Train From Cuzco

Well, I was in the middle of telling you about my trip to Peru when the The End of the World as we Know it happened.

Now, that that's over :) I'll get back to the story about our trip.

So, after skipping the city tour in Cusco, and getting hopped up on coca tea we were ready for the sojourn to the main event. While the *real* travellers do the 4 day walk along the Inca trail from Cusco to the monument, we aren't quite that hearty....nor did I have that much vacation :)

Instead we opted for the "4 hour" train ride from Cusco to the Mountain.

The train left relatively early (8 a.m. if I remember right). Accomodations were rather comfortable -- only the seats did not recline....which became an issue later on that day.

Golden Lotus who suffers from debilitating motion sickness was hopped up on dramamine, had her sea-band bracelets on, and was sipping hierba mate -- a south american tea that tastes like a blend of green tea and cigarette ashes -- through her metalic bombilla.

The train steward, who was a bit of a bitch, wasn't pleased at all by the loose mate grounds staining his white linen tablecloth :)

The train ride starts out leaving cusco and is still on the western side of the Andes....As the train moves toward the monument it descends into the Amazon basin and there is a dramatic difference in the scenary, flora, and fauna.

Views in parts of the ride are truly spectacular. I can assure you that the fotos won't be able to capture the dramatic steepness of the cliff faces, etc. But, I will post some here nonetheless to give you an idea.

We spent a majority of the trip speaking broken spanish to other South American tourists and even spoke some English to a family out of New Jersey.

Once we arrived at the foot of the monument, we were still a short (but very winding) bus trip up the side of the mountain to the "main event" of our trip.

UG