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Published: November 1st 2008
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Cusco
After Macchu Pichu we had a free day in Cusco which was fantastic. I spent the day pottering around, exploring the city with Julia and Dan, a lovely couple from England. I really enjoyed Cusco and wished I had been able to spend some more time there. It´s got such a great vibe. Loads of friendly people from all over the world, heaps of good resturants, bars and clubs. We were out every night making the most of it!
We were due to go down south to the floating islands on Lake Titikaka. That evening we got news from our tour leader that the roads were still blocked and there was no way we were going anywhere.
Strikes
The strike situation in south america is amazing. Bolivia (where I am now) is renowned for having strikes about almost anything and closing down the roads. I think it is less common in Peru but we heard from other travellers that there were loads of closures and that flights were the only options. The current road strike was in protest against plans to build a hydro electricity plan in the area we were due to pass through. The strikes
had been going on 9 days so far.
Elard, our tour leader gave us 3 options, no of which were particularly brilliant!
1. Pay extra money to rent a private bus and chance it and see if we can get through. No guarantees and could just be a waste of money and time.
2. Try to find flights to La Paz, our final destination and skip Lake Titikaka. Flights were at least US$150-300, if you could get them.
3. Stay in Cusco and finish the tour then, losing all the money for everything already paid for. Whilst we were keen to have extra time in Cusco no-one wanted to fork out extra money or miss out on anything else.
So, we opted for the private bus and decided to risk it. Our group hooked up with another group headed the same way so there were about 20 of us in total. We set off early, about 7am. We´d all had a massive night out so were soon fast asleep on the bus. Normally it takes about 5 or 6 hours to get to Puno. We´d been told it would take at least 11 hours, if we could get
through as we had to go the back way through the mountians.
About 2 hours into the journey I was dozing and could sense there was something going on. I wake up, look out and was amazed to see the state of the roads. The locals had thrown massive rocks all over the road and we were weaving our way through them. The guide told us we were approaching the dodgy area and we needed to be alert. Situations could get difficult very quickly if we happen to run into trouble and the locals decide that 20 gringos taken hostage is good bargaining power.
We managed to pass through one of the main points we thought we´d have trouble. As we head up through the mountain pass we came around the bend and were met by a bunch of locals standing on the road, depositing rocks. One of the guys who worked for the bus company got off to chat to them. All the sudden he starts running and shouting. The guys are starting to throw rocks. The drivers doing a 3 point turn trying to turn around. Orders were to get the hell out of there quick
smart...... so we did. The bus driver took off, leaving the poor guy stranded. We´ve got no idea what happended to him! It was all pretty full on!
We managed to get to a safe spot in no time and stopped at the bottom of the mountain to evaluate the situation. The guides were on the phone trying to organise flights or accomodation back in cusco. There was a glimer of hope yet. We´d had news from a contact that talks were due to happen that afternoon and if there were signs of the government giving in then the roads would re-open.
We decided to head back to a nearby town and sit it out and see if there was any success with the talks. We spent the day in a very forgettable town waiting it out. The guys spent 2 hours walking around town trying to find somewhere with cable to show the football. Eventually we had success only to find they were showing Argentinian football not European... oh well, gave us something to do at least!
At 5pm we hit the road again. It was an hour or so until we got to the same
spot where we had trouble earlier in the day. This time, when we got the bridge it was blocked off by several trucks and 50 police men holding their rifles. Hmmmmmm, no way were we even going to bother trying that way!
The driver decided to go through the back roads and continue on and met up with the road further on. A couple of hours later and it was so far so good. We passed massive piles of rocks, sometimes driving over half a meter or so piled up on the road. Unreal.
Success?
It was now dark and we´d been on the road for a good twelve hours or so. We came through the main strike area and it all seemed to be going okay. The journey was slow but we had a good feeling by this stage that we were going to be lucky. We passed through the main town in question with no problems, hooray! We stopped and talked to one of the locals and he said we were the first tourist bus to be allowed to pass in 9 days..... amazing!
So, a total of 17.5 hours after leaving Cusco we arrived
in Puno, safe and sound and really excited that we could continue with the tour and visit lake Titikaka...... Wow, what an experience that was!
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