Coincidentally, we were seated next to Jamie and Mary Ann's colleagues who we met on Wayna Picchu as they were heading to Puno / Lake Titcaca as well. The train runs only on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday and the ticket is $255. In the back of train, there is an observation car and the scenery is beautiful. Here are some pictures:
This train does sell out and the other option is to take a bus that takes a little less time and is much cheaper, but we all felt taking a train like this was one of those "once in a lifetime" experiences.
When we got off at one stop, I asked a Peru Rail employee, "¿dónde estamos?" And I thought Jamie's colleague was going to correct my pigeon Spanish, but instead cut in and replied "estamos nowhere!" Indeed, the route is very, very remote.
For lunch, we had potato and vegetable lasagna along with some red wine. We also enjoyed happy hour - 2 drinks for the price of 1! We ordered passion fruit Pisco Sours and a Pisco Sunrise. They also brought out desserts and peach Bellinis. Indeed, it was a luxurious experience and the 10 hours went by quickly.
Around 6:30 pm, we arrived in Puno and headed to our hotel. Puno is the highest altitude of our journey at 3,830 meters / 12,562 feet. The map showed that the hotel was about 2.5 blocks west from the train terminal and I confirmed with a Peru Rail employee. Our hotel is called the Casa Andina Tikarani. Casa Andina is a Peruvian hotel chain of reasonable hotels.
However, as we walked down the road that was dark and had lots of construction, it was a bit of an adventure - especially since 2 wheels had fallen off Mary Ann's luggage on our flight to Lima. I re-confirmed with 2 people on the street and a hotel employee spotted us and ran to help us with our luggage, as the entire road in front of our hotel was being dug up! They did not mention this on Orbitz…
We dropped off our stuff at our hotel and walked over to Edgar Adventures to pay our balance for our day long speed boat tour of Lake Titicaca. I had sent the deposit via Western Union per their request and had to set up an account. According to the website, I can now send money around the world and to US prisoners…
We thought we had reached the Plaza de Armas or main square, but we were fooled. We eventually found the real one that had the restaurant recommended by Caitlin's guidebook. It was called Mojsa and it was across from the Cathedral. We ordered pizza, salad, and a sandwich. We were all short of breath due to the high altitude and I was feeling queasy. I had eaten on the train, but had lost my appetite which is another symptom of altitude sickness. However, I feel much better than I did in Cusco on the 1st day.
We headed back to the hotel early, which included walking through the road construction and circumventing the piles of dirt, so we could rest before our speed boat tour of Lake Titicaca!
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