CHAPTER 49

THE NEXT MORNING, ADAM AND I DECIDED TO GO FOR A TRAIL. Out tour guide, who's name I haven't learnt yet, advertised an Inca Trail to Machu Picchu which I hurriedly agreed to going on.

That's what we were here for anyway and we just had to make it count.

"A little something about this trail....." Our tour guide began explaining the whole journey all together.

"The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu; also known as Camino Inca or Camino Inka, is a hiking trail in Peru that terminates at Machu Picchu..."

At the sound of Machu Picchu I poked Adam with my elbow and he staggered back before standing in his place again and fluffing my hair.

"This trail consists of three overlapping trails: Mollepata, Classic, and One Day. Mollepata is the longest of the three routes with the highest mountain pass and intersects with the Classic route before crossing Warmiwañusqa translated as dead woman...." An elderly seeming man explained the course of the route to Machu Picchu and I got goosebumps.

I was here the have fun not to witness a horror story.

"Which route would you prefer to use??" Our tour guide asked and I quickly thought the shortest.

We had to get there, come back and get back down to having pillow fights.

"Uh...the shortest will me more efficient...." I swallowed and looked at Adam who was looking at me and laughing. I felt like we were reliving Micheal Jackson's thriller video and I was his timid girlfriend.

"A few other villagers are joining us on this trail....You see, we don't often get famous people around here so they all want to take part ...." He explained rather shocked and nervously. I didn't mind.

"What'd you say?" I asked Adam and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Anything is cool as long as you're by my side...." He pecked my forehead and I cringed.

I felt embarrassed keeping in mind that we were surrounded by very conservative people who rather took anything serious.

"Cool....let's leave please...." I asked also requesting to be in front so I could take a lot of pictures.

To be honest, it was a tedious journey up the mountains. Climbing up the rough stony ground against gravity was like flying to the moon in a minute. Impossible! I kept stoping for water every ten minutes and along with my constantly growling stomach, I regretted not having a heavy breakfast.

The doughnut I had was completely digested way before we even walked for 10 kilometres and yet we had 72 more to go.

I was doomed.

Several times, Adam carried me on his back due to my laziness and I didn't take no for an answer. My legs were sore and aching badly.

"I just wish I could reverse time to when we had a pillow fight...." I whispered in his ear and he stopped and dropped me.

My speech seemed to have weakened him and dispersed all his energy. He dropped to his knees and sat on his heels with his hands on his thighs.

"You killer joy..." he splashed some dust on me and before I could even react, took his phone and got a snapshot.

"Instagram??" I asked about to kill him.

"Twitter...." he wiggled his eyebrows and smiled just the way he did.

Adam was not really a fan of Instagram and I couldn't understand why.

He created an account following my persistence and got quiet a good number of followers. 10 million wasn't so bad now was it?

He rarely posted but still managed to keep it alive.

Twitter was his thing. As of last year, his post, a painting of me of course with the tweet 'Angel-Face', got him a lot more likes, tweets and retweets rendering his picture most liked on twitter.

"Come on...we better move...." he helped me get up and we hurriedly caught up with the group.

Having approached the long steep path to Warmiwañusca, better known as Dead Woman's Pass.

"This is the highest point of the trek at 4,198m (13,769 ft)...." the tour guide announced, screaming through the followers of the trail. Most hikers reach camp by early afternoon, with ample time to rest and relax. Unfortunately for us, we had to turn back since we weren't camping.

Anywho, I couldn't contain myself knowing that I had come to the highest point of the trek. I let out a sharp shrill and immediately asked the tour guide to take a picture of me and Adam.

Just as we had reached such heights with this mountain, our relationship was sure to bring us good results too.

"On three, he's going to record us and we'll scream happy anniversary..... got it???"

"got it..." I smiled liking the idea.

I stood in front of him and he passed his hands through my shoulders.

"Ready?" he asked and we nodded. He raised his thumb and pointed at us signaling us to get right on it.

"Happy anniversary...!!!" we screamed and hoped he had captured it.

I rushed to hold the camera and replayed the video.

I totally loved it.

"Thank you...." I walked to Adam and showed it to him. He equally loved it and I couldn't be happier.

I sent it to my phone and immediately posted it on Instagram, captioning it fifteen years and counting. Adams exact words. Being on a higher altitude, I was actually surprised that we had good cell reception and just when I was about to make a phone call, all the bars disappeared.

I snagged my phone and bumped it against my head hoping to bring back the bars but it was invain.

"Network problems???" Adam asked and I nodded frowning.

"But at least I was able to post my video...." I tried to remain positive and tossed the phone back in my pocket to proceed with the trailwalk.

Later that evening the famous Inca Trail headed us to the enigmatic citadel of Machu Picchu. I didn't miss the look of excitement on Adams face the moment he saw it all. A classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls caused me to put aside my camera for a second.

Listening to the tour guide, I learnt its three primary structures were the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows.

Most of the outlying buildings have been reconstructed in order to give tourists a better idea of how they originally appeared. We got a chance to look at each and admire such beauty this place was holding. No wonder it was voted on the New seven wonders of the world list. It just deserved to get on the map.by hook or crook.

"We made it baby....!!" Adam jumped and stared at me. His excitement was totally bursting across the roof and I could see he was truly happy to be hear.

"Eleanor. You have no idea how happy I am. What did I do to deserve this? A trip to Peru just so I see this place and you actually turned it to life. You're unbelievable....." he laughed and let out a sigh in the next.

He was surely surprised beyond all recognition. No words came out of his mouth and he kept admiring every peace of the entire place. I couldn't blame him this place was killer.

"Elly....." he held me in his hands and looked at my face. "Thank you.....so much...."

"Please stop! You're saying thank you a lot. I might just end up thinking am your mom....!!" I tossed him off but he hugged me and wasted no minute, raining a kiss on me.