Last Friday's Adventure!

Since a lot happened this past weekend, I'm gonna break it up into separate entries, because I'm too lazy to type it all right now. 


So we left off on Friday:


We went to the train station at 6:15 a.m. and hopped aboard the train that goes from Lima to Huancayo.

According to my handy dandy guidebook, the railroad was built between 1870 and 1908 by over 10,000 workers mostly from China. It begins at sea level in Lima and goes through 66 tunnels and 59 bridges. The Ticlio Pass is one of the highest RR passes in the world at 15,686 ft. It was, until recently, the highest passenger station. It has passenger services once a month and transports minerals from Andean mines on a daily basis. (Eyewitness Travel Peru)


It was super comfy and had big windows to see spectacular views. In the last car was a bar, some tables and chairs, and huge open windows that made it feel like a balcony. Everyone got a ticket for a free pisco sour, so I got to try my first one! Not bad. It sort of tasted like a whiskey sour, only if you put in half a shot of whiskey and half a shot of tequila. It also has whisked egg whites on the top to make it foamy. Pisco is huge in Peru.

At the highest point, we got out to take pictures and look around. We were in snow-capped mountains, and there were llamas roaming around. It was absolutely gorgeous! Unfortunately, after I made it a few steps out the door, the altitude hit me, and I felt like I was about to pass out, so I had to sit down for awhile until I could go back to the train. The rest of the ride was pretty much downhill from there. Both literally and figuratively. 
We started to go back down in altitude, but I still felt pretty crappy. There were definitely a lot of people who were worse off though.Someone brought a bag of coca leaves, so we put them in our mouths to help with the altitude sickness, and we drank mate de coca (coca tea).

They also gave us cotton swabs soaked in alcohol to take a whiff of to confuse our senses and make the nausea go away. I'm not sure whether any of it worked, but hey, I didn't puke.
The train ride took a total of about 13 hours, and by the time we made it to Huancayo I felt a lot better. 
We checked into our hotel and had some dinner, then we hit the hay. 


Stay tuned to hear about Saturday's adventures! Here's a preview: it involves swimming in waterfalls, a monkey, eating mystery meat, a bus breakdown, dancing around a fire, and eating spoonfuls of jam.