The time had come to take our one chosen luxury train journey of our trip; from Cusco to Puno aboard the 'Andean Explorer', a journey which would take us through the Andean mountains and up to a height of 4300m. Boarding the train, we were directed to our seats; at a table decorated with fresh red roses and a welcome note and menu for the day. The 8 hour journey begun in the dusty outskirts of Cusco but soon chugged along through the snow capped Andean mountains, passing small villages full of people farming maize crops and hand milking cows. Brightly coloured washing was strung up between two improvised points on makeshift lines, some villagers played volleyball in a dusty street, while older women huddled together nattering over their knitting or a cup of coca tea, all in their traditional dress of big long skirts, blouses, poncho shawls, and hats, with two long hair plaits joined at the bottom.

We were treated to delicious food throughout the journey; breakfast of muesli, fruit, yoghurt and honey, lunch of pumpkin soup with fried cheese, mini rolls, a glass of wine, chicken and potatoes, and cheesecake, and afternoon tea of a vegetable pastry, cakes, tea and a peach Bellini; this was certainly the poshest food we'd eaten since leaving home! We enjoyed it so much that seeing any food refused or sent back half eaten caused us an unusual amount of anguish...needless to say we were probably the poorest tourists on the train and for many of the clientele this was just a standard journey! The train also provided bouts of entertainment throughout the journey, including traditional dance and music performed, and pisco sour making lessons (a drink consisting of the Peruvian grape brandy spirit of pisco, lemon juice and egg white)! We spent much of the journey admiring the spectacular views out of the window or in the open air viewing area at the rear of the train. At our highest point of 4,300m the train stopped for 10 minutes to allow everyone to get out and take photos of the snowy mountains that still managed to tower above us.

Towards the end of our journey we made our way back into the dusty outskirts of Puno, humming with activity and people trying to make a living any way they could; temporary market stalls had been erected right up to the very edge of the train tracks, full of every odd and end you could think of - second hand car parts and hi-fi's, hundreds of bottles of sugar filled fizzy drinks, brightly coloured papers, tapes and decorations, and scraps of god knows what, all of which seemed to be just what people were looking for! Along our journey we also had lots of children (and sometimes adults) waving up at us, stopped dead in their tracks with open mouths as our train passed through their lives, eager to wave with big grins on their faces and over the moon when they received a wave back from the "privileged" travellers in the big shiny blue box. We were sad for the train journey to end as we arrived in Puno that evening; a slice of pure luxury and travelling in style, offering stunning views of the Andean landscape, as well as small insights into the real ways of life in different areas of our journey.

After a lazy day on the 24th, where we were actually enjoying being back to a less touristy area and felt like we were travelling again properly, we embarked on a trip to the infamous 'Uros floating islands' on Lake Titicaca near Puno. The floating island we stopped at was made entirely from reeds woven on top of each other over an earth base, floating in the lake with a natural anchor to keep it in place. The reeds have to be replaced and built upon fairly often as they quickly rot in the water. On the islands were a few tipi style houses made of reeds, a small fishing pool in the middle, and women selling their handicrafts. The floating islands were particularly useful in the past as their manoeuvrability allowed them to avoid enemies trying to attack them. Surprisingly you could hardly feel the small island moving on the lake, although we're sure the safety of the un-fenced edges of the island would cause concern back home!

After our trip to the floating island we were then taken by boat to the island of 'Amantani', a less touristy island on the lake, where we were greeted by a local woman 'Nelly' who we would be living with in a homestay for the night, along with a very boring German couple. The house was nice, overlooking the tranquil lake and the surrounding fields. The kitchen was interesting; a small dark stone building with open fires and big metal pans to cook in, it was a very basic setup, and there were always at least 2 women in there preparing some kind of vegetable, particularly the much loved potato! With a lack of proper tourism on the island, most families here are very poor, mainly living off their produce from their small fields. The meals we had were therefore very basic and filled with all sorts of types of potato. As a gift to our family we had brought them pasta, rice and sugar from the mainland, which we hoped would enable them to have a bit more of a variety of carbs in their diet! After lunch and meeting the father of the house, 'Rudolfo', who we tried to converse with as much as possible in basic Spanish, we climbed up two hills on the island; 'Pachatata' and 'Pachamama', from where we could see brilliant views of the island, the huge Lake Titicaca scattered with small islands, and the snow-capped 'Cordillera Real' mountains in the distance. On our way back down we watched a small boy and girl kick a largely deflated old football around, only to kick it down into a ravine and a small river at the bottom, which didn't phase the boy at all who went bounding down the bank to retrieve his football. We asked them their names and ages, which was the extent of our Spanish, and gave them some Oreo biscuits that we had brought with us which although shy to take at first they soon tucked into eagerly. That evening we had a dinner of soup, potatoes, pasta and tea, and chatted to Rudolfo about how the villagers want tourism to come to his island more so that they can earn more money with the homestay programme; a conflict of interests as we'd only chosen to come to this island because of its lack of tourism!

Next morning we were pleasantly surprised by a breakfast of pancakes after worryingly spotting the women of the house peeling potatoes! As we went to leave the house , the family brought out some handicrafts for sale, and unfortunately when we didn't buy anything, the mood of Rudolfo turned a little cold towards us until we left. Although we had paid him for the homestay and brought gifts, it was clear how important this once a month visit from tourists was to him and his family, and he was so eager to make as much as possible from the opportunity. It was a shame as we had enjoyed the tranquil island and the insight into the lives of these friendly people, surrounded by such beautiful views.