Just before we got to our planned stop we came across what seemed to be a small rock fall across the road with boulders and rubble covering the opposite lane. About 50m further up the road we realised this wasn't a rockfall at all, but the start of the blockades, which had started sooner than we'd expected. The actual blockade was a pile of rubble across the road manned by 5 or 6 men. We were a little apprehensive; it was dark and we didn't really know what to expect so, after trying to communicate with the strikers and not really understanding what the quick-talking locals were saying, we decided the safest course of action was to retreat! This gave us a chance to observe some other vehicles approach the blockade, negotiate and then be allowed to pass through. Gathering our courage we decided to try again and this time offered the strikers the only Peruvian money we had with us, 5 soles (about a pound). We didn't think this would be enough to buy our way through but it turned out to be fine as they cleared enough rubble out of the way to let us through.
We had just finished congratulating ourselves on a situation well-handled when we realised 50m further on up the road there was another pile of rubble and another group of people. The only problem this time was we didn't have any soles! This time the protesters were easier to understand and actually seemed in quite a jovial mood. We explained our lack of money and offered them some Chilean coins we had hanging around instead. After a bit of banter they decided they would accept this and let us through with a shouted chorus of 'Pase!'
We continued on another 5 or 6 miles to Puno, constantly having to avoid more scattered rubble, unmanned blockades and other traffic swerving around with high beams on, also trying to avoid the obstructions.
The next blockade we came across had a distinctly different feel to it. It was manned by several obviously drunk teenagers and by an older drunken man who came running up brandishing a hammer as we approached. This time our foreign money wasn't accepted so we decided this was as far as we were going to get and pulled over to camp just before the blockade. However it soon became apparent that several other locals weren't very impressed with the group's actions and as the queue of other vehicles got longer the voices got louder until there was enough people around to allow several vehicles to force their way through the blockade. Some of the lorry drivers who had got through then approached us and offered to help us do the same, an offer we accepted.
Once we were through this particular blockade we found a quieter stretch of road and decided to stop for the night.
Early the next morning we continued our journey into Puno. The further we got, the denser the abandoned blockades got and the more rubble, broken glass and burnt out tyres were in the roads. It looked like a war zone but there was always a route through the carnage, probably cleared by people driving the road overnight.
We decided to head in to town to try to have a look around and to buy the Peruvian vehicle insurance we were supposed to have. However when we got close to the centre people started to stop us and warn us not to go any further as there were blockades manned with people who smash the windscreens of any vehicles that came close. All routes we tried to take through town seemed to be blocked and so in the end we decided to park up and walk into town, something all the locals were also doing.
Once we got into the town centre, apart from the odd gaggle of riot police, everything seemed strangely normal; the shops were open, people were walking about calmly. At one point we were eating a snack in a cafe when the owner suddenly jumped up and pulled down all the shutters on the outside of his shop just before the protesters marched up the street, but even this was pretty calm and more like a carnival atmosphere than anything more. We even went out to watch them.
Although the protest was supposed to end that day it became obvious we wouldn't be able to leave for a while so we decided to head to the town's (and Lake Titicaca's) biggest tourist attraction, the floating reed islands of Uros (see Christine's separate post).
When we got back we had to join the long queues of pent up traffic trying to leave the town. It was chaos. Because there was so much debris in the road the vehicles were weaving everywhere. At one point the queue of traffic leaving town had managed to swap lanes with the queue coming into town, so we were both on the wrong side of the road.
Sometimes we had to get out to help remove debris from the road and the route often involved crunching over sections of broken beer bottles but we finally managed to escape Puno and the blockades with all four tyres intact!
