The Last Laugh

Almost 5 weeks ago, Bolivia faced a political and transportation crises, as members of its poor, campesino population objected to a government contract with a private company by blockading the roads into and out of all of Bolivia's major cities. It was not a hard thing to do, as the road network there is skeletal, and traveler's were stuck for over a week, or had to purchase air tickets. That commotion almost caused me to skip doing Bolivia altogether, until I thought better of it. That's why it was especially ironic that on what should be my last bus ride on this trip, in Peru, we should be stopped by a road blockade.

After leaving Puno, Peru at 4pm, already 30 minutes behind schedule, we almost ran into an open fire in the middle of the road with a multitude of large stones spread about the street. Apparently, the villagers of the town were protesting a failed promise of the government and were determined to hold up the buses heading to Cusco. After about 30 minutes of watching the flames leap into the air, our bus attendant came down the aisle, asking for a collection to see if the villagers would let us pass. Everyone contributed, tourists and Peruvians alike, and we were finally granted passage.

Not one hour later, while we were still discussing our amazement at the blockade, we ran into another much stronger one. Upon stationing ourselves behind a line of buses and trucks, our bus driver simply turned off the engine and lights and waited. To satisfy my curiosity I ventured outside and found that there were over 30 buses, trucks and personal vehicles on both sides of the blockade. Upon reaching the center, there were about 80 people milling around, and at the center of them all was a large old trunk of a tree sprawled across the road. Hanging onto the tree for dear life were at least 3 older women of the village.

Nowhere to be seen in either of these incidents was the Peruvian police, or the caterras, who are usually quite thorough in searching for customs violations at random points along Peru's highways.

Fortunately, this stoppage seemed to work its way out in just over 2 hours, and after a ridiculous 30 minutes of non-cooperation as to which side should pass through first, we were on our way. We arrived in Cusco almost 4 hours behind schedule, at 1am. I called a hostel, checked in, and that was the night.