Colca Canyon Trek Day 1

I was sound asleep when I heard a THUD. Then Lisa...."Oops. Oh no!" I awoke from my slumber and asked "What's wrong?" "I just broke my bed" was the reply. One of the slats underneath the mattress fell to the ground, leaving a big dip in her bed. She couldn't sleep with it that way, so she turned herself around and slept with her head at the foot of the bed for the rest of the night.Woke up early, before 7:00am, went for breakfast (free), used the internet for a bit, took our big bags to storage at the hostal and started off on our Colca Canyon trek shortly after 8:00. We're hiking to Lluhuar Lodge today, which has a natural thermal hot spring and trout fishing. It's not in any of the guidebooks, I just found it on the internet.The hand drawn map we had showed the hike was 5 hours. We arrived in just under 4 hours, but it was ALL downhill, into one of the deepest canyons in the world. We descended about 1200 metres into the canyon today. Saw an Andean Condor as we were leaving Cabanaconde into the valley.Got to Llahuar Lodge. AWESOME! The beds are made of bamboo on top of rock with a mattress on top. The floor of our hut is just a bunch of small stones. The flush toilets are plunked right into the ground. We paid 15 soles each for the bed at the Lluhuar Lodge.Lisa and me had lunch, then headed down to the pools, right beside the river, and soaked in the luke warm waters with a bit of algae.We were the only ones at the lodge all afternoon. We had it all to ourselves. Late in the afternoon, lots of others started showing up, mostly organized treks with a guide. There was one other couple that came down independently.Earlier in the afternoon, I bought a couple of beers and put them in little canal to cool them off (no electricity here). As the sun started to go down, we sat at the edge of a cliff and drank our beers, then headed to the dining area for supper.Supper was fresh caught trout, and very good. The man and lady that run the place are sooooo friendly. They totally go out of their way to make sure you're happy.About 14 people ended up at the lodge tonight, all but 4 are with an organized tour. We're so glad we did this on our own.