So the thing is, we never knew we were walking into the middle of a strike when we arrived in Cusco. Our bad that we were not checking regional news before flying into each new area. Lesson learnt!!! We did however feel a little frustrated because we had dealt with both our hotel as well as the airline because our flight had been overbooked and no one ever mentioned anything about it. So when we finally got to Cusco we were surprised and completely caught off guard. As soon as we landed the strike was evident, there were lots of police guarding the airport and there were no taxis to be seen, which was very unusual in comparison to the other airports we had landed at. But even that we were able to shake off as we had seen so many army and navy personal in Iquitos that it didn't seem to outta control. Once we started trying to get into the city and experiencing so much difficulty and then arriving in the city and seeing how deserted the streets where, it began to be evident that more was going on. Still it didn't seem that dangerous, we walked around, did a little bit of shopping where we could, it wasn't until the evening when we asked our hotel receptionist for restaurant recommendations that we realized maybe we were taking things a little to lightly. He advised us not to go far, to just stay nearby and to stay off the streets as it was not safe, probably should have been common sense. But as first world citizens do we sometimes think we are invincible traveling? I think Dahlin and I do! But everyone was just saying that the strike was a transportation strike and no one ever got into details explaining what it was about. So we thought no taxis, no buses or trains, we could live with that. It wasn't even until we were stuck in the road block that we realized we might be in over our heads!
So what was the strike all about? Apparently a law had been passed in the beginning of October to allow private companies to provide tourist services at Peru's archaeological sites. This would allow state governments to award 10-year licenses to private companies for cleaning, security, restaurant and museum services at archaeological sites. Cusco locals had immediately voiced opposition to the new law but nothing had come from it. Until the Regional Federation of Cusco Workers organized a two day strike, which we just happened to be in the middle of. So the entire city and surrounding area was striking... including the city leaders, demanding that Peru’s national government repeal the law. Definitely more than just the transportation strike people had sloughed it off to be.
I feel like in order to get the significance this law would have on the Peruvian people you have to look at how ingrained history is in them. I obviously am not an expert, and I have only a small short experience to base this on but it seemed like their entire identity was based upon it. The people seemed to have more passion for their history than any culture I have ever experienced. So when they argued that the private companies could never possibly manage everybody’s heritage and that it was an attack against their culture I had to agree. However once getting home I did some research about the law and the law would not apply to archaeological sites which are officially designated as national or world heritage sites, sites like Machu Picchu. But there are 19,000 archaeological sites identified throughout all of Peru, the majority of which have not been deemed either national or world heritage sites. So most of them would have been affected.
I feel like the people had a right to fight for their rights. I don't know that this was the best way to do it as it was estimated that each day of striking cost the region $1.5 million in revenue from tourists. But in the end they did rebuke the law so it was obviously effective. It makes me appreciate a little more as to why they were so persistent in not letting us get to Machu Picchu.
In the end, this ended up being a huge learning lesson for me. I think that every cities peace and safety is incredibly fragile! We need to always remember that we are visitors, their is so much more going on then we are aware of as tourists. It is our responsibility to be vigilant in trying to be aware of what is going on so that we can do all we can to keep ourselves safe. Thankfully we were never hurt and nothing got violent, but it could have easily went the other way. I don't ever want to be in the wrong place again just because of ignorance.
This is of course all just my opinion!
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