Cuzco or Bust

Hey friends,



Last time you heard from me we were waiting in Arequipa for word on when roads to Cuzco (Machu Picchu) would open up. Here is a summary on our adventure to Cuzco (keep in mind that we´ve arrived safely)...



First some background information: People throughout the southern part of Peru have banded together to fight for rights and against things the government is doing. I´ve heard a number of reasons they´re fighting...the most common of which is protecting their land from government takeover. Anyway, their way of negotiating with the government is blocking all roads to Cuzco (main destination of most tourists). I support their efforts, but sucks for us. Seriously. So certain towns between Arequipa and Cuzco and between Arequipa and Puno block roads with logs, boulders, glass, etc. If a bus dares to pass, the town people gather around the blockade and slingshot rocks at it. So, we wait until the town and the government come to some kind of agreement and they open the roads.



After waiting 5 or 6 days in Arequipa we woke up early Thursday morning to head to the bus station upon hearing the night before that roads might open up the next day. We got there around 6:30 and asked several companies if they were bringing people to Cuzco. Most said no, and one said they were bringing people to Sicuani (a smaller town on the way) where you would then catch a combi (minibus) to Cuzco. It was a daytime bus, so we said sure...let´s give it a shot. They told us 10 hours ´til Cuzco. 38 hours, we pulled into the Cuzco bus terminal. Here´s what happened:

8:30 AM- leave from Arequipa on bus. The idea is that we get to Sicuani by 3:30

3:30 PM- get to Juliaca where the roads are blocked. We wait around for an hour or so and they let us through. Their deal was that they let four vehicles through per hour. We made it through...no problem. Keep on trucking to Sicuani.

4:15 PM- Get to a second road block in Ayaviri. They tell us that they may open it up tonight or they may not...probably not.

4:30 PM- Bus is still there. Options: 1. sit and hope it opens and potentially sleep in the bus or 2. walk into Ayaviri, look for a hostel, and hope to get a bus they next day.

4:45 PM- Went with option 2...grabbed our packs, and walked maybe a mile into this town with a little girl and a señora that told me about Jesus the whole way in :)

5:30 PM- Found a hostel that cost 6 dollars for a room for four of us! Crazy cheap. We got what we paid for...beds that were so sunken in the middle that they practically touched the floor, no windows, and no water in the morning. Ha.

6:30 PM- Walked around town looking for dinner. Since the whole town was on strike, finding a restaurant was difficult. We found one...the meal cost like 70 cents and was soup, rice, meat, and coffee. Dirt cheap and tasty enough.

7:30 PM- back to hostel, fell asleep at 8:00...LONG day...

FRIDAY
8:30 AM- wake up and proceed on a wild goose chase throughout this town searching for answers about when A bus MIGHT leave. We eventually find our same bus from last night at a different location waiting for the block to open...they said it would at noon.

9:30 AM- Quickly get our packs, some food, and take a guy with a bike takes me and another girl we met along the way up to the bus...i thought he might die of a heart attack on the way.

10:30 AM- Arrive at bus to wait for the block to open. We walk up to see the process...probably 500 people standing around with logs, rocks, and glass in the road. Lots of men and women standing in a circle discussing what they will do. They decide to open it and march back to the town.

12:00 PM- BUS LEAVES Ayaviri!

12:15 PM- Bus drives by a man on the side of the road fallen off a motorcycle. Bus stops to help the man and bring him on the bus. He apparently had an accident, the person he hit took his motorcycle and left him on the side of the road hurt...our good samaritan bus drivers took him in and took care of him.

1:00 PM- Hit another road block in Santa Rosa--bigger than before...tons of people.

4:00 PM- Santa Rosa opens the block and we get through. Amen, Hallelujah. Feeling optimistic that we´ll someday make it to Cuzco...still not sure it´ll be today.

6:00- Make it to Sicuani...one more town down. They switch us buses and we´re off to Cuzco.

10:00- Pull into Cuzco...it feels like the promised land by now. Awesome.

38 hours later, we made it! It was exhausting and a little stressful, but so fascinating. Others we´ve talked to had to walk up to 30 km during the whole thing...turns out we got lucky. Seeing everything we saw was priceless.

Another long post...I´ll try not to make this a habit :)