Having had more than my fill of buses in recent weeks, I was glad to have the opportunity to take a train from Cuzco to Puno. And not just any old train. The ‘Andean Explorer’ costs $220 for the ten-hour trip, but it’s worth it. Three-course lunch, wine, a free Pisco Sour cocktail…even the toilet was plush, or at least it was before I used it. See pictures (toilet not included).
At one point the train trundled slowly right down the main market street of a small town, with no safety barriers or level crossings or any of that politically correct nonsense. The traders all had their wares laid out between the rails, and went back to their business as soon as the train had passed. Towards the end of the street, some local young scamp scored a direct hit on the observation car with a water pistol. Several of the rich old ladies around me had quite a fit of the vapours as a result. I got splashed too, but if I’d met that kid I’d have shaken his hand.
The next day I took a full-day boat trip out onto Lake Titicaca. The first port of call was the floating reed islands of the Uros people. This involved quite a bit of enforced ‘human safari’ activity, of the kind I spent my last blog bitching about, and I was glad when it was over. It seems like a pretty miserable existence to me, living out on a cold and rainy lake, and eating almost nothing but trout and reeds. There was a fair bit of emotional blackmail to buy their handmade textiles, to which I of course remained heartlessly impassive.
Next port of call was Taquile, a real island this time: we landed on one side of the island and then had a slow walking tour round to meet the boat on the other side. This involved a short climb, of about 500 feet or so. Normally I’d eat up that climb like it was a Greggs sausage roll, but when the starting point is already 12,500 feet – Titicaca is the highest navigable lake on earth – there is something of a multiplier effect, and so I had to take it slow.
The highlight of the day should have been the lunch in Taquile, which was included in the cost of the trip: fresh trout, rice and fries. It looked lovely, but sadly I didn’t dare touch it. I’ve been in Peru three weeks now, and the only foodstuffs which have bothered stopping to say hi to any part of my digestive system, apart from eggs, have been from tins and sealed packets. I can only conclude that there must be some kind of bacterium endemic to Peru which my DNA is programmed to reject. That’s why I didn’t take any chances with the trout today, especially as the next three hours had to be spent on a small and crowded boat where the toilet was ‘for number ones only, please, seňors’.
Fortunately my days in Peru are now at an end. Fingers crossed for different bacteria in the next country, which is…
…to be revealed in my next blog.
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| Posh train (my seat) |
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| Posh train (bar) |
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| Posh train (observation car) |
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| Mountains between Cuzco and Puno |
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| Take it to the limit, one more time |
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| Train? Meh. |
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| Lake Titicaca |
