The strike

I experienced my first, and hopefully last, moment of terror during this trip.

A strike and political rally began as I was making my way across the small tourist town of Cusco. I found myself stuck on a street between two intersections.


In the first, the street overflowed with marchers who were shouting angrily and setting off something that sounded like bombs. In the second, protesters had set a truck tire on fire, and were circling it while pumping their fists into the air. Police in full riot gear were standing on the sidewalks, watching nervously. 

People ran into buildings. Merchants slammed the gates to their shops closed. And I was trapped.

¨Well, shit,¨ I thought to myself. ¨I am fucked.¨

Everything I have read about international travel is to stay as far away from political demonstrations as humanly possible. If you find yourself in a protest, you are supposed to immediately find a safe place to hide.

After all, doesn´t everyone want to kill an American tourist from time to time?

I first ran into a printing shop, and then a much safer looking bank. After hiding in the back of the building, my inner-journalist got the best of me, and I found a window from where I could take pictures.

After about 20 minutes, the marchers dissipated. I asked the guard at the front of the bank if it was dangerous for me to leave the building. He nodded yes, and even rolled his eyes as if to say ¨this shit happens every day, white girl."

It turns out that these strikes do happen quite often. Also, it appears that the protesters share many of my own political beliefs. They want a higher standard of living and minimum wage for the working wo/man (the average annual income in Peru is under $10,000), less political corruption, an increase in basic social services, and a decrease in the large discrepancy between rich and poor. The bombs I heard were actually fireworks, and were a legal way of drawing attention to the protest. And from what the locals told me, the protesters are always respectful and have never been violent.

So, in retrospect, I probably should have joined them. Well... maybe not.

Onward to Machu Picchu!