Title says it all. I tried to put this one as a travel tip, but all my tech-savvy-ness has failed me. Another blog entry it is, then.

-It's important to think about your goals. Lunch, a resting break, even the final destination when the situation is really desperate. Don't think "crap, this is hard"; think "we get to eat soon."
-Take it step by step. Look forward and find a place about ten to twelve meters ahead. Refuse to stop until you reach it.
-Stop as often as you want but not for as long as you'd like. Keep trucking.
-Travel with another incredibly out of shape person. It's easier to share fifteenth place with another person than to be there alone.
-Remember where you are. Yes, your lungs feel like burning coals, you can't breathe, and you don't dare to look down in case your legs aren't there anymore- but it's not a contest and the view is crazy beautiful.
-The harder it is to make it to the end, the gladder you'll be you did.

Since I'm blogging anyway, I might as well throw this out there: Don't go to Machu Picchu without going on the Inca Trail. Seriously. I know it's expensive, you can't go by yourself (tour group required), and it's so on-the-beaten-path it's not even funny, but seriously. I can't say it enough. Do it.

Also, all the companies say that the first day is a piece of cake and the second one will kill you. I say don't listen to them. The first day probably was the easiest, in retrospect, but it certainly wasn't THAT much easier than the subsequent ones, and the belief that it would be was a real blow to my confidence (after I stumbled up to the first night's campsite and literally fell to the ground in exhaustion. I probably would have cried if I had the energy, or any water left in my system at all).