Wayra Lodge - start: 3,906 m [12,812 ft]
Colpa Lodge - end: 2,514 m [8,246 ft]

After the challenge from the pass yesterday, today was a gentle hike continuing down into the cloud forest. I put a question mark on the cloud (?) forest as the sky was completely clear. My understanding is that often the clouds come up from the jungle below encompassing this forest therefore its name. But today, the weather was dry and pleasant.

As we hiked down we soon encountered trees and shrubs which got thicker as we proceeded. We saw many flowers along the way along with some very interesting orchids growing up in the trees. On the way we passed several homes and simple fences. As got got nearer to our next lodge, our route merged with two other canyons where three rivers joined.

We had to cross a river to get to our lodge. The trail dropped steeply down where there was a fairly new bridge over the water. And then a steep trail with a railing up the other side to the lodge which was in an open area overlooking the river. You could not actually see the river from the lodge unless you walked up to the edge of the cliff. Not something to do in the dark for sure.

We also saw a cable going across the canyon with what looked like a pulley system. We didn’t ask but speculated it was a way to get supplies across if the river was too high such as during the rainy season. Not something that I would want to go across on myself!

The Colpa lodge staff greeted us and introduced us to a Pachamanca, a traditional Peruvian meal cooked below ground with hot stones that create a natural oven. As you can see in the photos the food is covered with leaves and hot stones and then soil to form the oven and trap the heat. And as usual, the food was great.

After lunch, we had the afternoon off to relax and enjoy the scenery. We also got the chance to learn more about how to make a Pisco Sour with one of our guys doing the mixing and shaking. Turns out that there are several types of Pisco. Unfortunately in Ontario, Canada I can’t buy the Pisco brands that they were recommending.

The lodge was once again a different design made up of large stones and a bit more ‘refined’ as to building architecture. It was clear that having transportation into the area made a difference in its construction.