The world's second highest train and the voyage to Huancayo!

We had been up most of the night before, my girlfriend studying and me keeping her company and packing for our trip during Semana Santa (Holy Week or Easter to most of us). We had the option of going to Ayacucho, which is extremely well known for it's Holy Week celebrations, or going to Huancayo in the Peruvian Andes via the world's second highest passenger railroad. We chose the latter. We invited another couple to share our journey with us as well. The first day started off very early as we were required to be at the train station in downtown Lima by 6:30 am. We left the house around 5:30 and met up with our friends and then went to the train station.

When we booked the trip on the train, we were a little confused. We didn't even know there was a train station in downtown Lima, especially only one block from the main square. And, it doesn't seem like many other people are aware of this fact either. Train travel, other than the famed Cusco to Machu Picchu railway is not very popular in Peru. The train station is a historical building that has recently been remodeled and now serves as a museum. It's very hard to tell it's an actual working train station from the front of the building.

As we arrived at the train station a little after 6 am, there were maybe 20 other travelers waiting outside the station to get in. We were relieved to find that there was other travelers waiting as we weren't completely sure that this was the right place. It was also reassuring to find police officers there as downtown Lima can be dangerous. Maybe the best example of that was the drugged out completely naked fat woman we saw on the street corner on the way to the station.

The staff opened the doors right about 6:30 and started letting passengers in and boarding the train in what seemed to be a fairly organized process. We quickly found our seats on one of the "Clasico" train cars. The "Clasico" cars are the older and cheaper seats on the train. And, they definitely show their age, but they had a feeling of companionship on them that you could not get on the newer and more expensive "Turistico" cars. The "Clasico" section was designed so that 4 people could converse with a table in the middle. While, this meant that the chairs could not recline, it provided us with an opportunity to share our time together.

As we waited for the train to leave on its journey, some of us fell asleep and others, like myself gazed upon the sun rising over Lima and all of its landscape.


After we waited for a short while, the train proceeded to leave on its journey right on time. As we left the station, the train rocked back and forth with enough force to make a person wonder if it was going to derail. However, this did not distract my girlfriend and others from falling asleep quickly. As the train continued, we quickly advanced into the districts of El Agostino and Ate, where the large difference between incomes was easily noticed. These districts represent the larger percentage of the population where many people live in poverty and poor conditions. None the less, the people of Peru are extremely friendly and this was evidenced by the way many of them came out just to see the train pass and wave at the occupants with grinning faces, even at 7:30 am!

Slowly and bumpily, we finally left the limits of Lima and headed towards Chosica, an outlying area of Lima with many recreational opportunities for the people of Lima because of it's enjoyable year-round climate.

Next time - More of the journey to Huancayo!