We leave Cuzco by train to reach our last stop: the Lake Titicaca. This spectacular rail journey begins in historic Cuzco and travels south to the beautiful city of Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca.

On the journey, the train makes a gentle climb to higher, and cooler, altitudes. The magnificent Andean mountains dominate the first half of the journey, and tower over the deep valleys of the meandering Huatanay River. It then reaches the gentler, rolling Andean Plains, where vicuña and alpaca can be seen. If traveling aboard the Andean Explorer, the glass-walled observation car provides the perfect opportunity to view the beautiful scenery. The journey is broken by a scenic stop at La Raya, which is also the highest point on the route.

On the western side of Lake Titicaca lies the highest city of Peru, Puno. Puno was the territory of the Tiahuanacos (800 A.D. – 1200 A.D.) who were the highest cultural expression of the Aymara people that established themselves in what is today Peru and Bolivia. The Incas took over these lands in the fifteenth century, and the Spanish, attracted by the mining industry developed there, left an important Colonial legacy throughout the entire area. Puno has been named the "Capital folklórica del Perú" (folkloric capital of Peru) from the wealth of its artistic and cultural expressions, particularly dance. They are most notable during the celebrations of the Feast of the "Virgen de la Candelaria" and the Regional Competition of Autochthonous Dances.

A few kilometers away, on a peninsula, we discover the remnants of another civilization: the Coyas, ethnic group of the Tihuanaco culture, which dominated the area of Titicaca before being integrated to the Incan Empire. There are the Chullpas of Sillustani, funerary towers of circular shape, built in stone with some reaching twelve meters high. They have been built in the 13th century.