Santiago Update, A Blog to Pass the Time.

Tuesday in Santiago there were a large number of people protesting, mainly education. It started as a peaceful march, but then, according to my friend who was nearby, someone threw a rock and all hell broke loose. The march was never ok-ed by the government, so the police were more or less just waiting for something to happen. Sewage water was sprayed and tear gas released. I just missed most of it as I was getting off the Metro near school. The ground was wet and the gas lingered in the air, making my nose burn, but it wasn’t a big deal. I was talking to a couple people about it and (correct me if I’m totally wrong) during the Pinochet regime a lot of schools were privatized. That trend is continuing and school is becoming very expensive, and apparently the education received isn’t worth the cost. Public schools are being underfunded by the state. And that is why students are mad, generally.
The past couple of days have been rather chill, for me at least. Valpo wore me out. I went grocery shopping on Sunday and have been packing my lunch, which was a brilliant idea. For $3000 I’ve had lunch every day so far, and I still have half a loaf of bread. Normally one lunch would cost me $1500 to $2500 (exchange rate is about $500 CHP to $1 USD).

This morning we climbed to the top of Cerro Santa Lucía, which is a hill downtown with some statues and a little church on top. It would have been beautiful, except it hasn’t really rained in several weeks. This means that the smog just hangs in the city. I can taste the pollution. It’s gross. But supposedly it will rain on Saturday, which would be a blessing. Winter is the worst season for pollution here, or so I’ve heard.
After classes, Lilia and I wandered in Barrio Brasil, stopping at a quirky little restaurant for empanadas. They played Coldplay, the Cure, the Smiths…it was pretty cool. We were headed for a Centro Cultural to see a movie that we saw an advertisement for in a little magazine that has promos for all sorts of fun happenings in Santiago; however, the meal delayed us a bit, as well as the fact that we didn’t really know where we were going. We wandered, and eventually made it to Quinta Normal, which is the western end of the green Metro line. Quinta Normal used to be the rich neighborhood and wasn’t connected to the rest of the city by Metro until a couple of years ago. Now it’s kind of in disrepair. There is a 16-acre park that houses a museum and used to be really glorious, but now it’s eerie, especially at night, and has the vibe of another dimension. We almost got locked in, but clearly we managed to escape, since I’m now in my house recounting the adventure.

There's talk of skipping Thursday and Friday classes next week (Wednesday is a holiday here) and traveling to Patagonia or Buenos Aires. Not sure what I will be doing, but probably neither of those things, at least not next week. Flights to Buenos Aires hover between $200 and $300 USD, but a 20-hour bus ride there only costs $30 USD. I have no idea how much it would cost to get to Patagonia. I'm thinking of Puerto Montt and Chiloé, which isn't really Patagonia, although apparently there are boat trips down south to Punta Arenas, which is way close to the end of the world. Who knows what the future will bring. If only traveling were free...

Regardless, school trip to Pomaire (a town famous for th clay goods, I believe) and Isla Negra (where Pablo Neruda's third house is) tomorrow. [For those of you who don't know him, Pablo Neruda was a poet. I'm a fan of his. We read some of his work in my Spanish Literature class last quarter.]

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