The highest point on the train trip to Puno and Lake Titicaca is La Raya, 14,176 feet above sea level. The website go2peru.com has an extensive, if sometimes slightly off-key, description of the route of the Andean Explorer train from Cusco to Puno. Here's what it says about La Raya:
"The train continues to climb for another 27 Km, past the thermal baths at Aguas Calientes to La Raya, 210 Km from Puno. At 4,321 meters above sea level this is the highest point on the journey, a cold, remote place whose surrounding snow-draped peaks are often shrouded by mist or fine rain, and whose eerie silence is at least partly attributable to eardrums blocked by the dizzying altitude. Crossing this great watershed, the train travels across a sea of seemingly-endless coarse grassland through villages lost to time for all but the Coca Cola company and local breweries."
(click to enlarge) A church next to the market
(click to enlarge) Mother and child
(click to enlarge) Alpacas seem to serve the functions of both sheep and dogs.
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