Belmond Andean Explorer

We woke up on day 10 to find that it was pouring with rain!

It was a late start today, Joan and Juan Carlos were due at 10am.  And there they were, right on time.  Except they loaded someone else’s luggage into the car instead of ours!  After a quick change, they whisked us off to the Belmond Monasterio Hotel, about 10 minutes away by car or 5 minutes on foot!  It was the start of our Peruvian Highlands adventure on the Belmond Andean Explorer.

Just like an airline, they checked us onto the train and then checked our bags.  Not like an airline, we were then seated in a majestic lounge with a violinist with a repertoire of Beatles, Leonard Cohen and other standards.  The champagne was French and the snacks delicious.

After fifteen minutes, we were joined by the couple whose baggage we almost stole!  Then it was time to board our cars for another 10 minute ride to Wanchaq station where our train was waiting.

We were shown to the piano bar and introduced to the three most important people on the train, the nurse, the barman and the spa manager!  We learned that the train is pulled by two locomotives, has 19 carriages and is carrying 38 passengers.  We also ran through the schedule for the trip.

Next, Willington showed us to our cabin, which is small but perfectly formed.  It’s a bit like being in a motorhome except that the bathroom is bigger and there’s no steering wheel. 

By this time it was time for lunch.  We could have opted for the observation car at the back or the piano bar in the middle, but we chose to enjoy our four course lunch in the restaurant car.  It was perfectly timed to finish as we arrived at our first stop.  Except that we were held up for 30 minutes by another train!

We stopped at a town called Tinta.  Diane duly boarded the bus to go and visit the Inca ruins at Raqchi, but I decided to take a walk in the town instead.  A few minutes walk took me to the town square, where a sign informed me that Tinta was the cradle of the Latin American revolution.  It was surrounded by statues and monuments to prove this.

(I later found out from one of the train managers that Túpac Amaru started the revolution, and he was born in Tinta.  He was also step brother to the last two Inca rulers.)

There was a market going on in the square and a couple of the streets off, plus an indoor market further on.  It was mostly local farmers selling their wares, but there were also textiles, juices, toys and hot food that I couldn’t recognise.  No souvenirs.  Clearly, they don’t get non-conformist tourists here!

I came back down to the train, so walked the length of it to get a photo before getting back on board.

In the meantime, Diane had visited Raqchi, a pre-Inca ruin.  Rather than granite, they used lava stone from the local volcano to build the town.  There are three sections; an agricultural area where the Incas built an artificial lagoon to conserve water, a living area and the temple area.  Like Machu Picchu, it had an avenue that aligned with the sun at the solstice.

Back on the train it was time for afternoon tea.  In this case, the tea was a Peruvian berry tea, which was delicious.  We were also given nuts, a cucumber flavoured savoury drink and some kind of sorbet with more nuts.  When the waiter came round with the cocktail menu we declined and went back to our cabin.

We were supposed to stop at La Raya, the highest point of our journey, to see the sunset.  Due to the delay, it was dark when we got there!

And that’s not all that didn’t go according to plan.  We went back to have dinner and I started feeling unwell.  Not to put too fine a point to it, I didn’t know which end the dinner was going to come out of first.  In the end, I called the nurse and she gave me an injection for the nausea.  Which made my left hand numb.  I was no better this morning, so we decided to cut and run to our next destination, Arequipa.

It’s a shame because we’re not going to see Titicaca, one of the highlights of our tour. But I couldn’t face a day on the lake feeling like I was.

The local travel company were brilliant, they had a car outside at 7:30am and organised an extra day at our next hotel.  We’re going to have to switch rooms tomorrow because they only had a lower grade room for today, but that’s not a problem. 

They also arranged for a doctor (with glamorous assistant) to come and check me out.  He doesn’t think it’s altitude sickness, more likely an infection from the lettuce they served at dinner as I’ve also got a fever.  He’s given me so many pills that I’m going to rattle tomorrow!

So, no pics tomorrow because tomorrow is for chilling.