We caught a 6 hour bus for Arequipa on the morning of the 8th. We were the only gringos on the bus and Kat had to help the locals to find their seats as they couldnt read. We spent the afternoon exploring Arequipa and making plans for the Colca canyon tour starting the following day - another 3am wake up and 2 days of hiking ahead of us! We wanted to find traditional local cuisine for dinner and tried stuffed chilli peppers and ceviche. The peppers were tasty but Nathan ended up getting Mcdonalds later on which says alot about his thoughts on ceviche (raw fish with lime, chilli, onions and local potatoes).

After being picked up at 3.30am our first stop was to spot condors. We saw a couple fly past but none too close. We arrived at Colca canyon about 9.30m ready to begin the trek. The first part was all down hill so not too tiring although the path was incredibly dusty and the sun was really strong which made it a bit uncomfortable to walk in. The donkeys put us to shame as they had no problem in marching down carrying loads on their backs. After 3 hours we arrived at the bridge at the bottom of the canyon with bright turquoise water beneath. We climbed up the other side for a further half hour or so before arriving at a small village where we had lunch- alpaca saltada (alpaca meat stir-fried with onions, chips rice and veg).
We had a fairly steady route to the lodge with some steep ups and incredibly steep downs at the end. We had to make a new trail as there were road works on the usual path. This meant we only just arrived at the lodge before sunset at 6pm. Everything at the lodge was by candlelight although luckily they had hot showers. We had another early night as the next day's trek was to begin very early to avoid the sun.

We set off by torch light around 4.45am, climbing uphill for 3 hours to reach the top where we could finally have breakfast. The hike was tough and steep but walking in the shade made a huge difference so although we were very hungry by the top it was worth starting early. It's currently 9.30am and we are relaxing in the sun with half the group, waiting for the slow pokes to arrive at the village to have their breakfast.