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Mid-strike update

July 8, 2008 @ 8pm in Peru (181 days ago) - View/add comments at Blogger.com

The streets are quiet, shops are barricaded and soldiers armed with machine guns are on patrol...

Thought I'd give you a quick update on the strike here in Peru (don't worry, we're all good!).

It's been a peaceful one all day here in our town, the authorities have been keeping a close eye on the protest, which has been moving up and down the streets throughout the town for much of the day.

Here's what we saw down the street this morning. Schools were closed:
As were all the shops. Quite unusual as they open long hours here! A street vendor across the road from us was open for business. Handy if you need some fresh Vitamin C!
The roads were blocked around the town, so you could not travel out to other towns or back here, but motor taxis still ran around town throughout the day - some charging higher fares for operating during the strike.

On one of my motor-taxi trips today we came around the corner and were right behind the police, following the protesters:
The crowd of strikers
And here they are gathering in the main square
Walking back from the work site this afternoon, I got a few images of the shops in the CBD. Most closed, some open - though only through their small doors (which most have in their roller doors!) In fact, the internet cafe I'm in tonight is rather warm due to all the roller doors being closed. The door open below is for another internet cafe in town
And the video store is open too! Use the little door
Locals sitting around in the park in the main square, across from the usually busy, always open shops!!
We're all safe and sound, and were able to work today both on the job site and also at the hospital. The following posts give a wrap up of that.

This is Ben, signing off from remote Peru. Further reports will be transmitted at a later date!

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Mid-strike update

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