Puno to Cusco aboard the Andean Explorer

26th September 2008, Wednesday (Day 5)

We bade our good friend Juan good bye at the Puno PeruRail station, stuffed his pockets with enough Sols to compensate for Vijay's Spanish and boarded the train acquired recently by Orient Express.

The Victorian splendor hung in the air, added to the fact that we were the only non-Caucasians in the coach - had it not been for software, the only way we could get here is by waiting on the tables.

The big photograph on the right tells the story. Five star sitting quarters. A bar coach. A kitchen coach. Large windows desperately trying to frame Andean landscape whizzing past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Books. Zune. Chessboard. Camera. We read. We played. We dozed. We drank Pisco Sour. We ate the well cooked, well presented, well served courses. We drank cocoa tea. Talk about old fashioned vacations !

 

 

 

Rhea took to the responsibility of being the only child on the train quite effortlessly . She climbed into the most atrocious of places, giving the heavy duty lenses in the locomotive a much more attractive target than the usual flora and fauna.

 

 

 

 

Then the music arrived. The glasses were refilled. it was a good day at office. 

Cusco breathed in. We were sad to leave.

 

But then, one step more closer to the fabled Lost City.

**