Today we got to 'sleep in' until 730 am. I figured today would be a rather forgettable day because all we were doing was traveling: We took a train from Puno to Cusco then immediately took a taxi from Cusco to Ollantaytambo. However it turned out to be one ofthe most memorable days of all my travels.
We boarded PeruRail's Andean Explorer for a 9 hour train ride. I was looking forward to sleeping through as much of it as possible (something about the rocking and humming of trains and planes knocks me out). Once we got on, I found myself in a beautiful old-world train with plush high-back chairs, polished golden hardware, and just an overall feeling of luxury train travel in the early 1900s. Quite unexpected after nights in hostels. This was the 'nice' part of our trip.
I like the logo a lot. There's the mountains, llama, condor, and Inca architecture.
Observation cart where I spent at least half the time. It was such a beautiful, relaxing time to ride through the changing scenery of Peru. Besides all the dust and gas fumes :).
There was a traditional dance and music show sometime during the ride, and they made us yummy pisco sours (seen on the bottom). I really liked this girl, she had a very sweet happy smile when she danced. Later on there was a 'fashion show' of alpaca wear which I found awkward and amusing. They kept us well entertained even though the scenery was entertaining enough.
Lunch and wine were included and surprisingly good for train food. I had pork ribs and a spinach cream soup with a passion fruit mousse dessert. Passion fruit is pretty exotic in the states but pretty much as common as oranges here. Passion fruit pisco sours (maracuya sours) are delicious.
Here are some of the landscapes we passed by during out trip. Overall we descended a couple hundred meters in altitude, and the landscape gradually changed from dry desertscapes to green mountain ranges. All of it was very pretty and I wish I could add some of my camera pictures here.
The absolute cutest part of the trip was winding through the farming villages and having little kids wave at the passing train. Some waved a small shy wave, others screamed and jumped and waved their arms about wildly. All of them broke into huge smiles when we waved back. It was totally endearing and one of my happiest times. Granted, a couple kids threw sticks instead, but let's focus on the positive :)
I didn't let myself sleep even once on this trip. Coffee time! I wanted to experience all of it. The 9 hours passed much more quickly than the 3 hour bus ride from Chivay to Puno. The tickets were pretty expensive at about 220usd but it's completely worth it when you consider all that's included and the scenery you get to enjoy along the way. It made me want to seek out and experience all the great train rides of the world... Sigh
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