Dalama Adventures Tale of two corporate types ditching their jobs and traveling the world for 14 months... check out all photos, blogs & interesting tid bits at http://www.dalama.net

We wake up to a valley full of clouds this morning, so thick we can't see our trail. After a warm porridge breakfast we hit the trail. Shortly into the trek it starts to downpour... welcome to the rainy season here in Peru. It stops briefly for us to check out the ruins at Runkurakay which have a stunning view of the valley and trail we descended last night. These ruins were used by the Incas as a lookout and special messenger center. The Incas would send "runners" like our speedy porters, with important messages about weather changes, security, harvests, etc. They'd cruise the trail with lightening speed, probably barefoot, and all in a fraction of the time it takes us with all our special trekking gear, to move between message centers on the trail. We ascend down a steep, narrow stair case, to what our guide calls "Inca University" where scholars came to study astronomy, sciences, engineering and philosophy. After passing through this beautiful site, the weather turns really foul, rainy and cloudy, and the rest of our trek we were motivated to trudge onward by the singing of our group members... many songs of European origin, some we know and others we just listen to, and laugh along with them. Before we know it, we're at our final nights camping destination, Wiñaywayna. We are thrilled to be at the low altitude of 2700M for the night, and looking forward to crashing out in our tent, until we see that we're hovering on the edge of a plateau, directly over the bathrooms used by all the porters, and there's a breeze blowing the stench right into our tents. This is by far the most "packed" campsite, as all 500 trekkers, porters and guides are here tying for minimal tent space, and queuing for the only available shower on the Inca trail. The clouds clear for a brief minute to reveal the snow capped peaks, and the river snaking it's way through the canyon down below. We are already filthy from three days of sledging up and down hills in the rain and mud, and waiting in a queue behind 500 others for a 5 minute shower that's probably equally as filthy, is not an enticing thought at the moment. So we give the showers a miss, and instead head with the droves of others to the only bar on the trail, for a refreshing cold beer to reward ourselves for the past three days of trekking. The very basic lodge is a good refuge from the pouring rain right now, and is abuzz with trekkers reveling in stories of their travels, and excitement of what we would see tomorrow morning at our final destination Mach Picchu. We had a celebration ceremony for our fabulous porters and cooks, as they will be catching the 6:00 a.m. porter train back to town in the morning after packing up our stuff. We head back to our tents for a quick nights sleep with a wake up call for 4:30 a.m.