Macchu Pichu and local protests
Trip Start
Dec 29, 2008
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19
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Trip End
Mar 22, 2009
Cusco,
Peru
Friday, January 16, 2009
Bobby our tour guide took us for a tour around the main sites including temples, the living quarters of the Inca ruler and the stones that were used to tell the seasons. The sunlight was burning down over the site, creating fantastic plays of light and shadow. The symmetry and aesthetic elements of the design of all of the buildings was amazing, with windows through series of rooms lined up with great precision.
After the tour I sat down with Sonja and Honor to soak up the atmosphere of the place and people watch.
We eventually got hungry and weren't prepared to pay 10 soles (USD3) for a small chocolate bar, so we bussed back into town
Inti Pinku - The Sun gate
. We ran into Bobby who advised us that the locals were having a protest and so our train back to Ollantytambo probably would either be late or not coming at all. It was at this stage that I realised that the only vehicles in town were the busses because there was no road out of town. The only way to get anywhere was by train or by foot. Word soon came through that our train was most likely not running that day, so Bobby found us all hotel rooms and once we'd put in some laundry to be washed, gratefully had a real shower and a nap.
Sonja and I were wandering through town on the way to get our laundry when Chris came running up the street to tell us that the trains were coming and we had to pack and get to the train station as soon as possible. Sonja and I ran through town to get our laundry back, then the whole group headed up to the station.
There was a large fence surrounding the train station and the only way to get through the gate was to have a ticket. There were many people pressed up against the fence, trying to get through. We found a spot inside the fence and settled down to wait for the next announcement. There were people strewn around everywhere, lying on their bags.
At one point we decided to go for a burger run, so ran through town to get 8 burgers
Early morning at Macchu Pichu
. While we were waiting for the burgers to be made, we heard a train coming and started freaking out. Luckily it was just the first train full of police, checking the tracks. By this stage we'd found out the locals had actually pulled up some of the tracks further up the line. Soon people were being loaded onto trains. We were allowed on the train around 9.30pm, but it didn't move for about an hour. After a bumpy, dark train ride to Ollantaytambo, we were one of the lucky groups with a private bus waiting. We soon realised the full extent of the local protest - all along the road there were massive piles of rocks and even a smouldering tree stump. The road had been cleared enough to allow one lane of traffic through, and the blocks continued most of the way back to Cuzco. The reason for the protest was that Cuzco want that area to become part of Cuzco, but the locals don't want that. If we'd tried to go through the road blocks before the protest was officially over, the locals would've thrown rocks at us.
I was absolutely exhausted by the time we got back to Cuzco at 2.30am, and barely had the energy to lift my bags up to our beautiful second floor hotel room.
