Whow - I had thought I had just booked a train journey... But the train actually is only taken by tourists and given the touristic efficiency of Peru, we got the full treat of life music on the train (of the type you guys at home know from the local pedestrian shopping street, "El Condor pasa" etc.). There were several bands, and in one occasion a few of us even had to "happily" dance with a girl dressed up in traditional clothes. Dreadful, I was very glad it did not hit me!
But other than this the journey was actually a treat! The landscape - in the beginning Lake Titikaka and then the hills and mountains - was really beautiful. On the train waiters perfectly dressed up with bow tie and all... So I decided to indulge in a little luxury and order the three-course lunch menu for 10$, which seemed horribly expensive at the time. It turned out to be the poshest meal I have had for a long, long time! Absolutely worth the money! Table-cloth, linen serviettes, decent cutlery, very nice food beautifully presented... Alpaca meat nicely marinated with a salad for starters, then a good tuna fillet with a great vegetable/pumpkin sauce, and panacota with passion-fruit sauce for desert. Whow! Really enjoyed the 10 hour train ride!
Cusco, on the other hand, was a shock! Massively touristy. And it turned out to be really difficult to find a half-way decent place to stay. Either dingy rooms, unfriendly owners, or really expensive (even after allowing for twice the Bolivian budget). After the first night, however, I moved together with a friend to a really nice place a few blocks off the utterly touristy Plaza de Armas. Still on the expensive side, but very chilled. Quite esoteric, though.
This hostel features "guided journeys" with the San Pedro Cactus which mainly contains mescaline. Many entries in the guest book rave about the trip. Today they are just cooking a huge amount of cactuses in the hostel kitchen to make the juice that's drunk for the "journey".
