Freedom

Sadly, when I see the word Freedom I hear Mel Gibson's voice in Braveheart.  It is a recurring theme in Chile, from the mundane to the movement trying to fundamentally change education. The latter is ongoing, since the latest round of talks between the students and the government seem to have collapsed. The conservative government is very stubborn, and is predictably not responsive to the demand that education be free, or even arranged differently in any substantial way. The students are also holding firm, and aren't all that interested in offers for lower interest rates for loans and expanded scholarships.  So the government forces have tried to kick the students out of some of the schools they have been occupying, which spurs the reaction of rocks and paint being thrown at the police vehicles, and the liberal use of teargas against the students.

I stumbled into a scene a couple of blocks from our apartment where I snapped these photos, and then the wind changed direction and a diluted teargas cloud introduced me to the acrid smell that precedes anything intense, which our whole family ran into a couple of days later. Last Thursday, as we climbed up out of the metro toward the bus terminal, the station had very few people in it, and most of them had scarves of other clothing over their faces. As we stepped off the train it smelled strongly of overheated brakes or some kind of fire, and it quickly became much more intense. Throats were burning and eyes running, we ran, gasping for breath for the nearest exit, which unfortunately was a few hallways and flights of stairs away. It turns out the police has attempted to re-take the campus of the University of Santiago, just above the Metro station, and their liberal use of teargas filled the station. Was that a bad parenting moment?

Anyway, we boarded our bus quickly enough to escape it. We had to leave the country to renew our visas, so we're in Mendoza, Argentina for a long weekend. It's quite nice, though expensive and much more touristy than I expected. The wine is cheap though, and it is very good. This morning, while we expected sun, the sky looked gray. It turns out the Chilean volcano Puyehue awoke again yesterday, sending ash over much of Argentina again. Our lungs aren't getting a break here. And tomorrow we head back to Chile again, and there are city-wide protests planned for tomorrow and the next day. Such excitement!