A few miles outside of Puerto Supe, the bus came to a stop. "Flexibility" is my new middle name, and I didn't mind adding some time to our 4 hour bus ride. I assumed there was an accident in the road until we all had to get off the bus and march past the riot. The road was covered with big rocks and burning tires (putting off some incredible heat!), one guy chanted into a loudspeaker surrounded by his followers, and some sharp entrepreneurs were selling crackers and ice cream to frustrated bystanders whose journey up the PanAmerican Highway was significantly delayed.
I was grieving my broken camera anew.
As we passed by the riot police, Tim asked one of them why the people were so angry. I guess he misunderstood Tim's intent, because he immediately responded on the defense, heatedly arguing that it's exactly the same in our country and not letting Tim get a word in edgewise to clarify the question. Finally the guy next to him (also a riot policeman) calmed him down enough to explain that he thought Tim only wanted to know the purpose of the demonstration. Turns out it was in protest of the bad condition of the roads, which has led to a flurry of accidents in recent weeks.
Lesson learned: Be gentle when questioning riot policemen.
On the other side of the action, we boarded a new bus and continued on our way to Lima. Tomorrow morning we will pick up my brother and mom at the airport and rest for a day before heading out to the jungle (Puerto Maldonado). I'm glad they're bringing a temporary replacement for my camera. You have to see this stuff to believe it.
