This train tour of Peru offers the chance to see everyday life from the rails.
Deftly twisting between two women in fedora hats, a waiter handed me a pisco sour.
Behind us, the tracks shrank in the distance.
The Andean Explorer, a Belmond Train, speeds through the Peruvian lakes at sunrise.Credit:Collin Hughes
The continent lacks a contiguous connection, making it difficult to plan ambitious journeys by rail.
I looked around at the carriages polished wooden walls, brass fixtures, and tiny table lamps.
Behind me, a group of Italians plowed through cocktails, bemoaning their countrys political situation.
Grassland on the high plateau approaching the Sacred Valley.Collin Hughes
The sun became hotter, and Spanish moss stroked the roof of the train.
Small shrines appeared on rocks, with flowers arranged in empty bottles.
Who had placed them there, and what had they wished for?
From left: Looking out across Lake Titicaca from the island of Taquile; a woman crossing the high desert between Arequipa and Puno.Collin Hughes
I learned that she was Diana Evans, a novelist from the U.K.
I needed this peace, she said over the roar of the Urubamba River in the valley below.
I could stand here all day.
From left: A dancer blesses the train ahead of its departure from Cuzco; the lounge car of the Hiram Bingham.Collin Hughes
Trees grew horizontally from creeper-covered cliffs as a slow, corkscrew route delivered the bus to a shaded plateau.
I held my breath.
Above us, small temples were bathed in bright afternoon light.
From left: Quechua women arriving in Cuzco for the Inti Raymi festival, a celebration of the winter solstice; the salt terraces of Maras are tucked into the hillsides above the Sacred Valley.Collin Hughes
The Incas documented little, leaving it to the Spanish to decipher what they could.
Even the name means nothing more intriguing than Old Mountain in Quechua, the Inca language.
It was also where the Incas paid homage to the power of Pachamama, the earth mother.
The view from the Andean Explorer’s lounge car as the train makes its way to Arequipa.Collin Hughes
The sun began to drop.
Shadows lengthened and slid up the walls like specters, and a chill descended on the temples.
The faint hoot of a train rose up from the valley.
The observation car of the Andean Explorer, traveling between Puno and Arequipa.Collin Hughes
I wandered the cobblestoned streets slowly, feeling the thinness of the air in my lungs.
The spirit of Pachamama guiding us at every turn.
But within an hour we had shaken off the city and were rolling past the Inca ruins of Tipon.
The Andean Explorer makes an overnight stop at the route’s highest point of elevation.Collin Hughes
Waiters placed napkins on our laps, stepping neatly around one another in the close confines of the carriage.
The smack of aji, a red chile, set off the freshness of each flavor.
I glanced around at the wall hangings, woven on looms, and the soft, comfortable leather seats.
Alpacas in the Inca citadel of Saqsaywaman, on the outskirts of Cuzco.Collin Hughes
But there was something about theAndean Explorerthat made me feel instantly at home.
During dinner my en-suite cabin had been transformed into a low-lit, cozy bedroom.
I turned in early, in preparation for our dawn arrival at Lake Titicaca.
Visitors crossing a plateau at Moray.Collin Hughes
Id often wondered how scenic a night train could really be, given that it would pass through darkness.
Each sight was a tiny reward.
I woke with a start and pulled up the blind to reveal a violet sky.
A view of the Sacred Garden, part of Cuzco’s Temple of the Sun complex.Collin Hughes
The train had stopped overnight at Puno station so we could have an uninterrupted nights sleep.
I could feel the carriage rocking as passengers disembarked to watch the sunrise.
We were now at 12,500 feet.
Machu Picchu’s main plaza.Collin Hughes
The rest of the day was spent on boat excursions across the lake to the Uros and Taquile islands.
Around the edge was a ring of small cottages, in which six families lived.
I looked around the tiny island and asked where the children were.
From left: Approaching Machu Picchu in the observation car of the Hiram Bingham; the sunken terraces of Moray, an Incan archaeological site outside Cuzco.Collin Hughes
At school, I was told, on a separate island nearby.
The water sparkled as if strewn with diamonds.
Below me, the train stretched out like a snake in the grass.
Looking west across Lake Titicaca.Collin Hughes
The wind whispered across the water.
I wondered, Could it be the voice of Pachamama, the Incan earth mother?
This pocket in the mountains felt like a secret, one that only a journey by rail could reveal.
Flowers growing beside the railway tracks in the Sacred Valley.Collin Hughes
The following morning, after another spectacular sunrise, we clattered on toward Arequipa.
I returned to my happy place, the observation platform at the tail of the train.
On our descent into the city, theAndean Explorerturned onto a wide arc of track.
Machu Picchu, with the peak of Huayna Picchu behind it.Collin Hughes
Gradually, the train slowed into the traffic and the crowds of Arequipa.
I looked around the carriage.
With them, we all knew, went the spirit of Pachamama.
From left: A staffer bearing doughnuts at Cuzco’s Monasterio hotel; a view of Cuzco’s rooftops, with the Andes in the distance.Collin Hughes
The bunk-bed cabins all have en suite bathrooms.
Though just steps from busy Plazoleta de las Nazarenas, the cloistered courtyard is an oasis.
