Travel & destinations
This section is home to musings, thoughts and ideas that have come to me through experiencing people and places around the world
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Of deep fried rodents and raw eggs
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My journey across the Peruvian altiplano on the Titicaca train continued. No trip to Peru, I was told, would be complete without experiencing the national dish of Cuy – Guinea Pig. Peruvians preemptively go to great lengths to assure people that the Cuy is NOT a rat. Deliberately misquoting Shakespeare, I venture to say ‘the…
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A train to the top of Peru
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About midway between Cusco and Puno, the Titicaca train makes a stop at La Raya, the highest point on the route at 4 313 m.a.s.l. The scenery was beautiful. It was now as Peruvian as scenery could be. It was Peru, as it is sold by travel magazines. The conifers from the lower altitudes had…
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Travelling in the Company of the Urubamba River
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Travelling by train up the valleys and across the high plain between Cusco and Puno is a slow business. It takes every minute out of ten and a half hours. It is, however, designed to be a slow business. And to be enjoyed as such. At the beginning of the journey, people were highly strung…
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The Titicaca Train: A Long Day of Luxury
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I had just installed myself in my seat on board the Perurail Titicaca Train in Cusco. My carriage was elegant with wooden panels, white table cloths and plush seating. It exuded an air of elegance long gone from modern travel. My fellow passengers offered a compelling reminder that this was, after all, modern travel. While…
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Good to know about the altitude in Cusco
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I spent my childhood in the mountains. Well, not quite. To be painfully exact, I spent it at 29 m.a.s.l. a stone’s throw from the fjord. But, what I meant to say is that I grew up BETWEEN the mountains. And, as I remember it, I used to climb them quite frequently. Which amounts to…
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NOT the Rainbow Mountain
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Visitors to Cusco will have been offered a day-trip to Mount Vinicunca, popularly known as the ‘Rainbow Mountain’. While technically possible, doing this in one day requires the sacrifice of significant human comfort. For one, you will have to be ready outside your hotel at 3:30 AM. The only circumstance when it is acceptable to…
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Thoughts on what Mountain to Climb at Machu Picchu
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While booking my ticket for Machu Picchu, I faced the unexpected question of whether I wished to climb Huayna Picchu, Machu Picchu Mountain, both or neither – and at what times. For 44 years, I had lived in the blissful ignorance that such places existed, and I found myself at a loss.
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A Contemplative Walk in the Clouds
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The view from the top of Machu Picchu mountain justifies the 700-meter climb, that is when there is a view to be had. The clouds were not just sitting there idle, though. The view constantly shifted from complete whiteout via blurry mists to sudden openings in the cloud-cover that permitted photos like this one.
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Useful Notes on Getting to Machu Picchu
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There it was. Machu Picchu, a photographic cliché, if ever there was one. And still, cliché or no cliché, it was one of those views imprinted in my mind since childhood from countless travel magazines and innumerable travel documentaries.
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Ollantaytambo: The Perfect Stopover in the Sacred Valley
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I had booked myself into a small hotel in a village called Ollantaytambo (Ollanta), of which I had no knowledge and few expectations.⠀Low expectations constitute a favourable starting point for any village hoping to exceed them but are entirely wasted on Ollantaytambo. This village, and its surroundings, are brimming with Inca fortifications and constructions that…
