from a quarry 7 km up the mountain to build the site, and still today no one knows how they transported 60 tonne rocks to the top of the site. When the Spanish arrived here and conquered the area, a few remaining Incas fled to Machu Picchu but the Spanish never followed because they couldn't take their horses that way (hence why the Spanish never found Machu Picchu). We climbed to the top and I think I was about 5 seconds away from having a massive heart attack due to altitude and being a ¨right unfit bastard¨as my Brit friend Lucy called us all. We were all wary of the trek ahead considering our poor performance at this site! Our room at the hostel was freezing, so I bargained with the 2 guys working at the front desk: traded a cheeseburger for a heater (that only worked in the outlet that was in the bathroom!). Tomorrow: Day 1 of the Inca Trail!