The train from Cusco to Titicaca

I expected the train trip from Cusco to Puno on the shore of the Titicaca Lake to be another top event during my trip and I can confirm that it was!

You travel during about ten hours in a luxury Orient Express type of train, doing totally some 390 km (240 miles), meaning an average speed of 39 km or 24 miles / hour. There was no hurry and the trip is so nice that I would have wanted it to be even slower and last even longer! You have the time to see and there is a special glass-walled observation car with an open air platform at the end of the train; that’s where I spent most of my time.

Onboard, you are served Pisco Sours, a nice lunch, snacks… there is some entertainment in the form of music, fashion shows…, you talk with all the other tourists from all over the world…, but the most fascinating things are the landscape, the villages you pass, the inhabitants you see along the tracks…- we were waved at all along!

The first number of hours you follow some rivers (Huatanay, Vilcanota) and the train climbs until it reaches the highest point at La Raya at 4321 meters (14177 ft), where it makes a stop for some 15 minutes. Then it goes slowly downwards over some rather flat, beautiful, agricultural land (Altiplano), passes the city of Julianca and arrives finally at Puno, on the shore of Titicaca, at about 3800 meters (12500 ft). … and tomorrow I plan to talk about the lake!

As usual, I would recommend to visit my photo blog, if you want to see the pictures in full!

Valle Sacrado

Before leaving the Cusco region, there are a number of places to see. Cusco is situated close to the Valle Sacrado (Sacred Valley), where the Vilcanota River, later changing name to Urubamba, is surrounded by fertile lands, cultivated since thousands of years with a lot of memories from the Inca times and still basically inhabited by natives of the Quechua ethnic.

I made a tour together with a local guide, 73 years old, retired teacher, fluent in Spanish, French, English, German… and of course in the local Quechua, as talked by the Incas.

On the way to the valley we first visited Chinchero (3800 meters, 12500 ft), believed to be the “birthplace of the rainbow”, an important town during the Inca times. There are some fantastic agricultural terraces still in use, some ruins, a market place, a church… and some splendid views.

Arriving to the valley, we first visited Urubamba, surrounded by Inca installations. We also went to see the local market, not at all dedicated to tourists, just there for the daily needs of the local population.

We made stops as Yucay and at Calca. By chance it was the day of the month when the natives descend from their mountains to receive a monthly very modest governmental allocation. The central place of Calca was full of women, queuing in front of the small bank office. Only women… ; I guess that if the men would have been there, little money, if any, would have been left at their return. They were so friendly and offered some of their potatoes, the only food they had brought.

Next goal was Písac, where we first visited another fantastic Inca settlement with the best remaining Inca “andenería” (irrigated platforms) system (what you can see on the top picture) and a number of ruins, high above the present village with the region’s perhaps best known market place.

We ended the tour by a nice lunch between the guide, the driver and myself, costing me 15 $, beer, wine and coca leaf mixture included, maybe the best meal I had in Peru! On the Peruvian menus you will generally be offered excellent soups, trout as dominating fish, llamas, alpaca, “cuy” (guinea pig) or chicken as meat, “papas” (potatoes; some 600 varieties), corn (also in a lot of varieties and colours), a magnitude of wonderful vegetables – all this can be rather spicy -, nice cakes (cucadas, churros, champus), fruits of all kinds, very good beers and some more than acceptable local wines….

As usual, I propose that you have a look on my photo blog, if you wish to see the above photos in full size.

Cusco

After Arequipa, the Colca Canyon and the Cruz del Condor, my next goal was Cusco, which I reached after an early morning flight via Julianca.

Cusco (or Cuzco, or Qusqu in the native Inca – Quechua - language, still spoken by the local population) is the centre for visits to all kinds of pre-Inca and Inca sites. The altitude is around 3500 meters (11500 ft) and the city is today - of course - a Cultural World Heritage site.

Cusco (translation, the “navel” – of the world) was the capital of the Inca Empire, which more or less covered the present Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile and part of Argentina. When the Spanish conquerors arrived around 1533-34, they made it to their Peruvian capital, but later they transferred this role to Lima and Cusco lost its importance, until the discovery of Machu Picchu and some other nearby sites, making it to a tourist capital.

The Spaniards of course destroyed most of the Inca buildings, but constructed on top of Inca foundations, which have resisted to different earthquakes, including an important one in 1650 and another one in 1950, when actually a number of foundations, which had been more or less covered, reappeared. This goes e.g. for the foundations of the Sun Temple Koricancha, the major Inca temple, on which the Church of Santo Domingo had been built. Many of Cusco’s central buildings are standing on today visible Inca foundations and you can admire with which precision they fit the heavy stones together (see one picture of a stone with 12 angles!!).

The Spaniards built a large number of churches including the Cathedral and La Compañía, which you can find on the central place, Plaza de Armas, not to mention Le Merced, San Francisco, San Blas…. Most churches are full of gold, of course “stolen” from the Incas and smelted down. (Basically, you are not allowed to take any pictures inside churches, but I took a few in Cusco and elsewhere – of course without flash – and in some cases I even got the exceptional permission.)

The city centre is of course full of tourists, meaning hotels, restaurants, shops…, but you can also take walks on the surrounding hills, where you can again find traces of the Incas, but especially the local population and their streets and houses. You can see some school children – often in uniforms; schooling is compulsory in Peru, which however does not mean that all children attend school. I spent four nights in Cusco and it was worth it! But, Cusco is of course the place from where you visit Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley. These will be the following episodes.

For a better view of the above photos, I suggest that you visit my photo blog!