We met our tour guide Marco, who is a really nice and well-educated person. He talks in a very clean spanish, which is great because we can practice the language with him. The party is completed by one driver, one cook and two horsemen - while the two of us are actually the only guests on this trek. So they outnumber us 5:2. Feels strange, but in a very exclusive way.

Before we start hiking we visit a Condor project. I didn't quite understand the point here, because it's two Condor's locked down in a cage. OK, they are nearly extinct, but their purpose is to fly, and these two can't fly anymore, because they are too fat and weak. Anyway, Condors are huge. You don't see it on the foto so well, but they have 3 m wingspan, so they're amongst the largest birds on earth.

After that, we visit some naturally hot springs in Lares, where we relax before we start walking the trail...