Trapped in Huaraz

The village strike that I mentioned in the last blog has gathered momentum and come to town. It seems as though most of the locals here are in support of the protest against the new gold mine being built and were demonstrating in a friendly manner with lots of women and children involved.

Or at least it was friendly until a fist fight broke out between one of the protestors and a policeman. The protestor had the audacity to win and was shot dead for it. This didn’t help soothe the conflict and within a few hours there was a riot in the streets and pretty much every window in the main square has been smashed.

It has all calmed down now and, very surprisingly, we have today heard that the government has backed down and agreed to not allow the new mine to be built. In return the protestors have agreed to unblock the roads. We are not sure whether they agreed to do this before or after getting drunk and celebrating, but we hope its before so that we will be able to leave for Lima tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Having to stay in the hostel all week hasn’t been too much of a bind as I needed to recover from the climb anyway, which I have just about done. I’ve spent most of the time observing from the roof top balcony while not mentioning that I own shares in a gold mining company. While sitting there I couldn’t help but notice just how many people are walking around with puppies. But there are never any old dogs to be seen in Huaraz. I wonder where they all are. Who knows? Anyway, i’m off out for one of the special meat pies that are such a delicacy around here.

Bye for now

P.S HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHTON 🙂 🙂 🙂