Backpacking Through South America 12

 The straight-line distance between Lima and Huancayo, where the railway ends, is just under 200 km, but the journey takes over 10 hours. And not just because Peruvian railways are poorly organized and the tracks are rickety and poorly maintained. 

The Peruvians made a bit of a mess: they tried to modernize their railway by buying new diesel locomotives to replace the old coal-fired ones. But an unexpected problem arose. At 5000 meters, the air is so thin that the new locomotives lost almost all their power. So now they’re forced to use two at a time, or one that consequently travels much slower. Usually the latter...

Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)