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Published: August 23rd 2013
Dragging ourselves out of bed we head for the train station. Instead of staying in Cusco to recover from the fatigue of our trek we have decided to go up market and ride one of the great train journeys of the world - Cusco to Puno.
The cost is $150 per person, but what the hell, we need some pampering after the Inca trail.
I have booked the tickets online and have printed them out so no mistake can be made but on presentation to the conductor he informs us that the tickets are for reverse travel - from Puno to Cusco and to make matters worse this leg of the journey is another $100.
He whisks us off to the ticket office to see what can be done. The ticket officer informs us that seats are available but we cannot pay that additional $400 because it must be done 24 hours before so no ticket can be issued.
Have I mentioned before about two things in life:
1. Peruvian’s are one of the kindest people in the world, and
2. I am one of the luckiest people in the world.
With the combination
of the God’s smiling on us and the conductor smiling at us, he changes the tickets with a pen and takes us to our seats refusing to accept the 50sols I offer him.
Wow! What a train. We are seated in our lounge chairs at our tables, with a white linen table cloth and a lamp to finish the décor. Three course lunch with wine, afternoon tea and pisco sour are included in the price. The last carriage is a viewing deck or observatory, open air and glass, with a bar to boot.
In this carriage traditional dancing and singing, bar courses and fashion parades are performed.
But this is not the best part of this trip. It is the landscape and everyday life which is observed outside our huge window.
The train is travelling on The Altiplano of The Andes and we are 3800 meters above sea level, in a flat valley with rocky mountains rising steeply from the plain, some snowcapped. A lovely mountain stream bubbling beside us.
The fields are full of shepherds in traditional dress tending their herds of sheep, cows, and horses and of course alpacas.
The train passes
through a few small villages where children wave to us from the doorways of their tiny mud brick abodes.
The time flies by and next thing you know we are in Puno 10 hours later.
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greg
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Travel
Just reading a travel article & came across this quote which probably sums up your trek!!!!!!! Machu Picchu offers breathtaking views ------ but only because its literally hard to breathe up there!!!!!!!