The Hyram Bingham Train

An Orient Express service to Machu Picchu... need I say any more?  No?  Well you know me...

The train was immaculate, the service impecccable, the decor straight out of an Agatha Christie novel ... we were seated at our table looking down on the Urubamba River rushing it´s way toward the mountains, offered a champagne and the train gently rolled out of the station. I won´t bore you with details of the fabulous meal or the spectacular scenery, suffice to say we arrived on time after a splendid journey.

The return trip was something else.  David and Jill (from Scotland, whom we had met the previous day at Macchu Pichu) were seated right near us, and the bantering and fun began.  We adjourned to the bar/observation car for a drink where a guitarist and a singer, who was also drumming on a large hollow box, were providing the entertainment.  It wasn´t long before we were the entertainment.  David was given the maracas, someone else a tambourine, I was given a hollow box with a lid and a stick (YES I had to do two things at once!) and Max was given the teeth... yep, the jawbone of an ass to be precise, the jaw bone with teeth... which he was shown how to play.  We beat the rhythm while the man sang Elvis Presley songs in Spanish and a few well known Spanish songs  (Solero, La Bamba)  encouraging us to sing along.

Surreal, in Peru, in a luxury train, in the Andes Mountains, surrounded by the ancient world of the Inca, singing Jail House Rock in Spanish while plaing a wooden box with lid and stick and the jawbone from a donkey.