Orient-Express Offers Mystical Amenity In Peru

LIMA, PERU— Orient-Express Hotels & Trains announced a number of new services in Peru including a mystical amenity at its property near the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu. Guests at the companys Machu Picchu Sanctuary can now visit the mystical site at night. Each night guests are taken to a special location within the ruins, where over 200 hundred small candles are placed around a local “shaman,” who shares a story about the Incas and Machu Picchu under the glow of the moon. Guests then walk back to the Machu Picchu Sanctuary lodge for champagne and dinner. On retiring, guests find their rooms scented with special essences and lit with giant candles decorated with native cocoa leaves. The cost for this service is US$80 for two. Orient-Express other two properties in Peru are the Miraflores Park Hotel in Lima and the Hotel Monasterio in Cusco, where a new gourmet restaurant called The Illary opened this summer. A section of the inner cloister of this former 15th century monastery has been glassed in to create an alfresco dining experience. All the corridors of the main patio are illuminated with torches and the fountain at the middle of the courtyard is decorated with mini candles. Linking Cusco to Machu Picchu are train services operated by PeruRail, which will introduce a new daily luxury service by May 2003. The new service will consist of five carriages including three dining cars, a bar car with observation deck, and a kitchen car, decorated in the style of carriages on the Cusco – Puno route and with a capacity to take 100 passengers. Called the “Hiram Bingham,” service will operate alongside the existing vistadome and backpackers’ trains; however, it will depart Cusco later in the morning and return from Machu Picchu at 7 p.m. This gives passengers the opportunity to explore the ruins for four hours after crowds have departed. Passengers will be served brunch on the outbound service and upon arrival at Machu Picchu will be escorted around the site with a private tour guide. On their return journey, they will be served dinner from a five-course a la carte menu.