Peru Vacation Day 6: Photographs From The Andean Explorer Part 1

I have kept you waiting for these photographs for a long time now. As I mentioned in my write-up, this was a very scenic trip, and I had a tough time selecting the photographs I should publish from all the ones I had taken. Ultimately, I ended up settling on about 50 of them, so I am going to publish them in 2 batches. This is the first batch, with the second one to follow soon after.

Old steam engine parked in the parking lot of the Wanchaq station at Cusco from where we took the Andean Explorer.

Two views of the observation deck of the Andean Explorer. The first was taken at the Wanchaq station in Cusco while the train was still boarding. The second was taken during the train ride. This was the level of crowd on the observation deck most of the time, surprisingly. Most of the passengers were content to take in the scenery from their seats. Notice the windows at the corners of the walls and ceiling of the observation deck, and the completely open back with a waist-high railing.

The interior of the Andean Explorer. Notice the 2x1 seating with tables between opposing rows of seats. Also notice the luxurious seats, which were more like pieces of living room furniture rather than train seats!

The dining room and bar on the Andean Explorer.

Views of the statues of Pachacutec in Cusco as the train made its way slowly out of the city.

The clay along the banks of the Vilcanota river is used to make adobe bricks for use in houses and other structures.

Live music show in the dining car of the Andean Explorer. There was another music show like this in the afternoon also.

The model in the fashion show on the Andean Explorer. She modeled some alpaca garments and then went around after the fashion show trying to sell them to passengers.

Time for free pisco sour for all passengers! This was during the fashion show on the observation deck, hence the crowds on the observation deck.

Grade crossings in Peru do not have any lights or gates. Notice the truck crossing the tracks right after the train clears the grade crossing.

The Andean Explorer making its way past a town as seen from the observation deck.

Some views of the Vilcanota river from the Andean Explorer. Notice how the river valley is sometimes broad, but at other times it is quite narrow. Similarly, the river was sometimes placid, sometimes turbulent. The train always ran on the left bank of the river all the way until La Raya. The road crossed the river quite frequently.

Some views of the mountains along the route. The curves along the route made it easy to capture many shots of the front of the train with good background scenery, as the last photo shows. Some of these shots were taken through the windows near the roof of the observation deck.

These photographs cover the train journey till about just before Sicuani. The next post will have photos covering the rest of this memorable train journey.