La Politica nacional

Sunday is the day of national elections here, and Chile is on the verge of electing it's first government from the right since Pinochet was deposed. How does that affect me, you might ask? All the bars had to close at midnight Saturday night.

Speaking of politics, the change in the mood toward Americans since Barack Obama was elected is unbelievable. I've seen it talking to locals and British/European travelers. Ever since the Iraq war started, the tension towards Americans has been palpable. (A drunk Polish guy once tried to start a fight with me in a bar in Prague just because I was American, before his friends drug him away.) Now, it's totally different. More people than I can count have gone out of the way to tell me how much their opinion of the United States has improved since we elected Obama.

But, some people out there are doing everything they can to undo the goodwill. On the bike tour we took of Santiago, our guide asked me if it was true that a U.S. politician said that the earthquake was God's punishment to Haiti. I tried to explain that Pat Robertson was a TV preacher and not a politician, and that he was crazy. I´m not sure that the message took, though.

Giant corn at the Santiago fruit and vegetable market.

































The municipal drainage ditch Mapocho River splits Santiago in half. Notice the mural of prone Jesus behind us.

















This is the ¨old¨ U.S. embassy. Apparently our envoys recently moved to a fortress across town.