Tired and exhausted after the amazing Inca trail we found ourselves back where the adventure started in the ancient Inca city of Cuzco. It was on the return bus journey from Ollantaytambo when we heard from the bus driver that that we were all going to face some travel difficulties getting to Bolivia. The farmers in Peru were not happy! Apparently their governments decided to build a hydro-electric power plant…to provide electricity for foreign lands.

So they decided to mount a protest. Now I haven’t been studying my protest handbook for a while, but I’m pretty sure that barricading a road, throwing rocks at tourist buses, bribing drivers to continue safe passage are not commonplace in Europe. Yet this is what the future held for the Goonies. Sadly all buses out of Cuzco were suspended indefinitely for fear of rock damage!

We had to think fast and we teamed up with other Inca trailer’s Ravi and Kirsty and almost booked ourselves on a expensive private charter minibus, which “apparently” took the back roads to avoid the unfolding chaos. We decided to leave the decision a while and booked ourselves into our hostel. Upon consulting the owner he old us the harsh truths of the situation.

Protest started 2 days ago, no sign of ending, there is only one road out towards Bolivia (the lying bus operator) plus cowboy buses will make you bribe your way through each blockade as well as making you prime targets for kidnappings! Luckily we didn’t fall for the bus operators tricks and we decided to sit it out in Cuzco for a few days before making a contingency plan.

It was the next day after a meal out with our Inca trail compatriots we decided to take the plunge and do as 4 others already had, book ourselves onto one of the only planes which left Cuzco for Bolivia. Of course this did mean we sacrificed a visit to Puno and the floating islands upon Lake Titikaka, but we could not afford to stay here forever either.

These days of decision were putting it bluntly, very boring. The town is Cuzco is pretty but also rammed with hoards of tourists heading to Machu Picchu. We did do a few things however… we went shopping for handicrafts and alpaca wool accessories, had more than a few beers while checking out some local Peruvian bands (the second of which were pretty good and sounded like the Killers if they were born in the Andes).

The most fun we had was to come after we had enjoyed our first Curry for 3 months (it was great too!). As we were returning to our hostel we stopped in the main square, the Plaza D’Armas, where firework shenanigans were in full swing. This was so refreshing to see, there was no men in high vis clothing keeping you behind barriers…being honest it was a true free for all. The display consisted of about twenty or so 15 ft structures fashioned out of Bamboo, to which hundreds of Catherine wheels (again made out of bamboo) were attached and set off in a progressive sequences.

Giving the Peruvians credit, the dispay was very impressive given the materials used and the fun everyone was having in the square dancing along to bands and running headlong through the firework sparks was brilliant to be a part of. Although you did have to mind your heads every so often when the “Catherine wheels” flew  from their structure into the gathered crowd. Also some of the bigger fireworks lacked some power and were exploding less that 20 metres from the ground sending greens and reds flying around the plaza to the Peruvians approval.

It was after this night we headed to the airport only to be greeted by nearly every other departing backpacker in Cuzco who like us were out of travel options. As we flew we admired the great lake of Titikaka wondering…what if? what if?