unrest in cajamarca: CONGA NO VA!

UPDATE!!!! there is unrest in cajamarca!!

 sorry i dont have fun stuff for you guys, but this is exciting! 

so the mines, the conga no va- graffitied all over the place in cajamarca... ill explain.

there is a new mine called CONGA that was was going to be opened in dec. but the ppl went on strike bc they were going to blow up 4 of the lakes to open the mine, but cajamarca is an agricultural town- the economy, everything. so the ppl need the water from the lakes to live off of, go figure. so the strike in dec lasted for 11 days. there was NO transportation at all. no busses, no combis, no taxis. no food came in or out, and thats how these ppl live. food prices escalated and all the stores were empty. liz and miguel (my current host fam) had to go somewhere so they hiked for forever past cajamarca into the mountains to some secret place w a car, and the guy took all sorts of back roads and when they got out they had to jump out of the car! baha! so anyways, during a strike its not so safe for the white ppl bc if you are white here it means you work in the mines. and they throw rocks at you. (which to me seems kind of ironic.. baha bc like ppl that work in the mines are covered in black soot or dirt or whatever it is...) anyways, there is supposed to be a HUGE strike in cajamarca starting tomorrow. 

this one is hard to see, but its a cool pic. it says CONGA NO VA with a fist. pretty cool...

so the strike.... no busses, no taxis, etc. so hecka good thing im in banos for the week (the other interns are on their way back from cuzco right now). the busses wont be running but i wont need to go anywhere (on strike days there is no bichito). this strike is for an indefinite amount of time, so nobody knows how long it will last. could be super long, quien sabe? basically until there is no food and ppl are getting hurt... or until the gov cracks. which will be nearly impossible this time bc apparently when ollanta (the prez of peru) was elected he said he would protect the lakes, but he has gone back on his word and the people are furious. this is why: the mine makes 5.5 million daily (errrday- tanner) and theyve given a huge amount, maybe like 19 million to the prez as a gift, and apparently hes already spent it. so he is now siding with the mines. neither side will budge, so it could get pretty dangerous. im heading back to cajamarca shortly to go get all of our stuff (even if the strike ends soon, its not going to be safe for us gringos. especially if the mines win) and we are just going to hunker down in banos until we can get out. then im planning on finishing out my internship in trujillo. it just seems like a good idea to leave. liz said if im registered w the US state department of travel (i dont remember what its called), if worst comes to worst and we cant get out, the US can fly in w helicopters and can come pick me up! baha, i dont think it will get that bad, but how cool would that be??! anyways, no need to worry, i should be fine and i feel safe w miguel here. he can protect us. im not worried. 

i just heard a radio or something blasting out the window, obviously protesting. i heard something about ollanta, water, CONGA NO VA! sounds about right. ill keep you guys posted! 

also, there is no internet in banos unless we go to mamitas, so yall might not hear from me in a while. who knows how long this strike will last... keep me in your prayers! love you guys!

besitos!

jilly :)