Monday, May 5

Sorry this is such a late posting but we spent all day at the University of Santa Maria. We are happy to report that all students and all suitcases are now in Hotel Americas. At the University we had lectures on Chilean culture, Latin American economics and the Salsa. We all ate a filling lunch in the student cafeteria. Perhaps the most interesting part of the day involved a student strike. The students, all of whom are commuters, have been on strike for several weeks because the student bus fares were raised about 60%. (The strike means that they are not attending classes but they are still on campus.) During the day we witnessed a big meeting of the students and I will post photos later. Unfortunately, some of the students decided to block the main road to make their point and the police did not like that. We had to cut our salsa class short and leave the campus before the police moved in. It reminded me of the bad old days of the late 60s and 70s, but it was a shock for everyone else including our Chilean student guides. I was very impressed with how quickly our Santa Maria student guides got us off campus and took us back to the hotel via the train. Never a dull moment.