Coping with the bus strike

Well its all good here despite the occasional high hurdle that appears in the teams path

We have been delayed in Cusco for an extra day due to a bus strike affecting buses between Cusco and Puno. To be honest this has been no bad thing. It felt like the team really needed the extra day here in town. Their bags are now full of new clothes, ethnic bags and other trinkets.

We were supposed to be on a bus to Puno yesterday at some point but it wasn{t possible till late tonight. This meant the team had a big decision to make this morning, do we spend just a very short period of time at lake Titikaka or skip it and zoom on straight to Arequipa and make the most of the extra time there.

This decision really needed the team to step up to the plate and sort them selves out to do the research, communicate the findings and come to a decision. When you{ve got 15 people all with different view points its no mean feat. Well they stepped up to the plate well and truly.

Last nights meal was spent poring over Lonely Plannet guides and making to do lists then first thing this morning we swamped the South American Explorers Clubhouse here in Cusco (the staff here have been brilliant). Lots of phone calls, digging through trip reports and checking with bus companies produced 3 plans which were then "presented" to the whole team.

As part of the research some new travel, accomodation and activity options were uncovered and when presented and there was one obvious option for the team.

So

Tonight were catching a bus to Puno and having a day with the communities on the islands of Lake Titicaca. The following day we will be shooting off to Arequipa to prepare for a trek into the Colca Canyon, White Water Rafting and our R & R phase. There is also talk of a night out bowling which I{m looking forward to winning!!!!

The team is now spending the rest of the afternoon making plans for their R & R phase.

I am not sure when I will next be able to post (please accept my appologies Annette ;-) ) it will probably be from an internet cafe at some point after the trek from Arequipa.

Hope all is well in the UK

Ian
El Chapperone