Cusco - another day another strike

Pictures from Cusco and the Inca trail - http://tinyurl.com/consvx

We spent another day in Cusco recovering from the Inca trail. Most of the day was spent reading and relaxing in our hostel. We would have taken several showers too, but there was no water at the hostel (that continued for a few days.) In the evening we went to Paddys to meet the rest of our hiking group and to compare aches and pains. Everyone was mostly recovered and hard partying hikers that we are, we ended up being the last people in the pub before it closed.

The next day we tried to arrange our bus to Puno to visit Lake Titicaca and then to go to Bolivia. We had heard from other travelers that there was a farmers strike and that there might be troubles with the bus. They were right, the roads to Puno were blocked and no buses were going for the next few days. The only buses leaving were taking very unsafe routes that would take 15 instead of 8 hours, and even those were uncertain. We spent a while researching alternative routes, but since Sean and Clive didn't have visas yet we couldn't find any easy way. It also turns out there is no Bolivian consulate in Cusco, no matter what anyone tells you. After discovering all of this we held a conference and decided to instead head up the coast of Peru to a place called Mancora, where we can learn to surf. Four hours in a travel agents office later we managed to get tickets to Pirua for reasonable prices, and from there it is hopefully a short bus ride to Mancora. We are currently at the airport waiting for our first flight to Lima.

I'm sad that we did not make it to Bolivia. The salt flats would have been great and La Paz sounded like an intersting city, especially the prison there. However learning to surf on the Peruvian coast is not a bad alternative. I think I will survive.
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Conor