Pacos Culiaos!

Ok pretty crazy week. I'll start with the less interesting stuff. Our basketball team lost our second game dropping us to 0-2...yikes. We got down early by about 15 points and it wasn't looking good. I would bet the other team shot literally 80% including three pointers...they just wouldn't miss, they were a good team. We fought back and were actually up 2 points with about 2 minutes left, but fell apart again and lost. I played the first half, but got very tired and started playing badly so coach pulled me out of the game. I need to work on my conditioning, but the air here is really bad and doesn't help at all. It was a heart breaker. As for my other team, the Winnipeg Weons, we lost our first game on Saturday night leaving us with a solid 3-1 record. Basketball has been fun and I look forward to every practice and game. We also got really cool warm-up gear and jerseys...its legit.

In other news...there was a riot at my University on Wednesday...crazy stuff. I will start by saying I didn't have my camera during my riot so I have no pictures of the absolute chaos but I will try my best to explain it. Two of the pictures I've included I got off the internet (the picture of a different riot at my school in 2008 and the picture of the two Chilean riot trucks), the other two I took about two hours after the riot with the lingering effects of the tear gas and the patrolling riot trucks, but it is nothing compared to the actual experience.

Well I wasn't supposed to be at the university in the first place Wednesday morning, but my Chilean friend Cecy asked if I would come to her English presentation that morning. I went to her presentation, everyone did really well, and we hung out at the University's patio for a little. I got a little hungry around 11am, so I said goodbye to Cecy and went out onto the street to walk home. The entrance to the University is on a side street, about 30 meters from the main street of Santiago (Alameda). I stepped outside, glanced over to the right (Alameda) and saw a group of about 40 students standing in the street. They were jumping and whistling and yelling various things, so I wanted to check it out.

I walked over, and it turned out it was a protest. I found a few of my friends from the U in the crowd and asked them what we were protesting but they didn't know. Oh well, the energy was really fun so I hung out in the crowd. They were blocking the main street of Santiago, and men were leaning out their car window yelling stuff at the students, but the students stood firm in the street. No sign of cops, so the yelling and whistling and jumping continued non-violently. I was in the middle of the street enjoying the aura of the protest around me. It was full of energy, but peaceful....until BOOM!

The cops threw/launched a tear gas grenade into the group of students about 2 meters away from me. It was loud, and there was a little panic in the crowd as the students started running/tripping/climbing over each other to get back to our side street away from the burning gas. I had a little smirk on my face as I was pushing, being pushed, and running away from the bomb. It was a unique experience. Everyone settled down onto the sidewalks of our side street and the road was cleared (except for lingering tear gas). People were rubbing their eyes, sneezing, and crying from the gas, but we were out of immediate harms way safe on the sidewalks in front of our school.

A few brave students were trying to make their way back to the main street. But then a huge riot police truck peeked around the corner on the main street and started shooting its water cannon to keep us back. I have a picture of the big green truck with the water cannon. It parked in front of our side street, cannon blasting, keeping everyone at a distance from Alameda. I was out of reach from the water, so I stood on the sidewalk catching my breath. At this point there were about 100-150 students total. We were quieted from the tear gas, people hunched over spitting, sniffling and crying trying to regain their senses, but it wasn't over yet.

Another smaller truck appeared (also in one of the pictures provided). It came screaming down our street, with tear gas cannons on full blast shooting each sidewalk. I saw it coming about 50 meters away, but there was no running from it. People were panicking at this point, trying to pry their way into the university to escape the searing gas. The truck got to me, and the gas filled my lungs, I took a few quick steps to the right, turned around, went to the left for a little, then my instincts took over telling me how to escape from this horrible thing happening to my body!

I found an entrance into the University, crowded with everyone else trying to escape the fumes. I went deep into the University, and found Cecy doing the same thing. We hung out in the "bunker" for a while, the gas had poured into the school (but not as strong as outside), and everyone was in bad shape. Girls were sobbing, eyes were swollen, and the protesters were getting riled up.

I waited about 15 minutes in the University, and decided I had my fair share of chemical warfare, so I made for the exit to try and walk home. I went outside, but at this point it was just me and about 40 of our bravest protesters out on the street. I glanced over to the right (Alameda) and now they had a line of about 10 Carabineros (cops) on horseback guarding the main road. The big riot truck was out of sight. The a few rebels used this to their advantage, and a few started hurling rocks in the direction of the cops on horseback. Uh oh.

More tear gas bombs started exploding from the direction of the horseback riders, and everyone started running in the opposite direction. Out of the frying pan into the fire. The big riot truck had flanked us! It was approaching from behind, with about 15 cops marching on foot (gas masks on) beside it. The big riot truck turned on its tear gas cannon (this thing could launch like 30 meters) and we were in a cloud of tear gas, sandwiched by cops in both directions.

Since there were only about 40 students, I knew I was going to get arrested. They started screaming "HANDS UP HANDS UP" to all the students. We were crammed together in a group, pushing, stepping on each other, scrambling for clean air that didn't exist. I had my hands straight up, trying to find an escape rout...but this was the first time in the event that I was truly scared. I thought they were going to start shooting bean bag guns, or at least arrest all of us.

Adrenaline took over, and I spotted a brave old man across the street standing in the midst of the tear gas. He had opened a gate for the students and was waving us over. I made a break for it across the open street. I had my hands straight up the whole time, running like an Orangutan for the cracked gate, chin tucked into my chest ready to take a bean bag from the police at any second. Everyone followed doing the same thing, and the police were hot on our tail.

Everyone poured into the gate like a bunch of 12 year old girls getting into a Jonas Brothers concert. The police were trying to do the same thing, so we had to close the gate before everyone was in. I made a break for the farthest corner I could find of the complex to get away from the gas. We closed the gate, and some unlucky students didn't make it in. I heard at least 6 were arrested and got taken into the station.

I will give props to the students, and that old man, because they were very brave and blunt with the police. Standing proud in the tear gas screaming curse words with their scratchy throats at the police from the locked gate, telling them they can't enter. And if they tried, the students would be ready. They had stockpiled desks and chairs in the hallway as ammunition if the police tried to get in.

Kids were hunched over in the back patio of this refuge. Spitting, coughing, sneezing, muttering curse words under their breath, and things quickly settled down in the streets. After about 15 minutes, I decided (for the 2nd time) that I was finally done with the tear gas, and I went back to the gate. The old man was standing proud guarding it, and the rebels were standing guard ready to launch some classroom equipment at the police. I peeked my face out through the gate (tear gas still very present) and decided I could make a break for my house. I told the man I was ready to leave, and he cracked the gate open so I could slip out. I ran like Forrest Gump until I was clear of the warzone. I went back to my house to recover from the day's activities.

When I went to class about 2.5 hours later, I finally figured out why they were rioting. The government was imposing a 10 peso ($.02) increase in the price for students to ride the subway.

2 cents??? Not on our watch!