The road to Puno is closed today...

Nothing like taking a bus 30 minutes out of town (at 8:00 am) and then having to turn around and come back! Turns out there is some civil striking going on in the province/state of Cusco today and there were enough protesters to cover and close a bridge on the way to Puno (near Lake Titicaca- my next stop). I had heard something about a potential strike today when I was on my City Tour yesterday. One couple that was also in the bus received a call from their travel agent saying that they were expecting that the train to Machu Picchu may not be running tomorrow, due to strikes, and that they should try to get out of Cusco that night. I haven't heard anything else about that, but since they were striking elsewhere, I'm going to guess that the trains weren't running either. I feel bad for those people who had planned to go up to Machu Picchu today and then weren't able to. That train is usually booked a few days in advance at least and most people can't be so flexible with their travel schedule... I'm just thankful that didn't happen to me a couple of days ago!

It's always interesting watching how people react in those situations. Obviously it's not the bus hostess' fault that we have to turn around and go back to the city. Yet people still feel the need to get upset. RELAX- you're on vacation!

So we get back to the bus station and it's still before 10 am. Y que hacemos? (And so what do we do?) The staff at the bus station offer to leave again at 6 pm, as they are guessing by then the road will be open again. Of course they can't be 100% sure. The other thing is, the reason I had originally chosen this bus company because they do a few touristy stops along the way to different churches and ruins and do guided tours, plus it includes a buffet lunch. It makes the ride longer and cost more. With the 6 pm departure we obviously wouldn't be able to make those stops and they weren't going to give us any sort of discount on the ticket price. After humming and hawing over it, a kiwi guy and I decided to get a refund and head over to the main bus station to see what was going on. Of course, no buses were running from there either, bus we found one company with a sleeper bus that is leaving at 11 pm for much much less. So that's the plan for right now- catch the 11 pm bus to get us into Puno at 5:30 am, just in time to look for a boat to take us out to the islands on Lake Titicaca for the day.

I didn't really mind being in Cusco for an extra day. I actually haven't had much of an opportunity to wander around the city and see the museums because the tours that I went on mostly went out of the city. Gave me a chance to visit a few museums and relax with no real place to be.

Let's hope that I can make it through to Puno tonight, otherwise I'm not sure what I'll do...

In the hills over Cusco

La Plaza de Armas