Date : October 23th, 2000
From: America Latina 2001
Subject : Strike in the french way
Place : Pucon

STRIKE IN THE FRENCH WAY

Plan of the week: going to the South towards a small town on the coast named Constitution. Getting the car repaired was our watchword, Carlos's father agreed to help us in the several checks in order for it to eat up our 24 860 miles. Much to our surprise, the mechanic living next to our house warned us that lorry drivers were to be on strike on tuesday of that week; bad luck since the last strike of the kind happened in 1971 ! We tried to leave at the crack of dawn anyway. On the first barricade in sight on the outskirts of Santiago, pneumatics were burning, Chilian flags were flapping under the first sun beams. We went through quite easily and took the time to take some pictures among other journalists. The aftermath was to be more difficult since in Chile only one tarred road runs across the country from North to South and here strike means total blockade of the road. We had no other choice than to take the diversions, organised by the army, on cross-country roads.

Ten hours and 248 miles later, we finally arrived in Constitution where a second barricade was waiting for us. Despite our compassionate talking with the lorry drivers, there was no way to get through... we had to wait till a police car arrived and we could dodge in and out of the fifty lorries or so that were blocking the entry of the town. We realised the extent of the strike on watching television in the evening: the whole country was strike-bound.

Carlos's family welcomed us and was to accompany us during the next four days. We quickly get acquainted with the family's mechanic : on arriving in front of his house we saw a tractor parked in the shed and wrecks of four-wheel drive were in the courtyard... this didn't match exactly with the idea one has of what a garage is. A small old man arrived, he is the boss : "El Maestro", we told him about the oil leak and the spare parts we wanted to replace, he listened to us attentively and cast a glance on the engine. He then decided to make a complete major service of the car: change of the fuel filter, the air filter, the sparking plugs, the oil, adjust the timing, the repairing of the propeller,... The day after we told him that we were willing to put a metallic plate under the engine : he measured it and hup! he did a made-to-measure plate. In return for their work we offered El Maestro and the mechanic two kgs of meat and one bottle of Pisco (the local alcohol), which was nothing compared to the quality of the work they did on the 505. What made our stay in Constitution very pleasant was above all was the presence of Carlos and Maria (Carlos's parents in Santiago) and of Juan Pablo (the younger brother). The way they welcomed us was quite brilliant ! When we arrived at their home on tuesday evening, we sat down at the table where all kind of typical courses were put, Carlos didn't forget to make us taste the Piscola (Pisco and Coke). Around two o'clock in the morning we finished the dinner with a home-made alcohol. Wow... it was a long time since we hadn't been in such a state !

The next day was much more peaceful. On thursday night, some friends of the family joined us for dinner. The couple were both teachers and the exchange of opinions we had on our respective countries was very interesting : we retained that Chile is gradually losing its identity ; when Pinochet came to power, this latino country started taking example on the United States, admission fees for universities were set up ($4 500 per year) and the richest have now privileged access to education. Let's not talk about the Social Security (which doesn't exist) and let's remember above all one figure : a Chilian worker earns $200 a month.

Ciao
Philippe and Olivier