Saturday 18 February 2012  - Cuzco to Puno

An early start today, up at 05:40 for ablutions and final pack.  After a quick breakfast we were collected at 07:20 for transfer to the Andean Explorer train and the 10 hour journey to Puno on the edge of lake Titicaca.  The train trip is on a narrow gauge rail line and a bit slow and rocky, but it's classy.  The train is now owned by the Orient Express, has big picture windows and a bar carriage with comfortable seating and an open air observation platform.  As we left Cuzco we saw the poverty and dirt of the suburbs.  There are no made roads here and after the rains everything is covered in mud.  The local people appear to accept their predicament and make the best of their situation.  Without a doubt the Peruvians that we met were the kindest, gentlest and happiest people considering their hand to mouth existence.  Once the city was behind us the countryside opened up with the snow capped Andes rising to a height of 6350 metres (20,835feet) on our left.  After 178km journey, with the large diesel pulling us up a slow and steady ascent, we arrive at La Raya Pass, the highest point of our journey at 4313 metres (just over 14,150 feet). We stop here for a 10 minute photo break and some bartering with the locals at their small market next to the railway line. As we pulled out light snow started to fall.  During the morning a fashion show of baby Alpaca fine wool garments and Inca music and dancing was put on for the 20 passengers on the train.  The train was made up of a diesel engine, baggage car, kitchen and staff car, dining car and the bar car with viewing platform.  During the journey coffee, tea and non alcoholic drinks are freely available and the bar is open if required. I had a couple of pisco sours, the Peruvian national drink.  Lunch comprised an entree of stuffed potato, trout for main course and chocolate mouse desert, during which we were entertained with a further display of singing and dancing.  Arriving at Puno at about 19:00 we were met by our guide and transported to the hotel located at the edge of Lake Titicaca, the world's highest commercially navigable lake, at 3,860 m (12,421 ft) above sea level, on the Peruvian Altiplano. That evening as I sat writing my diary I felt lighted headed and dizzy due to altitude as well as feeling bloated another sign of altitude.  The lady in the room opposite us had to be given oxygen that evening due to altitude sickness. I kept up a steady supply of cocoa tea which I presume has cocaine derivatives in it but is recommended for altitude sickness and also drunk by the locals who say it gives extra energy.  On the train we met a Canadian couple who are both actors.  The ladies (she had platted blond hair and looked like Heidi) father, also an actor played the part of the ambitious Bishop Waleran Bigod (Ian McShane) in the Ken Follett movie "The Pillars of the Earth".  We didn't have dinner tonight as we had eaten more then enough all day. I completed my Immigration documents for Bolivia before going to bed.


Pisco Sour recipe

The pisco sour cocktail, invented in Peru around 1900, uses a pisco (Peruvian grape brandy) that has a bit of bite to it--that is, nothing too smooth--to create the balance in this creamy, frothy, limey drink.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (2 oz.) pisco (see notes)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon pasteurized egg whites

Preparation

1. In a blender, whirl 3 ice cubes, pisco, sugar, fresh lime juice, and egg whites. Whirl until smooth (you'll no longer hear the ice cracking against the side of the blender) and serve straight up in a martini glass with a dash of aromatic bitters and a wedge of lime.