Briefly...

This'll be a short one because I'm a little tired and honestly not much is new since my last post. Yesterday we went to the Aconcagua Valley an hour outside of Santiago. There we met with some temporary workers who work in different fruit exporting factories. They told us about their lives and very very poor working conditions. It was very hard to hear, especially when they were talking to us, a group of upper middle class college students, about how their children can't get educations or have educational opportunities taken away from them when their parents try to organize for more rights. A lot of their complaints are similar to those that California workers had when they fought with Cesar Chavez for fair labor conditions. It struck me that this country has only really had a functioning democracy for the past 20 years or so. So now they're trying to go through the reforms that other democratic countries have gone through in the past. But in Chile, all of these reforms are trying to happen at once, which makes for an incredibly difficult situation for both the politicians and the people affected by the political decisions.

I was very impressed with the attitude of all the workers we met. They were joking and laughing while they described their horrible working conditions. And they were so glad to see us and said they felt lucky to be able to teach us more about their lives first hand. They are unbelievably strong people, which made the tough information they were giving us a little easier to take. Then we got the opportunity to go out to lunch with them. We got to know a few of them a little better and practice our spanish, both of which were great opportunities. After lunch we went to see a beautiful view on one of the hills in the valley. Then we went to a chichería, which is a type of alcohol that's like wine which has been cooked before it's fermented. It tastes delicious.

We got back pretty late last night, so some of us got empanada takeout. Then we got a few bottles of wine and beer and hung out as a group on the patio of our hostel. A few people here are one the ballroom dance team, and know salsa. So I got to learn a few very basic salsa moves which was great.

Today we're off for another packed day. We're going to see the wide variety of neighborhoods in Santiago, from the richest to the poorest. It should make for a very interesting adventure.