Tuesday and Wednesday the Cusco department underwent a huge strike in. We have seen many strikes here before, but this one was particularly strong. The people are striking because the government has postponed the building of a new international airport in Chincheros, (outside of Cusco) and the building of a southern gas line. Our street in front has been eerily quiet, but we heard a lot of drums, whistles and shouting down the way.
On Wednesday morning we were invited by our friends the Yauli’s to go the airport to welcome home their daughter, Cinthia, from her mission in Argentina. We were told to be to the airport by 6am. The taxis were running early before the strike got started so we were able to get there. Once there, her flight didn’t really land until 6:35, so we waited. Of course her family was excited and had a huge banner, balloons and flowers for her. We waited and waited flight after flight from Lima with no Cinthia. Phone calls were flying between Argentina and Peru. Finally, after hours of phone calls, we learned that Cinthia was in Lima but would not be arriving until later.
About 10am we decided we’d better leave before the strike got any worse. We left the family in the airport and headed out. We walked up the street a bit hoping to get a taxi, but we saw taxis going the other direction being pelted with rocks and dirt and decided we’d better just walk. There were hardly any cars out and those that were brave enough or dumb enough to try driving ran into problems. All kinds of people dragged their suitcases behind them as we made our way towards the center. Police with riot gear were everywhere and we had to wind our way through streets to avoid the massive parade of protesters.
At one point we thought we were pretty safe and suddenly heard lots of yelling and shouting, turned around and they were coming up behind us! There were police helicopters circling, police cars, trucks and motorcycles everywhere. We even saw 10 mounted police galloping up our street. What a relief to make it home safe and sound! We stayed put, read, watched movies and had a great day. We did finally hear about Cinthia, her flight landed at 7pm in Cusco. What a long, trying day for her family! The next morning they came over at 7:30am to visit us before heading up to Espinar.
We had a paucity of genealogical photos this week due to the strikes and the fact that we have been tasked with some very difficult books of late. We are making though.
We have some visitors coming from home and so made a special morning trip to the Baratillo, what passes for the Goodwill/Deseret Industries of Cusco. A fascinating array of teaming humanity, everyone goes to this place to get deals. Literally, everything from soup (indeed, Rich took a picture of the soup kitchen at the top of the place), to nuts, tires, headboards, spindles, pots, sunglasses, blue jeans, rope, radio parts, auto parts, animal hides, tourist trinkets, and the odd parrot. There are street after street of things out on the sidewalk, on little tables and just heaped everywhere. Though we may have described this before, it always leaves us a little overawed. It amazes us how much our sense of personal space has changed in our years in Peru. Before we came here, we had a sort of sense that such a thing as a “proper” distance actually existed. After a morning of being mashed and smashed and jostled in the Baratillo, we no longer suffer under this delusion… Anyway, we think it’s a fun place to drag anyone willing to have the full Peruvian experience so we went to evaluate it from that perspective.
We spent a nice Sabbath in Izcuchaca. We traveled in a van/combi this time and as the driver slowed to cross a speed bump a shot of shaving flew through an open window. It narrowly missed Rich in his suit and hit the young women behind us. The joys of Carnaval! During the meetings we heard lots of firecrackers, music, and shouting. As we left we thought it had rained but soon realized that Carnaval was in full swing. There was water everywhere, drenched people covered with shaving cream and water balloon remains all over the road. The shaving cream comes in tall cans with a special nozzle that shoots it really far. We have seen it for sale everywhere along with balloons, confetti and colored powder.
The main street in Izcuchaca had several groups of boys/men on one side and the girls/women on the other. Water balloons were flying over the cars and during the breaks in traffic, the two sides attacked each other with buckets and wash tubs filled with water. Miraculously we were able to maneuver through the milieu and stay dry to the taxi stand to take us back to Cusco. While we hurriedly jumped into our ride, a young man with a bucket ran by dousing a young woman standing in front of the car. It was really warm outside but we kept our windows up as the driver got us through town. However, every group of people by the side of the road was armed with buckets and shaving cream, so we were constantly lowering and raising our windows.
When we pulled into Cusco the story continued, just with a lot more people, water and foam. We had to laugh at one darling little girl about 4 years old standing in front of her house with a squirt gun and with two hands pulling the trigger would shoot a weak spray of water at the cars passing by. She was so cute. We arrived at our stop and had to jump out and get another taxi to take us home, with water, shaving cream and balloons flying everywhere. Rich managed to quickly flag a taxi and we thought we were home safe, but just as Julie was getting in the car she got shot with water from a powerful squirt gun. We were certainly glad to make it to our calm, quiet street! Whew, what an adventure!
