After acclimatising to Cusco’s lofty altitude, our next destination was going to be even higher! We were heading south along the Andes to spend a night at Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca and this 240 mile journey was going to be made mostly by train on one of the highest railway tracks in the world.

An Epic Train Journey...
The extract on the right was copied from the description of our tour in Kuoni’s Worldwide brochure. You will probably agree that this gives the distinct impression that this was going to be a worthwhile and memorable journey. We certainly thought so when we were reading through the itinerary. We had paid particular attention to this day as it was Lina’s birthday and, although we weren’t really expecting it to compare with our visit to Machu Picchu, we had still been convinced from this description that it was going to be a memorable journey. Well it certainly was memorable but it’s definitely not a journey that either of us would care to repeat!

For a start, it was 11 hours long! (a bit more than the scheduled 10 hours). That’s longer than it takes to fly from London to San Francisco but we only managed to cover 210 miles in this time! This train journey was quite a contrast to the Japanese bullet trains that we had ridden on earlier in the year which could have covered this same distance in less than an hour and a half! As for the “spectacular scenery” - well it wasn’t bad but there just wasn’t enough variation in it to keep us interested for 11 hours. Even spotting the occasional herd of llamas on the desolate landscape lost its novelty value after a while.

We spent pretty much the entire day on this train which, to be honest, wasn’t really comfortable enough for a journey of this duration - although it certainly could have been worse! The journey started off exceedingly bumpy as we climbed up the mountains that surrounded Cusco and we were really worried that it was going to be like this for the whole journey. If it had, it certainly would have resulted in a lot of the passengers (including Lina) being travel sick but thankfully the train settled down after a while.

This epic journey was broken up by quite a lot of mostly very brief stops. Some of them didn’t even look like they were at stations - it seemed like the train was simply pulling up at people’s houses! Whenever our train stopped, it would be besieged by hoards of kids who were either selling local handicrafts or more often just begging through the windows. We had brought plenty of pens with us which we handed out to the kids through the windows during these stops. However, after a while, we started to recognise that it was the same faces that were popping up at each station. Given the painfully slow speed of our train, it was tempting to think that these kids were chasing after the train but we actually think that they might have been passengers too (or maybe they were just hanging on to the back of the train).

Our train eventually made a much longer stop to take on water at a place called Sicuani. This station was about 90 miles from Cusco and just before the track started its ascent to the highest point of our journey. We were allowed to get off the train here to stretch our legs and this marketing opportunity wasn’t missed by the locals. The station platform was teeming with people selling fruit and local handicrafts. They seemed to specialise here in items made from guinea pig fur (like hats, slippers and toys etc.) but we didn’t think that these would have gone down very well as gifts for people back home!

After we left Sicuani, we continued on to the highest point of our journey (geographically speaking that is!) which was just past the half-way point at La Raya. At 4,313m, this is almost certainly the highest altitude that we have ever been to (outside of an aeroplane). However, our train didn’t have an easy job getting us up there. The track didn’t look that steep to us (it’s average gradient was only about 1 in 50) but the engine really had a hard time pulling the carriages and our speed fell lower and lower until it was well below walking place - it was that slow that some people were even getting off the train to take pictures of it! The train had to stop to rest a number of times which we assumed was because the engine was overheating.

One of these “rest stops” seemed to go on for longer than normal and our suspicions got aroused when we felt the train jolt a few times. Our curiosity got the better of us and we went out to take a look at what was happening and we were just in time to see the engine and the front half of our train pulling away leaving us and the occupants of the rear four carriages stranded. Word of our abandonment spread through the train starting a minor panic but the engine had simply given up its doomed struggle to pull the whole train and had instead taken just half of it on to La Raya. It eventually returned by itself and took us to be reunited with the rest of our train. From here on it was downhill for the rest of our journey to Lake Titicaca but somehow our train still never seemed to manage much more than leisurely pace.

So far, the weather had been sunny but, as the afternoon wore on, we saw storm clouds forming over the nearby snow-capped mountains which quickly turned into a spectacular thunderstorm that spread down the mountains to rain on us. To our surprise, this rain turned into snow! We were about 15° south of the equator - still well within the tropics - yet it was snowing!

This snow had turned into a torrential downpour by the time we arrived at Juliaca station over an hour later than scheduled. This train actually continues all the way to our final destination at Puno but apparently it stops at Juliaca for an excessively long time. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait as we completed the remaining 27 miles of our journey on an exceptionally comfortable coach. After being stuck for 11 hours on a train that had only just managed to average 19mph, we really appreciated the speed and luxury of this coach and we couldn’t help wondering why we hadn’t gone all of the way on it. There had been a road running beside the track all of the way and the vehicles that we had seen on it had all managed to travel significantly faster than our struggling train.

We finally arrived at our hotel on the shores of Lake Titicaca just before 9pm. It had been a long and fairly tedious day and everybody in our group was weary but we still had to eat our evening meal before we could retire for the night. While we were eating, we found out that the rest of our group hadn’t been overly impressed with this train journey either and quite a few of them commiserated with Lina for having to go through such an ordeal on her birthday.

When we awoke the following morning, there was absolutely no evidence of the previous day’s snow and torrential rain. Instead, it was a gloriously sunny day - absolutely perfect for a boat trip out onto the lake.

For some reason though, despite taking a whole day to get to Lake Titicaca, our tour didn’t actually include any activities or excursions during our very brief stay. Instead, we had a free morning to recover before our early afternoon flight to Arequipa. Luckily, our tour manager, Patti, had arranged an optional excursion for us to visit the people who live on the floating reed islands on Lake Titicaca...

The Floating Reed Islands (Isla de los Uros)
Lake Titicaca contains quite a few proper islands but for some reason the local Uro Indians decided to make their home on some artificial floating islands which they made from thick mats of dried totora reeds that grow abundantly in the shallower regions of the lake.

When we arrived at one of these islands, it was a very strange feeling indeed walking on the floating reed mat. Our feet would sink slightly into the mat and sometimes water would seep through around our feet. It certainly didn’t feel like we should stand still in one place for very long for fear of sinking all the way through!

Apparently the reeds at the bottom of the islands slowly rot underwater - which probably accounts for the marshy smell that was hanging around the place! These reeds are replaced simply by periodically laying a fresh layer of reeds on top. On our boat trip out to the islands, we had even seen some of the islanders gathering fresh reeds but they don’t just use them for topping up the island - they use them for just about everything! Their huts and their boats are both made from the reeds and they even eat the soft roots!

The islanders lead quite a poor life and have come to depend upon tourist visits like ours to earn money by selling their handicrafts. There were quite a few of them sat outside their reed huts selling colourful rugs, bags, items of clothing and, of course, models made from reeds! Our guide book said that the islander’s diet was quite simple and suggested that we bring some fruit to give to them as gifts. We had therefore bought some bags of fruit when we stopped at Sicuani and we distributed it as we wandered around the island. We visited two of these reed islands and we were even treated to a ride around one of them on one of their reed boats.

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca sits in a massive basin in the Altiplano region of the Andes. As well as being the highest navigable lake in the world, it is also arguably¹ the largest lake in South America with an area covering 3,200 square miles (8,300km²) and an average depth of around 160m (530 ft). The water in Lake Titicaca is very slightly brackish (salty) and contains a few indigenous species of fish plus some trout which were introduced in 1939 and have since grown to be up to 1m in length. They have also recently discovered a huge frog (Telmatobius) which inhabits the shallower regions of the lake and can grow to well over a foot long. As well as the floating reed islands, the lake has quite a few proper islands and the largest of these, Titicaca Island (or Isla del Sol), contains some temple ruins which, according to Inca legend, mark the spot where Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo - the founders of the Inca dynasty - were sent down to Earth by the Sun God. ¹Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela is officially larger than Lake Titicaca but it shouldn’t really count as it is just a large inlet from the Caribbean Sea.

Sitting at an altitude of 3,811m, Lake Titicaca is always referred to as the highest navigable lake in the world. This qualification strongly suggests that there are even higher lakes in the world that are not navigable. However, it is surprisingly difficult to find out which is the highest. The Guinness Book of Records states that Panch Pokhri in the Himalayas is the highest at 5,414m. However, the Encyclopædia Britannica disagrees. It states that Mapam, another Himalayan lake, is the highest at just 4,557m. A quick search on the web doesn’t help either - it just provides several more lakes that claim to be the highest. For some reason, though, Lake Titicaca’s navigability makes it much more famous than all of these higher lakes. So what is it that makes a lake navigable? The Encyclopædia Britannica says that it should be “navigable to large vessels” and the second part of our morning’s tour was spent visiting m/s Yavari - the first of the large vessels that sailed on Lake Titicaca...

The restoration of m/s Yavari
Back in the mid 19th century, the Peruvian government commissioned a British company to provide two steamers to sail on Lake Titicaca - the m/s Yavari and the m/s Yapura. These were constructed in kit form in England and the m/s Yavari was the first to be “shipped” to Peru in 1862. When it arrived, the railroad that goes up to Puno had not been built and so the pieces of this ship had to be carried up the Andes on the backs of mules. Each piece, therefore, could weigh no more than 3½ cwts (or about 180kgs) - the maximum load that a mule would carry. This meant that the m/s Yavari had been constructed in no less than 2,766 pieces! The 250 mile journey over the Andes to Puno was supposed to take 6 months but it ended up taking over 6 years because of problems with the workforce followed by an earthquake, a peasants revolt and then the threat of war with Spain. It finally arrived in 1869 and the m/s Yavari made its maiden voyage on Christmas Day, 1870 - but only after it had been converted to run on dried llama dung - a fuel which was in plentiful supply in the Andes!

The m/s Yavari sailed on Lake Titicaca for over 100 years - it was even treated to a diesel engine in 1914. However, when ownership of the Yavari was transferred to the Peruvian Navy in 1972, they decided to remove it from active service. It was left to decompose in Puno until it was rediscovered 10 years later by Meriel Larken who mistakenly believed that the ship had been built by Yarrows - a ship building firm founded by her great grandfather. She realised her mistake but not before she came to appreciate the ships historic value. She decided to buy the old steamer and restore it to its former glory with the intention of running cruises for tourists on the lake.

This restoration has now been going on for a lot longer than it originally took to build the ship. This is partly due to problems raising sufficient the funds for this ambitious project but the remoteness of the ship high up in the Andes hasn’t helped with getting the relevant expertise and machinery needed to make the ship’s engines run again. During its restoration, it has been opened up as a museum in order to raise funds from public donations and we were lucky enough to be shown around the ship by Meriel Larken herself who was unexpectedly on board when we arrived. Her overwhelming enthusiasm for the project was quite contagious and we ended up staying on board for a lot longer than we had planned which meant that we had to rush to the airport to catch our plane to Arequipa...

We could have taken another 10 hour train journey to get from Juliaca to Arequipa but fortunately we took the 20 minute flight instead. This was the first flight that we have ever been on where, because of the airport’s high altitude, the aircraft had to pressurise before take-off. It felt strange feeling the pressure build up in our ears while we were still stationary on the runway. It was early evening when we arrived in Arequipa and, in contrast to our whistle-stop visit of Lake Titicaca, we had two nights here which included a half-day guided tour of the city followed by the luxury of a free afternoon to explore by ourselves.

Arequipa is Peru’s second largest city after Lima and it claims to be Peru’s intellectual capital. It sits in a fertile valley overlooked by three volcanos which form an active part of the infamous Ring of Fire that runs all the way around the Pacific Ocean. The region is regularly shaken by tremors and has been devastated by earthquakes on several occasions.

We started our tour in the city’s central square - the Plaza de Armas - which is dominated on one side by La Catedral. While we were being shown around this cathedral, our guide explained how it had been rebuilt a number of times following earthquakes. (Ironically, while we were writing this page, Arequipa was again struck by another major earthquake which claimed at least 71 lives, made thousands of people homeless and toppled the upper section of the cathedral’s bell tower.)

We also visited La Compañia on the opposite corner of the main square which has somehow remained undamaged by these earthquakes. The inside of this Jesuit church is supposed to be very impressive but we thought that it looked a bit too gaudy - there was far too much detail and colour in such a small place.

In our opinion though, the highlight of Arequipa was our visit to the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. This is a 400 year old convent that is literally a city within a city. It was built to be completely self-contained in order to allow the nuns to remain isolated from the outside world. We were taken around by volunteer guides who showed us how the nuns used to live. We were told that Spanish families used to send their second born daughter to the convent if they could afford the rather expensive dowry that was required. There seemed to be a strange mixture of luxury and simplicity in the nun’s way of life. Some of the sleeping quarters we saw were very basic but they dined with the finest crockery and silverware. The convent used to be home to up to 500 nuns. It is still in use today but there are only about 20 nuns now.

We returned to our hotel for lunch and, as it was a glorious day, we decided to have a quick swim in the hotel’s outdoor pool before we headed out to explore Arequipa by ourselves during our free afternoon. We are both quite good swimmers, each capable of swimming over a mile non-stop, so we were quite surprised to find that we could only just manage to swim 10 lengths in this pool. This must have been because of the altitude we were at - we had descended almost 1,500m from Lake Titicaca but we were still at around 2,300m and the air was still a lot thinner than we were used to.

Quite a few people in our group couldn’t resist the temptation to stay beside the hotel’s pool all afternoon, but we didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity to go out and explore Arequipa by ourselves. Our dedication was rewarded when we came across a religious procession slowly parading through the city. Almost everybody in the city seemed to be taking part in this procession. We managed to work our way around to the front to see a group of men, who were all dressed in purple gowns, carrying what looked to be a very heavy, gilt shrine with a picture of Christ mounted on it. They were being led by a band that sounded absolutely terrible.

We subsequently found that this was an annual celebration dedicated to the worship of Señor de los Milagros (Lord of the Miracles) - an image painted in the 17th Century by a black slave and which. on remaining intact after the devastating earthquakes of 1655, 1687 and 1746, became the object of great devotion. Festivities start throughout Peru on the 18th October and last 11 days. (Thanks to Bruno at http://www.enjoyperu.com for the information on this procession)

We spent the remainder of the afternoon looking around the shops for souvenirs during which we came across several cheap Internet cafés which only cost S/.2 per hour (which is about 35p or 50¢). We returned to our hotel for an early night as we were going to have another fairly early departure for our journey the following morning. We were going to Ica which is near the mysterious Nazca Lines and you can read all about our flight over them on our next page.