Acclimatisation Trek: No way Jose, we're calling it day 1 of trekking!

As I shared in the last post, we were scheduled for a three-hour acclimatisation trek the day after we arrived in Cusco to see how we coped at higher altitude and a longer time frame.

We all secretly thought our guide Jose wanted to test us so he could see what we were really made of. This team of 13 Aussie girls and their team leader showed him!

We started with a look out over Peru's very fertile Sacred Valley and saw the town Pisaq, which Jose announced we'd be walking in to. What we didn't realise at the time was that the walk was through some amazing Inca temple sites and then down near-vertical steps through Incan agricultural terraces built in the 14th and 15th centuries.

It was a long, slow 7km walk down the side of the mountain and we all got sunburnt (event though we were wearing 30+, 50+ and even 100+ sun screen!) but there was a gorgeous old Peruvian woman selling freshly squeezed orange juice at the bottom of the hill so that made everything worthwhile.

As Annalisa said, "This was a true test of my strength and endurance and how I feel I'm going to go on this four day trek starting tomorrow. With the hot sun beating down on us, I was physically and mentally challenged, wondering numerous times what I had gotten myself into! I'm so proud that I got through it and I know I can do this". Hear hear Annalisa!

After shopping for jewellery and souvenirs in the Pisaq markets we started on our way back to Cusco, via an al fresco lunch with our chef for the trek and a stop off at another popular Inca site, Saqsaywaman (or as Jose puts it "sexy woman" - try saying that to a bus full of women without laughing).

Since today involved lots of steps and much mental and physical energy we decided it should be the first day of the trek, rather than a practice run. Annalisa and I are so grateful to be able to share this trek with you and to have raised so much for breast cancer research. We'd like to thank our Gold Llama sponsors for making this trek and our fundraising possible: Gillian Adams Salon & Spa, Bush Legend, JCPT Health & Fitness, Strawberry Communications and The Transcription People.

Hola from Peru

It took us a long time to get here, but now Annalisa and I (Joh) are settling into Cuzco ready for our Andean adventure.

We set off on Monday morning Sydney time for a 12-hour flight to Santiago, Chile. The sun rose over South America as we changed time zones and we flew over many snow covered mountains. Our next flight was to Lima, Peru's capital, where we stayed overnight (Monday night in Peru).

While it was nice sleep in a bed, we were all itching to get to Cuzco to see where we'd be spending the next few days. Our late morning flight took us over more of the Andes, with tiny villages dotted throughout the valleys.

Our first acclimatisation exercise was this afternoon after lunch in the city. We walked through Cuzco's cobbled streets from 3500m above sea level up 100m further to see the city of 500,000, which is nestled in the valley, from a new vantage point. The air is definitely thinner here, but we have coped with the change in altitude so far.

We have a three-hour walk higher up outside Cuzco tomorrow in readiness for our #TrekTowardsACure to Machu Picchu, with support from our Platinum sponsors Juice Plus, David Jones, OnePoint and Mission Foods.