Photo: Telephone call at derailed train
Friday, June 10, 1988 We hiked to the Machu Picchu train station to try to catch the 8:00 AM train to Cuzco. At 8:00 the ticket collector showed up, talked on the phone for a long time, and eventually told us the train was delayed until 9:00. Rather than sell us a ticket, he left his position to help a one-armed man build a table. The attitudes at the Machu Picchu train station were the worst we encountered anywhere In Peru.
At 9:10 AM the train left, standing room only. I was standing, with my pack, in the small walkway at the end of the car with about 8 other people. After a few kilometers, two of the cars were derailed. The people in the two derailed cars were put onto the other cars, which, theoretically, could hold no more. Following the move, people were standing on the steps on the outside of the car and on the couplers between the cars.
Eventually we got to Ollantaytambo, but not knowing what was going on, we soon found ourselves back at the scene of the de-railment. We finally got to Cuzco at 6:30 PM and had a fish dinner at Candlles.
Photo: Fixing derailed train
Map of Inca Trail
