Between 1905 and 1908 the line was extended to Huancayo, the most important commercial centre of the mineral-rich central region of the Peruvian Andes. Today the line transports 100,000 tonnes of cargo monthly from the mountains to the Pacific. The passenger train departs from the attractive cream-coloured Los Desamparados station in central Lima, right behind the historic President's Palace and Plaza de Armas. Huancayo is a dull, relatively modern commercial hub. The squalid little shacks are made of nothing more than woven reed walls and have no running water or electricity.
Rocks hold down the corrugated tin roofs.
In the dawn some of the destitute are still sleeping among heaps of uncollected garbage, while a few men urinate beside the train tracks. There are few of the belligerent slogans of striking workers and insurgent leftists that Theroux saw painted on the crumbling walls 20 years ago. Lima's wealthy elite comes here to ride horses and swim on the weekends at private clubs and country homes. The sun illuminates a bit of green vegetation, a sign that we are moving inland, away from the desert coast and into the more fertile, verdant mountains. Meanwhile, the train staff is trying hard to please.