April 26, 2025 to April 30, 2025: Arequipa, the Belmond Train and Lima

Our last week in Peru included a couple of nights in Arequipa at Puqio's sister resort, Cirqa - an old monastery with 11 rooms- followed by a couple of nights on The Belmond train and our final two nights in Lima (Miraflores). 

We had a beautiful room at Cirqa - it was spacious with high rounded ceilings and walls of old stone. Despite the ancient structure, the room still felt very modern. The meals were very good (we tried alpaca) and the staff attentive, although both nights the noise (either a roof-top party or neighboring music) lasted well into the night making it difficult to sleep - which was disappointing. 

We had a 8:30 car take us to the train station on Sunday morning. When we arrived they welcomed us into a large open parlor where they served canapés and drinks as they collected luggage and gave instruction about what came next.  There was a string quartet playing and Peruvian dancers performing while wearing silly hats. 

String quartet 

Dancers with silly hats

Around 9:40 they invited us into the piano car of the train- it was already fairly full and we ended up with two seats right beside the piano (which was unfortunate because it was very LOUD). The train manager welcomed everyone and then we were escorted to our cabin.  Fortunately our sleeper cabin was not far from the service cars. In general, our room was much more spacious than we had expected with enough storage space for our stuff and we were pleasantly surprised that it had a Nespresso.  The bed was small but comfortable. 

Our room on the train

We spent a lot of the afternoon in the observatory car at the very end and enjoyed watching the terrain of Peru go by. 

Saving us from aliens in the observatory car

After a few hours we made a quick stop to scramble up and down a small trail to see some cave drawings.  While it wasn't a long hike, the general fitness level of most of the train-goers combined with the high-altitude (>13k) made it challenging for many. 

Just outside the caves

Cave drawings of alpaca and a puma

The staff had reserved a quiet table for us for our dinner. (After the piano experience we asked for quiet spots which they kindly complied with.) Meals consisted mostly of traditional Peruvian dishes and were hit or miss although the serving staff was super friendly and helpful. During dinner the excursion director joined us for a few minutes to describe the events for tomorrow.

Sadly, the rail tracks were not smooth, so it was a bumpy night until the train stopped in Puno (around midnight). The first activity the next morning was a 5:30 sunrise over Lake Titikaka - which we opted to skip for a little bit more sleep.  The second excursion began at 8:30 starting with a boat on Lake Titikaka to see a floating reed island, Uros. We sat in a circle as the president of Uros described how it was built and how they lived on the island. After the talk one of the villagers grabbed Micki and gave her a tour of her single-room hut (with the bonus of providing an opportunity to practice Spanish) and crafts. The floating islands were unique and quite unexpected, with about 7 small reed huts on each one. Although they felt very touristy.

Small reed boats - we skipped the touristy ride in one of these

 

Island of Uros

Neighboring reed island

We left on the boat for our second destination, the island of Taquile, where there was more music and more Peruvian dancing with silly costumes and hats. We walked down to the beach and stuck our toes in Lake Titikaka. 

Water was pretty cold

Lunch was a quinoa soup followed by grilled fish and was tasty. After lunch we went for a short hike along the edge of the island before returning to the boat.

Games with the mirror along the hike

View from the top of the hike on Taquile

While the experience on Lake Titikaka was unique, it felt like island residents had dressed up and performed as a tourist gimmick and it was difficult to tell what (if anything) was authentic.

Back on the train, the second evening was a rinse and repeat of the first night but with a different menu. We opted to skip the the excursion to an archeological site in the morning (it included a van ride and we had seen many archeological sites). The train arrived in Cusco around 2 and we hurried to the airport for our 4:30 flight to Lima.

The drive from the airport to our hotel in Miraflores was chaotic and long. But, when we walked in our room they had left us a bottle of champagne and a cheese plate to celebrate Filip's 60th - which was a fitting way to end our birthday trip to Peru! In the morning we decided to explore the coast a bit and went for a long walk occasionally taking a break to watch the surfers. 

Coast just outside of our hotel

Coast of Miraflores

Many surfers 

Our dinner that evening was at Maido (although we could only get a table at 4:30 booked 6 weeks in advance), which was a Peruvian sushi restaurant with a 2.5 hour tasting menu. It was a blast - and unlike some other restaurants with tasting menus we didn't leave uncomfortably stuffed.

Energy was high in Maido (even at 4:30!)

Our car left at 4:30am in the morning (making us thankful the Maido dinner wasn't late) and we were home in Miami Beach about 12 hours later.  Overall our 5 week trip to Peru was a huge success with no logistical hiccups and a wonderful way to celebrate 60.