“I told you Dominica is beautiful”, Sherry tells me of her native land. “Very mountainous”. We were playing with Google Earth after feasting on massive salads. We were tilting hilly terrains, rotating the horizon, laughing when someone zoomed in too fast or couldn’t control the mouse wheel, just goofing off. We travelled the globe from Alexandria, Virginia to Swedish Lapland to Lagos, Nigeria.

“Let’s go to Peru!”

"Why not?!” I laughed as we flew into Cuzco on the map.

Then I tilted the terrain…..

My laugh turned into nervous chuckles as I took in the surrounds of Machu Picchu. I already knew it wasn’t going to be a cake walk, but Google Earth’s terrain view was a jägermeister shot of reality.

I consider myself mildly adventurous – walking across suspension bridges, sure.

Bungee-jumping off suspension bridges, not so much.

White-water rafting – easily. Solo kayak down Class V rapids – working my way there in my dreams.

I remember my short-lived foray into adventure racing - successfully completing two races, albeit in last and second-to-last place respectively. At least I improved.

“Do you know what you’re getting yourself into?”

Of course I did. Hiking the trail is going to challenge and enrich me, forcing me to venture outside my endurance zone while soaking up the sheer beauty of Peru.

I’ve got just two months to gear up for Machu Picchu. Hundreds of thousands of people of varying fitness levels have completed the Inca Trail

It can’t be that bad…….is it?!

Check out these snapshots of the terrain from Google Earth