The Andean Explorer, stopped at La Raya Pass, over 14,000 feet above sea level. I loved editing this picture to give it an olde fashioned look.

From Urubamba we were heading down to Lake Titikaka on the border with Bolivia. What’s the best way to go? Well, you could take a bus, a long bus to Puno, the major Peruvian city on the lake. Or, if you want to splurge, you could take the Andean Explorer, a luxury train that crosses through amazing scenery across the Andes down to Lake Titikaka. So we went with the Andean Explorer.

Back in the day, before they had paved the highway to Puno, the train was the only realistic option for getting from Cuzco to the lake. Today the highway is paved and buses are an entirely reasonable option if you’re willing to sit on a bus for eight or nine hours; they even follow pretty much the same route, so you see the same scenery. The train, though, is a way to see Andean Peru in style, in comfortable wing-back chairs, with table cloths, wine, pisco sours, a nice lunch, great tea service, a bar, and semi-open observation car. It genuinely feels like a throwback to the glories of the late 19th century plus internet access so you can keep tabs on how the stock market is doing.

Comfy chairs, great service, wine … there’s nothing not to like about this trip through the Andes

We loved it. We’d done something similar in Switzerland, when we took the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz. We both thought this was significantly better; better food, better service, more comfortable, maybe even better scenery (though the Swiss Alps aren’t exactly boring). It’s a ten-and-a-half hour journey, so doing it in style and class makes for a pretty fabulous day. To give you a sense of “style,” I learned while reading up on the route that the car interiors were designed by the same firm that designed Singapore Airlines’ First Class cabins, generally conceded to be the best in the business.

The Observation Car at the back of the train

One of the highlights was stopping at La Raya Pass, the high point of the trip at 14,150 feet above sea level. We think that’s the highest either of us have ever been, and it definitely had the feel of just a remarkable and remarkably remote place on earth. From there we descended to Puno, still over 12,000 feet, on our way to explore Lake Titikaka and then move on to Bolivia.

The observation car was open in back, allowing you to feel the open air and get great pictures as we followed the Huatanay River through the mountains

While you’re way up in the mountains there are still people living and working up there. I wanted to capture the isolation of this lone guy (woman?) out in the field and this seemed to do the trick.

More of the beauty of our trip

La Raya Pass

There’s a small market up at the pass with locals selling little homemade souvenirs. We don’t buy things, but I was willing to pay $2 for this cute picture.

We both loved standing in the Observation Car just watching Peru roll by

One last shot as we were nearing Puno and night was setting in

The Inca ruins at Pisac, not far from Urubamba

Urubamba. I first heard the word in 1974 when Paul Simon released his Live Rhymin’ album and was accompanied on a couple songs by a group of that name. He explained on the album that Urubamba was a river in Peru that ran past Machu Picchu, and ever since, once I heard those Peruvian flutes, the name has had a certain magic for me. So, when we were looking to explore the area around Cuzco and Machu Picchu and discovered there was a beautiful hotel in the town of Urubamba, right on the river, I jumped at the chance.

It’s worth saying from the start that the hotel, Tambo del Inka, is one of the most beautiful hotels we’ve ever stayed in. Ever. The design, the lighting, the soaring ceilings and gigantic fireplaces, the location right next to the river were all truly exceptional; it was a delight to come back to the hotel after a couple energetic hikes we did.

On our third day in Urubamba I hiked up a big hill behind our hotel. Below is the town of Urubamba, with the Urubamba River in the foreground and our hotel in the lower left corner, right along the river. You see a straight street running through the town up into a valley; that’s where I’d hiked the day before as it wound higher and higher up the valley toward the snow-covered peaks you see in the distance.

It’s probably also worth saying that we might be the only people who have ever gone to Urubamba and Cuzco and not gone to Machu Picchu; Urubamba is only about 35 miles from what Lonely Planet calls “the best-known archaeological site on the continent.” In the first place, we were there seven years ago after hiking the Inca Trail, so going there on a train seemed somehow cheap. But cheap it wasn’t. When we got to the hotel and asked about the cost of tickets – train to the ruins and tickets into the site, we were quoted a price of something over $500. So we just said “Heck with it. We’ll do some hikes on our own.”

A view of Pisac from along the climb

Mark near the top of the climb in Pisac

The next two days I just went on hikes from the hotel. I had observed, you see, that while sitting is about the most uncomfortable position imaginable for me while I’m dealing with this pinched nerve, walking is great. And walking with a loaded knapsack stretching my back and shoulders is even better. And walking uphill with a loaded knapsack is like catnip for me. It’s essentially the only time I’m pain free. So walk I did. Urubamba sits at about 9,400 feet above sea level but you go up from there. The first day I climbed to over 11,000 feet on a gravel road in a beautiful valley behind the city and the next day up a big hill behind our hotel. One of the things I’ve been intrigued with in these weeks in Peru is just how much of the world, here in South America at least, is two miles or more above sea level. Having had weeks to acclimate to the altitude, starting way back in early February in Guatemala, has been a real luxury.

Lunch in Pisac, amazing gourmet-quality food in a tiny town in remote Peru.

Oh, and one last thing. What did I learn when I was reading up on the group Urubamba and their collaboration with Paul Simon, this Peruvian music that I’ve loved since 1974? While they’re named after this most famous river in Peru and are known for popularizing Peruvian folk music, the musicians are actually Argentine and Uruguayan. Weird. And one more thing I learned. While traveling in Peru you can get really tired of one of the song they collaborated on with Paul Simon, “El Condor Pasa (If I Could)”; it plays everywhere, constantly. I always assumed it was just an American pop song that was adopted here. Turns out it is in fact a classic Peruvian song, written in 1913, and is considered Peru’s second national anthem. Simon & Garfunkel popularized it for us Gringos, but it really is a native Peruvian song.

That’s todays music history lesson. From Urubamba we went back to Cuzco for the night and then we take a train down to Lake Titicaca where we’re going to spend 10 days or so exploring the Peru-Bolivian border area.

Another picture of Mark on the hike in Pisac

Mark contemplating the insignificance of human life in the vast world … either that or just humming El Condor Pasa

Oh, I was on the hike in Pisac too. That’s me in the distance…

Some of the old terraces along the trail in Pisac

And one more picture of Mark on the trail

On my way out of Urubamba to hike up the valley I chanced on this beautiful local cemetery

A view down the valley toward Urubamba from somewhere above 11,000 feet. The hike took me through the quietest, most remote mountain villages you can imagine.

Hiking up in the mountains you’re never far from another beautiful stream

Just a pretty door. This was the courtyard in our favorite lunch place in Urubamba.

Did I mention cats? This is Nina, the local entertainment at our favorite lunch stop.

Of course, Mark is more the cat person than I am. So as he was trying to get Nina to climb in his lap she turned and sat in my lap instead. Just to prove who was boss, I assume.

On leaving Urubamba we took a car back to Cuzco, crossing the Andes through beautiful countryside often at 11,000 or even 12,000 feet above sea level

Another view of the Peruvian altiplano, the high plains of the Andes

A beautiful day to travel in Peru