Today we started the next leg of our journey - onwards towards Chile. We travelled over familiar territory today, first taking the road from Cusco to Juliaca (a grubby town with lots of small scale brick makers belching smoke everywhere), then onto the road towards Arequipa. We did not (plan to) make Arequipa today but camped again at the road junction just north of Imata on a very large flat area near a salt lake.

It was a pleasant days drive through weather that varied from light rain to bright sun. At the little town of Aguas Caliente on the road to Juliaca we noticed a traditional Inca suspension bridge made out of woven grass ropes. The bridge seemed to be barricaded to prevent use - seems sensible to us as we would not walk on it.

To our surprise there was a lot of activity at our intended camping spot. Many vehicles and people. An American from UCLA doing geological research in Peru stopped by to say hello and told us that the road was closed by a political protest. We had heard that this is a common practice in Peru when people don't agree with the government. As the night progressed more and more vehicles arrived to join the queue of stationary vehicles on the highway.