Colca Canyon- Descent and Ascent

Once again, we crowded into a van before the sun rose and began a hiking journey. This was our only over-night trekking trip of the vacation, so we opted for the interesting option of staying in huts that night and hiking out by headlamp light...but we'll get to that.
Our group was an assortment of English speaking travelers from England, Italy, Holland, Malaysia, the USA, and France. We all didn't talk too much until lunch that day, but they were definitely my favorite group of travelers that I might while traveling for the three weeks.
We reached the Condor Lookout point, and luckily were able to spot 5 condors circling the mountains. Some of the birds actually came pretty close to the platform, which gave a real sense of their grand size. No picture or video that I took could do it justice, but they were beautiful catching the wind on their wings.
You would think that the journey down would be a piece of cake, but the trails were so dusty that every footstep kicking up dust left a parched and dry throat. We arrived to the canyon entrance, prepared ourselves, and all started the switchbacks down. It was about two hours of descent passing by interesting rock-side cliffs and cacti that we finally reached a river and bridge. The river cutting through the canyon was incredibly green. That's also where we started to really see the villages that speckle the canyon. Our guide told us that there are only about 300 people who live among the villages, and their only transportation out of the villages and canyon is walking or paying for a horse ride, and horses only became an option a few years ago.
From there, we did a bit of ascending to get to the house where we had lunch. Even with the heat, lunch is still a customary appetizer. We also enjoyed some alpaca, rice, and avocado (they grow 80 variations of avocado trees in Peru).
The next part of the journey was more filled with close-by spectacles, such as man-made irrigation systems, a pool of water, a horse, and some village houses. By this point, we had reached the other side of the mountain and we were traversing into the bottom of the canyon. Our last marker before our hostel village was a waterfall and another bridge on a different part of the river. The sun was just setting as we exited the trail into our hostel sitting area, which had several huts for groups and pairs, bathroom huts, a restaurant/bar and a pool. We waited eagerly to find out how the sleeping arrangements would be arranged. Our guide asked for all the couples to notify him, and after he had counted off all the people who raised their hands he looked right at my dad and I. This was about the fourth time in the trip that we were confused for a couple, and I again had to clear up the confusion. All of the non-couples were put together in dorm style cabins that fit five people.
We still had about 3 hours to kill before dinner time, and there wasn't much there to do except drink and talk. Some brave souls tried out the pool, but the water was cold to start with and it was cold with the sun set. I opted for a pisco sour (the national drink of Peru) and conversation with our travel buddies. After a few beers, dinner was ready and we all munched down hungrily. Our guide announced that we had a 4:30 am wake up meeting time, so we headed to bed soon after dinner was over.
We packed our things, turned on our headlamps, and started up the trail. The ascent up Colca Canyon was estimated to be three hours of switchbacks, and travelers we met in Machu Picchu told us that it wouldn't be an easy journey up. The first 30 minutes of following our guide's quick pace felt endless. Finally, we took and break and he told us that he would meet us at the top and to go our own pace. I stuck with my dad as we took turns leading. I admit that I felt very jealous every time someone passed by on a horse, but I also felt very proud to be tackling the challenge. It took us about 2.5 hours to reach the summit, and half of our group was up there waiting. We bought some Gatorade and bananas from the vendor woman, and I admit that maybe it wasn't smart to do the climb on an empty stomach. We made it though. My dad and I also agreed that it would be our last big hike of the trip, which it was.
When we collected everyone from the group, we walked to the nearest village and got our traditional bread and tea breakfast from a house cafe nearby. Our next bus ride led us to natural thermal pools, which was a relief on our aching muscles. The water was a lot warmer than I expected, and we enjoyed the pools for an hour. The water was so hot where it entered the pool that we had to move away from it. Afterwards, we once again boarded the bus and this time went to a point where you could see 6 active volcanoes and the Andes Mountains chain. It was windy and cold though, so we boarded the bus quickly again. From there, we only had about 1.5 hours of a drive back to Arequipa.
It was during that drive back to town where my sickness finally really hit me. I remember leaving the bus and not being able to speak clearly and feeling that I ran into a brick wall. We checked back into our hotel, and then tried to find our way back to the supermarket. We got a bit lost. Then I had to try and explain our symptoms and what I wanted... in Spanish. It was more than my sick self could handle at that moment. Eventually though, we headed back to our hotel and passed by a large celebration for Arequipa Day. I couldn't function very well though, so I went to sleep pretty soon after and didn't give much thought to the large celebration.