Our 10 hour train trip from Cusco to Puno was just great! You´d think 10 hours would be a long, long day but it was thoroughly enjoyable and the scenery was spectacular. Something like the wild,wild west. The train consisted of 3 cars for 1st class and 2 cars tourist class and an observation car with bar. Our seats were two big straight back comfy chairs set before a raised table for our lunch service and a great view from the wide windows to our left. We calculated we traveled the 250 miles at 25 miles per hour! The lunch was great. By the way, as the lunch appetizer, I chose the tomato soup, and Dennis ordered the roast alpaca. It was prepared as thinly sliced pieces of medium rare meat with a sweet potato puree. ... read more

Well, we´re happy to be back in Cusco after our first visit in 1997. We flew Lima to Cusco on Thursday afternoon and have been taking it easy acclimatizing to the altitude at 10,000 feet. Not to mention our little hotel is on a hill above the city square, so we´ve been getting our excercise to make up for the hours sitting in the plane. We have a nice basic, clean hotel, with a sunny courtyard and small restaurant. Of course we had the cocoa tea on arrival to help with the altitude. The days are bright with the intense sun and the evenings are quite cool. The city is very easy to walk, so we´ve been exploring on foot. Plenty of travelers from all over here visiting the city, planning treks on the Machu Pichu ... read more