Well, I'm trapped in San Pedro for now...my bus was not allowed to cross the Andes after waiting 3 hours in the desert staring out at the snowy peaks. The stories kept changing....they're clearing it....there's too much ice....it'll open in a half hour. In the end, the Carabineros turned us back, and I rushed back to my hostal, hoping they'd have a room (this town is very crowded, with tourists pouring in and out daily). They had an open double, so I grabbed it. A few bucks more than a single, but it was that or the dormitory, which I'm just too old for at this point. So I'm in my third room at this hostal :) I like it a lot though, so all's well that end's well. Let's hope they let us across tomorrow...
You've probably noticed my blog has suddenly become less political, now that I'm away from the city. But of course, history and politics exist everywhere, albeit stage left, or hidden as is so often the case in the desert. There's a new film coming out that was shot in this desert about the disappeared of the Pinochet era, many of whom were apparently secretly buried in the desert. See the below links...thanks Julie Connery for the heads-up:
Guzman, as mentioned, shot the amazing Battle for Chile, mentioned in the above article, and previously in my blog. It's truly one of the most amazing documentaries I've seen as it basically follows the play-by-play of the Chilean revolution, leading up to the coup. Guzman had no idea he was shooting the end of an era, and when the coup happened, he was imprisoned, but his film was smuggled out and is now being shown to high school kids as the education system here is still more or less blacking-out what happened at that time, and people aren't always aware of how severe, unjust and criminal the coup was. People will still tell you openly that they support the coup happening, which is rather bizarre, but perhaps understandable among the right and the neoliberals who benefitted immensely from it, and who apparently are ethically corrupt. Where's the shame? They killed the president and destroyed a democratic tradition.....I've heard a lot lately about a lot of info surfacing that Allende was going to resign or call a new election, but the generals didn't want that as they wanted control, and democracy just couldn't provide it, so they preferred to go ahead with the coup. Scary.
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