Our cuñados, Autumn and Jeremy, have been visiting us for the last few days. We met up with them in Lima last week, and then headed down to Ica to go out to the desert (again) with Roberto Penny Cabrera. I like to call the adventure the “Schmilas Family Reunion”, even though it didn’t include everybody in the fam.

Transportation Strike

Our first big adventure of the trip was traveling to Ica. It is normally an easy 5-hour bus ride from Lima, however the morning we were supposed to travel we found out that there was a nation-wide transportation strike happening.

I looked online for more information about the strike, but didn’t find much. From what our local friend Sergio said, people were upset that the government increased fines for traffic tickets, and made a law that would indefinitely suspend the licenses of drivers with more than 5 infractions. Mmm, I would venture that most Peruvians have more than 5 traffic violations. We were also told that Peruvians are paid to strike by Hugo Chavez, which I find unlikely, but intriguing.

We ended up running into just one major road block on the Panamerican Highway on our way to Ica. As we were pulling up to the blockage a whole bus load of riot police were also arriving. The staff on the Cruz del Sur bus had everyone close their window shades “for our protection”, which was somewhat unnerving. We spent maybe 15 minutes watching the smoke billow up ahead while the police cleared the way, and then slowly drove through the streets lined with onlookers, burning tires and piles of rocks.

We met Roberto immediately upon arriving in Ica. He had decided to leave for the desert immediately to avoid any problems on the road the next day. After buying food and some other supplies at a small market, we set off for the Ocucaje desert.

We hit another small road block outside of Ica. Roberto’s truck is painted black and looks pretty much like a military vehicle, so I was sure that the locals would end up throwing rocks at us as we drove through the blockage. We got through the burning tires and onlookers safely though. It was a relief to be able to sleep in the tranquil desert that night.