Pictures of the week
It is early on Monday morning. I need to be at Cusco Airport at 6 a.m. This should not be a problem, as I am sitting in a taxi with two other passengers, having left Curahuasi at 3:30 a.m. We have just passed the halfway mark, when suddenly a long traffic jam builds up in front of us. What has happened? Our taxi driver and I get out of the car immediately, wanting to find out what the problem is. We know that strikes started at midnight in the Anta Province and that several road blocks do a very good job! Finally we reach the first obstacle: the road block – set up by the strikers – is 1,80 metres high. Busses and lorries can go no further.
I look at my watch. Whatever happens, I cannot lose more than 30 minutes here. What should I do? Should I grab my bag and run? Perhaps if I go up into the mountains I can find another lift. Our driver pulls over onto the left-hand side of the road and passes all the waiting cars. There on the right we see a passage in the earth barrier! “Get out,” barks our driver. The three of us scramble over the barrier. Somehow our taxi also reaches the other side. Where there is a will, there is a way! We get back into the taxi and I look at my watch – I only lost 20 minutes!
Peru is a country full of daily surprises. No one knows how the new day will end. Strikes, landslides, accidents, punctures, police-checks, unexpected traffic jams… The statement: “I’ll meet you at 2 p.m.” stands under the caveat: God willing and that nothing unexpected happens./KDJ
