Breakfast wasn't until 6:30am but we'd been advised to wake at 5am and open the curtains of our room. The huge bay window gave a fantastic view over to the east where the sun would rise. The room was specially designed to allow guests to remain tucked up in the very comfy bed whilst being able to watch the night fade away and light of the new day brighten the sky.

A very fancy breakfast buffet, worthy of a Lodge, was laid out for us - quinoa porridge with honey, bacon, eggs, bread and jam. There was of course coffee, tea and coca leaves for making tea.

By 7:30am we were on the road heading towards the viewing point, Mirador Cruz del Cóndor, and it looked like our luck was in. From a distance we could see two condors flying close to the viewpoint. As soon as the bus stopped, we all ran out to get a closer look at the condors. Down below in the canyon, there were now three condors, father, mother and juvenile, flying backwards and forwards in the canyon and continually gaining height. Even looking at them maybe 30 metres away you could tell how big the birds were. Eventually having gained sufficient height they flew off out of the canyon and across the hills. No sooner had the first three gone more condors magically appeared from somewhere and at one point there were six of them gliding back and forth in the canyon.

More and more tour buses kept arriving at the mirador and the number of people jostling for a view into the canyon was becoming ridiculous. It seems that the condors weren't too keen on crowds either, in the last 20 minutes we spent at the viewpoint, only three could be seen briefly, far in the distance. David did spot a tiny a hummingbird flitting around the bushes at the top of the canyon.

We made our way back to the bus, spotting another much larger hummingbird on the way, which had been towing a mountain bike for everyone. The next part of our itinerary was to cycle 15 km to the village of Cabanaconde. After a few minutes of downhill riding, we rounded a bend and were faced with 1km of uphill. Even with a bit of speed from the downhill and heaps of gears to drop down to, the thin air at this altitude was a test for everyones lungs. We all made it though and huffed and puffed for a while at the top of the hill where another three condors could be seen flying.

Once we had our breath back, we were back on the bikes for the downhill ride all the way to the end although we were told we should stop along the way for photos. Not much further down the hill we stopped again, there were now 10 condors in sight - six were in the sky above and four were in the canyon gaining height. Eventually a big male glided slowly past us within five metres at our eye level - amazing!!

It didn't take long to get down to Cabanaconde, a nice village from where one of the main tracks into the Canyon starts, or ends depending which way you walk. We had donkeys taking our overnight bags for us, so once we had separated out what we wanted to carry with us, we started the 30 minute walk through the village to viewpoint at top of canyon and the start of the track down.

Peering down into the canyon, 1,200 metres below, we could make out a little oasis of green in midst of the dusty, rocky canyon. The track was very steep, rocky and dusty which made the going very tough and the heat of the midday sun made it even harder. A lot of the fit locals can walk/run down the canyon track in 30 minutes or less while a donkey can make the trip in about an hour. School children from the small village on the other side of the canyon use the track daily as their way to school to Cabanaconde. All of these facts did not help one bit as we gingerly made our way down, occassionally slipping but fortunately not falling. In the end, it took us two hours and fifteen minutes to reach the bottom.

We were hot, dusty and sore but there was a swimming pool that we could jump into. It wasn't the warmest of water, 26c, but warm enough to stay in long enough to wash off the dust. We were given our rooms for the night and we were lucky enough to get the only en-suite room in the whole place. It was by no means hotel standard, just a toilet and sink in the next room with a shower curtain as a door but it meant we didn't need to walk to and compete for the shared facilities.

Paul and the chef were preparing lunch for us and we were surprised that it wasn't more of a picnic style lunch. It was a full blown meal with soup, chicken cooked in peach juice with rice and vegetables followed by a dessert.

At 4pm we were taken for a small walk up other side of canyon. It gave us the chance to see how our lungs and legs were going to cope tomorrow when we walk out of the canyon. It also gave us the chance to see the path we had walked today zig-zagging down the canyon wall, and to see the Colca river.

After the walk we had couple of beers in the bar while dinner was being prepared. Once again it was a full blown meal, soup, spaghetti bolognaise and a caramel pudding for dessert. As soon as dinner was finished and the plates cleared, we were all heading for bed even though it was only 8pm. We needed to be up for breakfast at 4:15am and be ready to start walking out of the canyon at 5am.