Just Another Day in Paradise

We were on our way home from Santiago yesterday, when we ran into this.




A huelga (strike). Who knows what they were upset about... Probably power or water.

Strikes in this country aren't violent, just annoying. They generally consist of upset villagers blocking the roads with rocks, trees, and burning tires until the police come clean it up.

They are usually planned in advance. The president picks a day, say November 18, and they whole country can "strike" on that day. Make a mess & a fuss, about whatever they're upset about. But on November 19, everybody has to go back to work...

This huelga almost made us late for Daniel's birthday party. Daniel is one of our poorest, most troubled boys. He's never had a birthday party, and we wanted his first one to be special. We made it back to RioSanJuan just in time, and celebrated Daniel's 14th birthday with tres leches croissant cake & a showing of Goonies.