We have had some of the most interesting days of our entire trip this weekend! So, if you don't know, the government system of Peru is pretty corrupt, and there have been a lot of protests among the people about many various things. On Thursday or Friday one of the laws that was restricting indigenous tribes of using their own land was revoked, which was a big step for the country. Another big issue around Puno is the water rights. In America we pay for our water and it's not a big deal, but here, Peruvians haven't had to pay for water in the rural communities and are now being forced to pay for the water that comes from their own land. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but apparently it is. We found out on Friday night that most bus companies weren't running from Cusco to Puno (the route we needed to take) because the communities are creating road blocks on all of the roads getting into Puno to protest the government/water issue. A girl at the hostel told us a great story of how she left at night (not smart) and had to cross this bridge that had been burned and all of the boards had been pulled up and then proceeded to walk for 8-11 hours into Puno. Needless to say, we were worried, especially since our packs are pretty heavy. But since we had to get to Puno, we decided to see what we could find in the morning since most companies were probably running alternate routes. So in the morning we found that most companies aren't running to Puno, but we found a pretty decent company and got the last two tickets on the 10 AM bus. The man selling us the tickets seemed pretty confident, so we felt pretty good that we would get to Puno in 8 hours. About an hour and a half into the ride the bus stopped because of a road block and we all got off, grabbed our bags, and walked for about 5 minutes to a bridge...without very few boards and it had obviously been burned. So basically, with our packs on, we had to walk across the metal beams of the bridge that were about the size of a railroad track rod. It wasn't so bad, but it was really nerve-wrecking with our packs on...we were praying the whole time that we wouldn't fall, and God was definitely faithful. On the other side of the bridge, another bus was waiting (that was a lot smaller and clearly did not have enough seats for everyone) , and we were sure that the worst was behind us and praying that we wouldn't have to walk more than 2 hours.
About 2 hours later, while were driving along small dirt roads (clearly not made for a large bus) we came to a small town that had rocks blocking the road and lots of people waiting. So we all got off and attempted to talk the people into letting us pass. After about 30 minutes, they said that a commission was meeting in an hour or two and they would decide then. After waiting an hour and a half they came to the decision that we needed to take another route around the town because they weren't letting us through. We weren't sure why we waited an hour and a half for that, but it happens. We then proceeded to turn the bus around and wind around small dirt roads and travel along the "alternate route." We were pretty certain that the bus driver had no idea where he was going since we stopped at least 3 times to ask for directions. Then it started to get dark, which made it all more exciting. I think our favorite part was when the bus went over bridges that seemed too small (but were really not a big deal) and everyone would freak out yelling "Vamos bajar!" (Let's get off!), run to the front of the bus, and demand to be let off while on the bridge...we weren't traveling with the smartest people. We figured out that it was more like a game haha. We only had to walk through one more road block which took about 5 minutes which was such a blessing. We were certain that we would have to walk 11 hours, so we were so grateful. It took us about 20 hours in total before we reached Puno and the lack of room and cold temperature really didn't allow for much sleep. By the time we reached our hostel, we had about 45 minutes to get our stuff ready and head to our homestay at 7AM. It was a loooong day/night.
Our homestay in Capachica was so great! It was a really small town on the coast of Lake Titicaca and it was so gorgeous. Mr. Emiliano, the husband of the family we were staying with, had breakfast ready for us when we arrived and it was so great since we pretty much didn't eat the day before. Then after breakfast, he took us on a hike to the highest mountain to see all around Capachica all the way to Bolivia! It was pretty rough because we were so tired and we were at 12,000 feet, but the view was definitely worth it! We loved hearing about all of the things Mr. Emiliano knew about his town. We even got to go down to this wonderful pebble beach where we just wanted to sleep all day, but we had to go eat lunch. After lunch we took a little nap and then wrote in our journals some while looking at the great view. Then 3 girls showed up out of nowhere! They were so cute: Noemi, Sylvia, and Maritza. Then about 10 minutes later some little boys showed up with a soccer ball ready to play! We warned them that we were horrible, but joined in anyways. It was so fun! We were running all over the place, trying to kick the ball in the right direction and laughing with the kids. Emily almost knocked over the kids because she was so tall, and I just continued to kick the ball in the wrong direction...it was great. Somehow we won though!!! I think it was my amazing goalie skills and Emily's great scoring skills :). We hung out with the kids a little longer before they had to go home, ate dinner, and immediately fell asleep afterwards. We woke up early this morning, took a little walk down to the beach, at some yummy trout and papas fritas for lunch before heading back to Puno. All in all we've had a very interesting weekend and are really excited for our trip to Arequipa tomorrow! Hopefully our bus ride won't be as exciting as the last one :) Be praying that we have lots of energy for our Colca Canyon trek and that God would make himself known through us to the people that we encounter. We'll post again when we're in Lima!
Love! Lauren
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