After the trek, we were in Cusco for a few more days to recover from the trek. I had terrible neck pain and it took 2 massage sessions and finally some muscle relaxant pills to ease it. We planned to continue our trip to the lake Titicaca but there weren’t any buses! Our Airbnb host let us stay in one of his listings at a nominal rate. We had a 6 bedroom house with a terrace and a garden and a netflix connection. Every morning, we’d wonder if we could leave. We decided to watch the movie RRR because of the hype around it. It wasn’t boring and we saw the entire 3 hour movie but we must be the only ones to have found it nonsensical! Why is this movie considered so good when there are many other better ones?

Anyway, we went again to the bus stop and were told that there was a bus going to Juliaca which is an hour away from Puno. We took our bags and headed to the bus station. We were taken to a minibus with 2 other french tourists. There was a Peruvian couple who joined us and off we went. The driver took a long path through the mountains as there were roadblocks everywhere. We were told that we were to reach the next morning at 5. They underestimated the travel time. After 20 hours on the bus, we reached a spot full of protesters. The driver hadn’t slept and we couldn’t go any further! We stopped to have lunch. We were told that the road will be cleared by evening. So we had 6 hours to kill in the bus.  Leo started drawing, I tried to catch up with my blog entries, we had a nap, we played Uno… Finally, the roadblocks were removed and we started going to Puno via Juliaca. The place was literally a war zone with roads full of rocks in different shapes and sizes and all kinds of rubbish. After 34 hours on the road, we crashed into our hostel beds.

The next day was the Candelaria festival in Puno. This is usually a huge feast with lots of traditional dances from all over the country but given the socio political situation, it was super toned down. We witnessed protests in the morning and festivities in the evening. It was a strange atmosphere. 

The protesters are typically from rural areas from the south of Peru. The trigger was when president Pedro Castillo was arrested for corruption and the vice president Dina Boluarte took on the number one role. This upset his rural supporters. Many youngsters had been killed in December as the protests turned violent. The protesters basically want an early election this year. Years back, Peru allowed foreign investment to boost their economy. The rural population never really benefited from this. They now want the government to ensure that the foreign investors pay back if they’re given lucrative contracts. This year the 30 year contract will be renewed and hence the only chance for the people to get heard.

We checked at the port if we could go to Bolivia by boat because the bus terminal was deserted!  We were told by an agent that she will help us cross the border. The next morning we woke up at 4h30 and left at 5 in the morning to the port. It was complete chaos and the immigration officers literally refused to stamp our passports. Several boats had been damaged by protesters and the port had been blocked. We returned to our hostel wondering what to do next. The agent promised to find a solution for us the next day. By now we were beginning to get nervous. We were tired of the situation and wanted to leave for a safer place. By evening, the agent contacted us to hurry to the port and get our passports stamped. We were leaving the next morning at 4! We were told to be discreet and not tell anyone about leaving the country. So the next morning, we were taken to a place away from the port where around 40 of us got into a boat after having waited in the rain and later in a shed. After 5 hours we finally reached the border town in kasani, got our passports stamped by the Bolivian authorities.

We breathed a huge sigh of relief!

I decided that we stay in Cusco a couple of days before the Inca trek to get acclimated to the altitude. Once bitten, twice shy! After the Acatenango mishap, I took all the necessary precautions to ensure that I do not suffer. Paracetamol and Coca-Cola is what kept me from falling ill. 

Cusco is a beautiful city with architectural wonders from the Inca period to the post Spanish invasion. We also had some delicious food after months of travelling across Latin America. 

A day before the trek, we were told that we might have to leave the same night for the trek as there were protests planned the next morning. We didn’t want to be stuck in a jam and so we decided to leave. We camped an extra night at the starting point. 

The Inca trek was one of Arjun’s dreams and he was really excited. I didn’t have any expectations. I just didn’t want to fall ill during the hike. The first day was really easy. We walked for 8 hours and witnessed the beauty of the Andes mountains and some architectural sites. We were the only group along with another group of Korean tourists. 

The next day was meant to be the toughest and I was mentally prepared for the challenge. We woke up at 5 in the morning and started climbing by 6. I just kept walking. The weather changed constantly. One moment we could see the spectacular mountains and the next moment we were walking in the clouds with our ponchos. I felt relieved when we reached the dead woman’s pass which was the toughest part of the trek. From then on, it was meant to be easy. After lunch, I started getting sick and quickly took a pill. This wasn’t helping me and I was tired and breathless. Leo saw that I was struggling. He started pushing me uphills and kept cheering me up. He then devised a relay game which was to ensure that I made it to the second peak. I managed to do this part of the trek thanks to him. There were several architectural sites along the way. We finally reached basecamp and I crashed into our tent. 

The next morning I started feeling better and we had a lovely trek. In the afternoon, our guide informed us that there weren’t any trains or buses from Machu Picchu and that the site is going to be shut. I could see the disappointment in Arjun. The Korean tourists decided to go see Machu Picchu on the 3rd day and then stay at Aguas Calientes. Our guide was trying to find out if we could visit the site on the 4th day of the trek at sunrise. The trek on the 3rd day was only in the morning. We  went to see the site Winiwinay which was an absolute delight and it was just behind our campsite. As we were exploring the place, we could hear trains going back and forth. Also, our guide was told that we could visit Machu Picchu the next day morning. To celebrate the good news we took our first shower in 3 days. The water was icy but we felt clean and ready for the big event. In the evening we had a celebratory dinner with the porters and the cook Jesus who baked a big farewell cake for us! Jesus had been pampering us with his delicious meals for the past days. We ate like royalty. It never ceased to surprise us how the porters carried almost 30 kgs on their back, woke up before us, slept after us and yet they managed to reach the campsite and set up our tents + prepare our meals before we reached!

We woke up at 3h30 in the morning on the last day so that the porters and the cook could pack up and leave to catch the early morning train. We went on the roof to do some star gazing. The sky was almost clear and it was a vision. We slowly started our descent into the valley. Once we reached the famous Machu Picchu, we couldn’t see anything because of the clouds. Our guide suggested we stay for sometime and maybe the sky will start clearing up. After half an hour the clouds started moving and we could see the site. It was magical! Arjun literally had tears in his eyes. We walked down and once we were at the site, we realised that we were the only one there! In all these years, the guide had never seen this. We had the entire site to ourselves! I don’t think it could be any better.

The way back to Cusco was an expedition. There weren’t any trains or buses. We walked down to the train tracks and started walking. We took a train platform which basically is a structure with wheels and wooden planks on them. It moves fast when we’re downhill and needs to be pushed on a slope. After this we walked some more and took a minibus to Cusco. We almost reached at midnight with cramps all over our body. Luckily, I had already booked our rooms and we slipped into our warm and comfortable beds after 4 nights in a cold, tent!