3420m
This morning was an early start with breakfast before 6am as we had to get to the Puno train station before our 7:30 train ride from Puno to Cusco on PeruRail. Of course, TISA had to happen and our driver turned up with no Nancy, our guide. As she had our tickets we were slightly concerned, but as we drove through Puno she was standing on a street, waiting for us. Relieved, we got to the station at 7:03 and had to have our tickets and passports checked before our luggage was taken away and we got to board the train. Awe inspiring. We were seated in a very comfortable dining with a menu on the table and a waiter asked us if we would like a tea or coffee. Good start.
We left 2 minutes behind schedule and pulled slowly out of Puno, with the driver sounding the horn numerous times to get people off the tracks; I don’t think the train runs that often. So we left Puno and went along the shore of Titicaca seeing flamingos and Puno Ibis, the occasional llama and alpaca and enjoyed our coffee.
As we pulled in to Juliaca the driver again had to sound his horn a number of times, not just to get the local dogs, cars and pedestrians out of the way, but also the market stalls which had set up on the tracks. We crawled through the market, missing the awnings by mere centimetres and seeing the amazing array of goods for sale; herbs, machine and car parts, potato’s and of course, your llama foetuses, for when you want a spell cast. We stood on the back of the observation carriage, waving to everyone who looked interested in us. Most did, and waved back or took out their phones to capture the moment.
It was now time for our first item of entertainment and a male and female model presented an array of different alpaca outfits; scarfs, jumpers, shawls, which of course you could buy. Our second part of the entertainment started straight after with a couple of musicians and a local dancer.
By now it was approaching lunch, so we went back to our seats to enjoy creamy potato soup, marinated beef and chocolate pudding, all washed down with a local cab sav. Certainly better that an 8 hour drive! The afternoon saw us looking at the local wildlife; viscacha, ostrich, ibis, flamingos and generally enjoying the day.
Our approach to Cusco again demanded that our driver use the horn to get any number of dogs and pedestrians out of the way, and to warn the motorists. However, when we got off the train in Cusco and collected our bags, no guide holding up a sign with our names. Hmm. About five minutes later she did arrive. Apparently there is a festival on today and traffic was horrendous. As we drove to our hotel we could corroborate with this; Cusco is a city of well over 1 million people trying to use streets which were designed for mules and walking, not cars and buses. We arrived safely at the hotel to be presented with how our time in the Sacred Valley is going to work. We all agreed that tomorrow over breakfast we would figure out how to manage this.