I should be on a bus right now headed for Puno, Peru on the shore of Lake Titicaca. But there's another strike and no buses are leaving. I'm not kidding. It seems the labor movement is getting me back for all the hard things I made union employees do while I worked in television. So I'm going tomorrow. I hope.

This strike doesn't seem to be as serious as the last. This one is for transport employees only and isn't doing anything to the city... just to people trying to get out of it. They paraded through town for a while this morning and brought about a fairly large police presence on the streets, but nothing that would make one worry. So I'm on the 2pm bus tomorrow afternoon for the highest navigable lake in the world... or whatever.

"A total of ten Guinnesses between us."
It's been nice the last couple of days just lazing around Cusco. I met a great British couple on the Inca Trail and have been hanging out with them a bit. A couple of days ago Richard and I went to an Irish pub for what I called "one beer." It wound up being a total of ten Guinnesses between us, along with a few local beers. And mind you, these were 14 soles each... about four dollars. But it was great. I hadn't drunk Guinness since I left home, and hadn't had anything at all to drink since I was in Costa Rica.

Richard and Helen are also doing a round-the-world trip, but in the other direciton. They leave next month for New Zealand where they're gonna work at a ski resort for the season. Wish I'd thought of that. But the sucky part is they have work visas... something Americans can't get. So you probably wont see me working as a lift monkey on your next ski trip to Kiwiland.

"Only a fraction of them are people I'd want to spend time with."
It's been cool, though, hanging out with them. While I meet a ton of people traveling, only a fraction of them are people I'd want to spend time with. And there are fewer still with whom I can identify with in a way where I can totally be myself and not have to work hard to make conversation or overcome cultural differences. It's possible I'll meet up with Richard and Helen again in Buenos Aires just before we fly off to our respective next continents.