Defeat

I am sorry to report that our efforts to get to the jungle have come to a bitter end at the hands of a few hundred thousand angry transportation workers along with some lawyer's handiwork.

Our efforts to get out of the city last night were strenuous but ultimately completely ineffective. We used the hotel we had previously stayed at in Puno as a base, storing our luggage there and happily accepting the staff's offer to provide us with continually updated information about the strike. One staff member escorted us to the bus terminal to try to find out some information, then wound up staying there for nearly three hours with us, helping us to negotiate a possible private van that would have taken the two of us and a family of five to Cusco for $50 a head. Dylan and I were reluctantly amenable to that price, but the family wanted to lower it and in any event, it never seemed like the deal was actually going to happen. The man from the hotel, who may or may not have been named Fidel, then found out that there would be a bus leaving from Juliaca in the morning straight to Puerto Maldonado, which would be much cheaper than the private van. We had started to befriend this family, and Dylan felt especially guilty about abandoning them to their own devices, but we ultimately realized that the difference in cost was enough to make our decision for us.

We headed back to the hotel with Fidel, who informed us that another staff member had arranged for a room for us in a different hotel as their own was completely booked with other captive tourists. At this point, I was just beside myself with amazement at the level of hospitality we were being offered. The small tip we gave them felt hollow in comparison.

It had been hours since we had eaten an unidentifiable-type-of-pork lunch, and I was starving, exhausted from our day, and in dire need of a drink. Bowing to my demand for a restaurant, Dylan waited until I picked a place on the main street and then went off to call LAN - our airline - to notify them that we would be unable to use our tickets to fly from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado and also to confirm that we would still be using our return tickets to Lima. I thought it was unnecessary, given that we already had our tickets for the return trip purchased, but Dylan was insistent and I didn't really care. So as he went off in search of a phone, I entered the restaurant alone and asked for a table for two. The man saw that I was alone, but I assured him that I had a friend with me. He nodded and sat me at a table with one menu. I asked for an additional menu, which he nervously brought over. Two old Peruvian women were staring at me; when I turned around, they smiled and turned back to their tea. With Dylan still gone, I ordered and told the waiter that I didn't know what my friend wanted, but that it wasn't important. So he took both menus away. I believe it was at this moment that the women decided I was completely delusional and got up quickly to run to the back of the restaurant and discuss my behavior with the staff.

Before they can call the men in white jackets, Dylan shows up, red in the face. He sits down loudly, which draws even more attention from the small crowd in the back. He looks at me and simply says, "We're not going to Puerto Maldonado". I stare at him blankly, and he explains - slowly, so as to suppress the bubbling rage - that some misguided LAN policy says we have to use the first leg of a round trip ticket in order to use the second. As I try to understand this, I start talking a random assortment of jibberish until I finally just start repeating "But we already PAID for the tickets!". I ask Dylan if he told them that we had already paid for the tickets, a question he answers by getting up and leaving again.

Fifteen minutes later, during which time I've alternated between avoiding the stares from the back and reading the food glossary in our Lonely Planet book, Dylan comes back. He cannot muster words so instead he just looks at me and shakes his head.

We were both pretty well furious and disappointed, mostly because we hadn't done anything wrong but had just gotten screwed by incredibly poor timing. Since cooling off, we've been able to see a silver lining, which is that the towns that we will now visit instead of the jungle will be full of interesting history and architecture and food and people, all of which will enrich our experience, albeit in a very different way than a trip to the jungle would have. Also, to be completely honest, I think we're both a little relieved. The jungle presented a big challenge in that doing it right was too expensive and doing it cheap was too boring. Further, we're both ready to come home, so heading toward Lima instead of farther away from it will feel pretty good.