The Journey to Aguas Calientes

The town of Aguas Calientes which is named for its hot springs has a splendid railway from Cusco.

Though needing an  extension, the track had been fortuitously laid some years before Machu Picchu was made famous by Hyram Bingham's "discovery". Perhaps the route of the rail was decided by the same constraints that placed Machu Picchu.

The journey to Machu Picchu is an experience in it's own right, especially the de-luxe version with windows in the carriage roof, through which the traveler can view the snow capped mountains,precipitous heights, narrow passes, teetering rocks and churning torrents that make up some of the features of the journey through the Andes.

The trains that we used were well appointed, each carriage having it's own well dressed staff. They provided  a morning snack and various beverages. These included coca tea, coffee and something called Inca-Cola which should be experienced at least, and possibly only, once. It is most similar to Irn Bru, which is inadvisably made from girders in Scotland.

The coca-tea smells of freshly ironed linen, tastes odd but not unpleasant, and looks like wee. It is reputed to help with altitude sickness, in the preventative sense, and it is certainly much nicer than chewing the famed dried coca leaves, which tastes just like chewing leaves. Various of our party tried chewing them and desisted, mainly through boredom, before any narcotic effects could be enjoyed.

Fiona liked the Inca-Cola rather more than I did, and the coca tea rather less. Neither of us took to the leaves