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Published: June 10th 2005
After hearing stories from Emi, and Jennie about protests at UPLA I finally experienced a real one for myself. It wasn't just students in the middle of the street sitting in desks blocking the roads from busses passing; OH NO....I have to agree with Emi that this was "Más Violenta". I never in my life thought that I would have to run away from work in order to get onto a bus back to Viña del Mar. So, the story goes like this: I was minding my business upstairs in the loft doing work and thinking about what I was going to be packing for my trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I was alone today in the office so I really was in my own world. Then out of no where I hear "Niña hola, niña, OYE” the secretary downstairs was calling me and of course I wasn't paying any attention. She had informed me that I needed to leave the building NOW.... "tienes que irte AHORA". She came upstairs and said that I was never formally introduced to her so she didn't know my name, but that I really needed to hurry because a protest was taking place and she didn't know if it had already started or if it was already at its bad part. Without a budge I said ok and packed up my belongings and headed out. I got to the gate to leave and said to myself ok let’s see how am I going to get to the bus stop? I couldn't go left nor could I go right and didn't really know how I was supposed to escape from the protest that was taking place. To give you a more graphic image of the protest- there was a fire taking place on my right with these students wearing masks and one in particular with a home aide sling shot thing. To my left was some metal concoction that stretched across the street and a smaller fire in the road than on my right. Not being all that familiar with UPLA campus I thought oh, I'll just go right and take the bus stops that I am familiar with. So bravely I took a right but the little fellow with the sling shot wasn't too fond of that idea. After my "holy shit" response I turned back to the other direction. There were several people standing out there wondering which way to go so I just hung with the crowd. They seemed like they knew what they were doing, or were at least familiar with the routine. I went with a few people walking toward a different bus stop and when they started running, so did I. Apparently we took a wrong turn because the tear gas was down this road and let me just tell you that stuff burns the nose and the throat. Luckily it only lasts a moment, but the moment it pretty strong. We turned around again to take a different route, and I parted from the group and just headed to the sea walk. It was a good call on my part because I got to see the beach for my mile walk to the next bus stop. It was peaceful, calm, beautiful, everything but what UPLA was during the protest. Surprisingly, that was another one of my crazy desires to experience in Chile along with the earthquakes. Call me crazy, I don't know. But the experience was excitingly fun and something I will always remember about my internship experience at UPLA!
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anonymous
non-member comment
Holy Crap!
Dude, that sounds like you got a little scare. Man I would of crapped in my pants! I glad your ok, and had some fun and excitment. I don't know if I would return to that place again, or I would pay a little more attention to what is gooing on next time. Tear gas huh, hurts? Man I could only imagine, but great story to tell your kids or grand kids. Well, hope to see you soon. Be careful. Me and Shane, Love ya TONS!!! - Shannon