We made our way to the train station early on Monday morning. We had no idea what to expect as the website was sorely lacking in information, but we love trains, so we had taken a punt. We were required to arrive at the station at least 30 minutes before our train, so we begged our hotel for another early breakfast and got on our way. On arrival at the station, we were greeted by lots of fancy-looking porters and tired-looking fellow train enthusiasts. Luckily for us, and them, there was free coffee on offer. This was a sign of things to come.
When it was time to board, we were lead by our own personal porter to our seats. These were no ordinary train seats, these were actual armchairs bolted to the floor of the train with a white table clothed table and even our own lamp. On the table there was also a menu, a menu which we quickly noticed didn’t have any prices. Was the food included?! It was! We were offered a cup of tea or coffee to get us started and then we were left to our own devices. We were like kids in a candy store and could barely contain our excitement for the day ahead.
As the train pulled out of the station, we were treated to views of the city, as well as a few disgruntled market stool owners and taxi drivers. The tracks went right through the centre of town and the train, due to it being rush hour, seemingly caused quite a lot of carnage with the flow of traffic each morning. We were too comfortable and content to care too much, however, plus there was only one train every two days, so it wasn’t like traffic ground to a halt every 20 minutes.
Once we had finished our coffees, we made our way to the very back of the train. This was where the magic happened. Situated in the last carriage was a full bar, seating area and, most importantly, a 270-degree panoramic viewing car with an open back, fully kitted out with polished wood and gold fixings. It was glorious. Luckily, due to our impatience and excitement, we were amongst the first to arrive and so managed to position ourselves perfectly and get some unencumbered views of the Peruvian countryside.
Before long we were joined by lots of other travellers, each keen to check out the incredible views from the last carriage. We started chatting to a few of the others, sharing stories of our adventures and listening to theirs. This is always a great way to pick up tips, especially as we were travelling against the grain in Peru, most people arrive in Lima and finish in Cusco. At some point, we became aware that something exciting was happening. We rushed back to the very back of the train and, to our absolute amazement, realised that the train tracks were taking us straight through a market.
We had slowed right down to a snail’s pace, presumably to allow for the market stool owners to move their wares and stools out of the way. We watched transfixed as the train squeezed past stool after stool, occasionally giving one a little knock where it hadn’t been moved out of the way in time. When we reached the fruit section of the market, they hadn’t even bothered to move their stuff, they simply stored all the produce in between the rails and waited for the train to rumble over them before they continued to sell.
The people who worked and shopped at this market seemed just as entertained as we were, taking pictures, laughing and trying to sell us things in the few second we could reach them. At one point, a particularly jolly woman emptied a can of spray foam over the back of the train (and all over Martin’s back) much to the amusement of all the passengers and market dwellers.
Once we were well clear of the market, we were served a welcome drink of pisco and ginger beer (it was 9:30am) and introduced to our next bout of entertainment; a fashion show. Now, we weren’t overly interested in this as it was a lot of very expensive clothes that we couldn’t fit in our backpacks, let alone afford, but I still did find myself lusting after several pieces. Chief among them, a purple poncho-style coat that I will dream about for the next six years at least.
Next up was a live band with traditional dances. I’m not here to question the validity of these traditions, but I did find myself wondering if ancient Peruvian women dressed quite as sexy as this dancer seemed to (if they did, more power to them!). The music was light and entertaining, and we were greatly enjoying nodding and bopping along to the tunes when we first noticed them: misery couple. They stood out like a sore thumb because every single person on this train looked like they were having a ball of a time apart from this pair. They looked as is we had all forced them to be here against their will and the only reason they had deigned to show their faces in the bar was to demonstrate just how unhappy they were with the situation.
Once the music was finished, and a few more views had been enjoyed, we were summoned via the tannoy to return to our seats, lunch was about to be served. When we first boarded the train, we had chosen our food options, they sounded very fancy, and we were pretty excited about it. Our excitement was well placed, the four-course meal arrived piece by piece and every dish was more delicious than the last. We started with a cream of potato soup with chilli oil and pesto, the main was beef tenderloin wrapped I bacon with a cheese risotto and the dessert was a chocolate temptation witch crushed almonds and strawberry jus. All this was topped off with some small chocolates and an alfajore each as an aperitif. If we hadn’t already been convinced that this journey had been worth the money, this meal would have tipped us over the edge.
After we had spent a little while letting our epic meals digest and enjoying the incredible comfort of our little corner of the train, we made our way back to the bar car. This time we were going to be taking part in a pious our sour making masterclass.
Never having had a pisco sour before venturing to South America, I have developed a bit of an unhealthy obsession with them and, if I don’t have a pisco sour for more than two days, I begin to experience withdrawals. Given this, the chance to learn how to make this delicious morsel of a drink was too good an opportunity to pass up.
We gathered around the bar area and watched intently as the bartender added the four key ingredients to the cocktail shaker and then whisked them all together. Next, it was our turn to give it a go, and Martin stepped up to the plate, making himself a rather generous sized cocktail and looking like he was having great fun in the process. Before long the class was over, and we were left with a very strong cocktail to share, so we grabbed ourselves some seats and settled in for the rest of the afternoon’s entertainment.
The band were even better this afternoon, possibly helped along by the wine and strong cocktails, and we really enjoyed dancing along to some traditional Peruvian music, as well as some modern songs reimagined in the Peruvian style (with pan-pipes!!). The final song involved the dancer wandering around the cabin and grabbing everyone she could reach to join her in a conga style dance.
Everyone that is, except for misery couple. They had both refused to take her had when offered and, as such, were left sitting awkwardly in the middle of 20 dancing people all having a great time circling them and laughing our heads off. We never found out what exactly was the bee in their bonnet, but we think of them often. We hope they are okay.
We were once again called back to our seats, this time for afternoon tea. This consisted of two mini sandwiches and two mini cakes and was, true to form, absolutely delicious. As we sat eating and enjoying the views, we couldn’t help but marvel over what an amazing purchase this had been. Yes, it was expensive, but the food alone had been worth what we had paid, and everything else was just a bonus. We decided to spend the last half an hour of our train ride back in the viewing car, we wanted to experience Cusco for the first time from the train. We arrived after our epic ten-hour journey feeling refreshed and ready for our next adventure.