Day 21

Wooo three week mark! I guess I have a little bit of information to update everyone on.. Yesterday, we were told that we didn´t have any afternoon classes because the military had come into town, blocking off all roads in and out of Santa Cruz. They were sent because Santa Cruz wants a percentage of their gas money that they export, larger than what they recieve. Apparently the gov´t is just there to make sure the gas is exported to Brazil and Argentina. But there was a bunch of rioting etc later on in the evening, from what I could tell on tv.. I don´t think anyone was killed, but they were tear gassing places etc. The crowd was throwing rocks, fireworks, anything to fight back.. Apparently they destroyed this phone company that´s owned by the government. I don´t really understand all of it. Last night you could hear gun shots, either really late, or early in the morning. Also today, the secretary poked her head in the room, telling everyone that the situation is possibly getting worse (from what I understand) and there were a few kids that got pulled out of class to go home. I also heard a rumor, although not too sure if it´s true, that the military was just around the corner from the school, at a hospital of sorts. I believe that because when I came outside, I was talking to a girl, telling her that the military was around the corner, and at that very moment there were a bunch of gun shots.. Which I´ve heard a few times today. I think they were even pulling a few kids out of class because they´re in military training (you need it to go to university, get a job etc so everyone joins) and are being asked to come join the military and fight against their own city. I know that I probably am making this sound a lot worse than it is, because I don´t feel in danger, and no one seems to be making a big deal out of this. My family hasn´t even talked to me about it yet, so I don´t know. If I didn´t know better, I´d think they didn´t even know about anything happening. It´s like this is a regular occurance around here. I tried watching the news, it´s mostly about the riots. There´s nothing online about any of this, other than something saying that Evo Morales was sending in some troupes to keep up the gas exportation. School´s been cancelled for tomorrow, and hopefully this ends pretty soon, and doesn´t escalade any time soon. I´ll keep everyone updated!