36 Hours to Cusco

We finished our work in Arequipa and the plan was to head to Puno to check out the indigenas people living on the floating islands of Lake Titicaca. Nothing about this summer has been very ¨planned¨but so it goes, the best laid plans, even the not-best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry; they especially go awry when one is in South America. From Puno, we planned to head north to Cusco. The details were all worked out, meaning we bought the tickets to Puno. But then we learned that the strike that the indigenas people were leading had not ended and that all the roads were closed from Puno to Cusco. All the roads were closed from Arequipa to Cusco as well, but we also learned from some locals that the road blocks were very short at one point between Arequipa and Cusco. We decided to take the locals´advice and to believe the bus company that was running to the city where the strike was supposed to be only 5km deep. That means, the plan was to bus to the city, Sicuani, and then walk past the road blocks. After 5km, we would reach the end of the strike where buses would take us to Cusco.

Sounded simple enough but the road blocks turned out to be 50km long. It was a horrendous 36 hrs journey to Cusco. I walked and walked like a pioneer, I rode on motorcycles, hid in the back of a truck, paid kids to carry our packs on a tricycle, etc. We made the epic voyage with a Belgian, his Italian girlfriend, 3 Argentines, and a Frech dude. So much more to tell, so much. but the hostel guy is telling me to get off the computer.

Safe and sound. Signing off...