Another early start and so we have to get up at 5am to get a taxi to the train station where the train is due to depart at 7am. As we leave the house it is not only still dark but also a very fine rain is falling. As we get to the main road we wave down a taxi – a good start to the day.
At the station
we are about 20th in the queue and it is only 6:15 soon it is our turn to go through security check but it means waiting on the platform until the train is due. There are 2 classes ( Classico and Touristico). It is 7:15 and there is no sign of the train and soon we get the announcement that it will be 40 mins late due to engineering problems. The train runs once a month so may be the driver overslept!!!!!!!!
When the reain does arrive we find our seat. So far everything is different from the last time we travelled this in 2006. The operators are different and it soon became evident that this train was really for the tourist as the speed was so much slower than in 2006. Later we realise the 8 hour journey is going to take 12 hours - may be we should have gone tourist class with its reclining chairs and viewing car!!!!!!!
For some reason we soon become aware that we are changing engines regularly so every one de trains to take photos - at the second stop the train has to be reversed so the engine is turned on a water turn table and because the weight is absorbed by the water it only take 2 men to push the engine around before it moves off to what will now become the front of the train allowing scenic views from the tourist class coaches.
We have climbed a couple of thousand feet and will slowly do so until about 2pm when we reach Galera at 4781 meters (15681 feet) and no oxygen in site as we detrain to take photos the sirochay (?) – altitude sickness hits and you start to get a headache and breathing becomes laboured. Luckily there is a nurse on hand for those that need medical assistance. The air breathed in contains the same percentage of oxygen as at lower altitudes but the air pressure falls, (approx 696mb according to my watch) meaning each breath contains fewer oxygen molecules, at Lima it was 1012mb. After the alloted time we clamber aboard and it beomes evident by the number being sick that many have surcomed with one tourist have to be taken off the train by ambulance at the next major town
To get here we have crossed numerous bridges, assed throught numeros tunnels and traversed 8 switchbacks. From here on in it is down hill and in 5 hours time we are due in at Huancayo. The scenery is ever changing, and the rock formations and colours are amazaing showing the violent way in which the Andes were fromed by the pacific subduction plate colliding with the South American plate.
The most notable changes from the previous journey is the mountains have given way to more mining settlements and the abundance of electricity pylons. That is progress and as Peru discovers its mineral riches in the Andes so the human footprint will make it mark – a tragedy as far as I am concerned but also admiratiojn that people are prepared to move to these high altitudes to work. It was difficult enough detraing and walking around Galera station. I could go on but the poijnt has been made. As we descend to La Oroya the effects of the altitude sickness subsides. In 2 more hours we wil arrivew at Huancayo and a welcome bed at the hotel we stayed at last time.
Some of the images dispalyed were also taken on the return journey.
Traditional village
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