Peru - Interesting Country

Peru is an amazing place, until you are stopped 14 hours into a 16 hour bus ride at a roadblock/protest! Lima was a blast, but like Bogota, pollution from the cars and busses on the roads was overwhelming at times. We went outside of Lima to checkout Pachacamac, a ruin site that predates the Incas by 1000 years. The landscape down the coast of Peru was not at all what we expected - sand dunes, harsh rock faces, mountains - much like some places in the Middle East. We managed to meet up with some friends ( the nurses) in Lima for a night out at a crazy gringo bar for some Pisco sours ( the local drink) with a rockin´Peruvian band that only belted out classic 80s and 90s rock ( tonnes of G n R).
The next day, we departed on this crazy bus ride, and of course, the higher class bus was sold out, so space was tight to say the least. It was an overnight ride, and as I eluded to before, we ran into some trouble. Peru is in a state of termoil right now with protests, demonstrations and roadblocks all over the country. Anyway, our bus was caught at the beginning of a roadblock, and 12 hours later in the dark, out busdriver did some offroading driving and managed to get us to Arequipa, where we ran into some more blockades (giant rocks and debris on the roads along with fires) but eventually managed to get into the city - quite the experience.
So, due to these and other complications, we are changing our itinerary - no more Puno and Lake Titicaca. Around this area are even more roadblocks, some where they hold the vehicles for up to two days, and lat me tell you, 12 hours was enough for this crew! Tomorrow, we are traveling into Colca Canyon (like the grand canyon) for two days, then flying into Cuzco and on to Machu Picchu.
Hopefully, I can finally figure out how to get some pics onto the blog in Cuzco and I can add some spice to the stories.
Although we have run into some interesting situations, the trip has been a blast so far, and I´m sure there will be many more stories to come.