Day 29: Three strikes and you're out

So today was started by some disappointment. We knew that we'd be limited on sleep having arrived back from Machu Picchu after 10pm and having to wake up at 2am for the rainbow mountain tour. Thus we were awake, waiting for our lift to take us. They arrived and we fell asleep on the bus pretty much instantly. Two hours later and we were informed to our dismay that the trip was cancelled. We could go no further. The teachers and some other services (not entirely sure) were on strike and had blocked the roads, one of which was to the rainbow mountain. We were promised a refund but it isn't really that easy. This was a tour that we really wanted to do. We sacrificed a lot of sleep and effort into going on the tour. Thus we turned around and went home. Straight to bed of course. When we eventually woke up later and ventured towards the main plaza for some lunch we ran into a lot of said strikers who had now taken to protest marching. We knew it was illegal to join in with the protesters and that was completely fine with me, if anything I wanted to protest against the protesters. They had filled all of the plazas. Clearly showing how they were not at work. As we entered the main plaza we saw a few dozen riot police with riot shields patrolling the perimeter. This was not really what we had signed up for... Thankfully we found a nice place for lunch to sit and relax for several hours. For once appreciating the slow timings of the Peruvian waiters and waitresses. One hour after ordering our starters arrived, delicious nonetheless. Before yet another hour for our next course. It's very odd how little they want your money in either the form of more food, more drinks or good service to warrant a tip. The plaza had now died down and the protesters had dispersed back to their lives to do whatever they want with the rest of their "day off". We were able to get our money back for the tour and check the details of the upcoming trip to the Amazon for four days. But we had to fill the day. We asked the local tourist information what was good to do and received information on how to spend a load of money. There is a Cusco package that gives you entrance to over 10 different sites that you can't buy entrance to otherwise really. We sort of wanted to see one of them which was an old battlefield between the Incas and the Spanish. We were told that we could overlook a lot of it from a statue of Jesus up on a hill. So naturally we decided it would be a great idea to walk up said hill and see this. The views over Cusco were great. All of their roofs are the same muddy brown/orange and the late afternoon sun was hitting them just right. It was worth heading through what seemed a couple of grades better than a favela. We had been told not to travel them at night but during the day they were perfectly safe. At the Jesus statue we managed to eavesdrop on an English-speaking tour guide who explained more things about the Incas and the statue that we were sat in front of. We followed the tour guide for about 30 minutes before starting to settle for the night. Another early wake up can just about be tolerated for the views and experiences. Can't wait for the jungle, we've been told it's a complete lottery what you can see so who knows what will happen.