I was up at 5:30 to make sure I got to the station in plenty of time. At the station I had to search for the travel agent to make sure I got on the right carriage. The special tourist carriages are optimistically called “Pullman” – while they are not exactly luxurious there is no comparison whatsoever with the last train trip, in Ecuador. This is a proper train! The main difference in the Pullman carriage is that no standing is allowed, unlike in the rest of the train where I could see people were clearly hanging out of the door due to lack of space.
The scenery was spectacular – after climbing the hillside out of Cusco in a series of zigzags, the train started its long decent down the winding Sacred Valley along the Urubamba River. Unfortunately the weather was cloudy and wet. The train stopped at tiny villages along the way with a lot of commotion. At one point the train was stopped for the best part of an hour waiting for the train coming the other way to pass – the line is single track.
Eventually the train reached Aguas Calientes where the air felt heavier and warmer – I was 1400 metres (5500 feet) below the altitude of Cusco. Aguas Calientes is a small village which seems to exist just for tourists visiting Machu Picchu. I enquired in Gringo Bill’s, one of a couple of recommended backpacker hotels, and was told they had space, which was good as I was pretty tired and immediately lay down for a 4 hour siesta.
When I ventured out for a late afternoon wander along the railway lines I met 3 friendly New Zealanders called Alison, Julie, and Cristine. Later We all went off for an excellent pizza at the top end of the town, after which a whisky bottle started doing the rounds, as midnight edged closer.
The rain then started but we decided that bringing in the New Year would be more fun at the Youth Hostel, to where we sprinted through a downpour. And so 1990 came to an end, as strains of “Auld Lang Syne” echoed around. Finally the 4 of us crawled back to Gringo Bill’s, where we sat around chatting more, while I tried to figure out exactly how and when I was going to get myself up to the lost city of the Incas, which was perched on a ridge somewhere above me in the darkness…