Mountains and Wild and Wacky Ellie

Last weekend it rained, washing out all the much-aligned (and we think overblown) pollution out of the air. We have to admit that the mountains--which we could always see as somewhat indistinct shapes in the skyline--were particularly beautiful when visible in sharp detail through a smog-free sky. Here's the view from our apartment:


The kids seem to be excited about learning Spanish, which is great since they'll start in a Spanish-only Kindergarten tomorrow. Here they are reading along with a Berlitz CD reading a story in Spanish:


Meanwhile, they continue to be wild, wacky, and fun (at least most of the time). Here are a couple of photos we snapped this week of Ellie being silly: first wearing her version of a five year old onesie--Ben's shirt tucked in to Ben's underwear, and then goofing off with the vacuum cleaner attachments and gloves on her feet.

Developed World Problems in Chile

After almost three weeks in Chile, one of the things that keeps striking Nathan and me is how normal and pedestrian social problems seem to be in Chile.

Our first few days I kept noticing the graffiti that I saw around time. I never saw graffiti in Cambodia--people didn't have money to waste on spray paint.

Chile has its homeless population just like Cambodia does, but in Chile, they look more like homeless in the US--wearing lots of clothes to stay warm outside, carrying all their possessions with them. In Cambodia, the very poor simply didn't have possessions, and homelessness wasn't uncommon. Many cyclo drivers, for example, simply sleep on the streets in their cyclos.

Thinking about the national political issues here is also illuminating. People are upset because--after many years of admirably low rates--inflation has reached double digits. Pollution (In the winter, Santiago has a brown cloud similar to Denver's) and traffic are considered to be major issues. And the big scandal of Bachelet's term as President was that her public transportation inititiave was unpopular. After Cambodia--where the big issues are big league corruption, selling girls for sex, and trying the Khmer Rouge--this all seems laughably minor.

Military Standoff at the Thai-Cambodian Border

Our Ambassador often used to say that having the ancient temple of Preah Vihear, located in Cambodia right on the northern border with Thailand, inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage list was Cambodia's top foreign policy priority. Getting a set of ruins on a temple didn't seem like a big deal to us, but it was a huge issue of honor, pride, and potential tourist dollars for Cambodia.

Cambodia succeeded in getting Preah Vihear added a few weeks ago, but their success has angered Thailand, which says that part of the greater temple territory is in Thai territory, and wanted to have a joint listing. Now, in response to pressure from a group called the People's Alliance for Democracy, Thailand has sent troops to the border, and Cambodia has responded by sending its own troops.

All this, and the presidential elections are to be held in 10 days...

Cambodia: Little hope for Thai talks

By SOPHENG CHEANG – 13 hours ago

PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia has informed the U.N. Security Council that Thai forces have violated its territory near an ancient World Heritage Site temple where hundreds of troops continued to face off Sunday.

Cambodia's permanent mission in New York submitted a letter to the chairman of the Security Council and the chairman of the General Assembly to "draw their attention to the current situation on the Cambodian-Thai border," Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said.

"Cambodia is not asking for U.N. intervention. We still stick to Prime Minister Hun Sen's instructions to try to solve the problem peacefully between the two sides," the minister told reporters in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

It was unclear when the letter was submitted.

The conflict over territory surrounding Preah Vihear temple escalated when UNESCO recently approved Cambodia's application to have the complex named a World Heritage Site. Thai activists fear the new status will undermine Thailand's claim to nearby land since the border has never been demarcated.

Troops from the opposing forces were on the brink of a shoot-out Thursday night, which was avoided when Cambodians retreated from a site occupied by the Thais.

Opposing commanders and their troops have tried to defuse tensions, sometimes even sharing meals, snapping photographs and sleeping within easy sight of one another.

A Cambodian general, meanwhile, said he had little hope that upcoming talks between his government and Thailand will resolve the tense border dispute.

Cambodian Brig. Gen. Chea Keo said Thai troops have deployed an artillery piece about half a mile northeast of Preah Vihear temple — the latest escalation ahead of Monday's meeting aimed at averting a military confrontation.

"Regarding the talks tomorrow, we have little hope about the outcome," Chea Keo said.

He said the reason for his pessimism stems from a recent counterclaim by Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej that the area around a Buddhist pagoda near the historic temple belongs to Thailand. Thai troops have been stationed at the pagoda since Tuesday.

Hun Sen wrote a letter to Samak on Thursday saying relations had been "worsening" since Thai troops "encroached on our territory," and asked him to pull them back.

Responding to his Cambodian counterpart, Samak said the area around the pagoda referred to in the letter "is within the Thai territory," according to a statement Saturday from the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

While urging both sides to exercise restraint, Samak's letter said the settlement of Cambodians in that area constitutes "a continued violation of Thailand's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Despite their pledge to hold talks Monday in Thailand to try to defuse the tensions, both Cambodia and Thailand have massed troops at the site.

"We continue to be on alert at all time. And at the same time, we keep instructing our soldiers to be patient and avoid being blamed for starting a war," Chea Keo said Sunday.

The dispute has taken a toll on tourism in the area, with the Thai side closed to visitors. It also is starting to hurt economic relations between the two neighbors.

Associated Press writers Ambika Ahuja in Bangkok, Thailand, and Ker Munthit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, contributed to this report.

Bienvenidos a Chile!

Greetings from Santiago! After six peripatetic weeks in the US, we arrived in Santiago on Tuesday. I'm experiencing a very pleasant culture shock--it's so strange to have a foreign service posting in such a developed country! Although of course it will take time for us to learn the city, become familiar with Chilean culture, know where to go for dry cleaning/internet/clothes/groceries/etc., at first glance this just seems like a really easy place to get around in. Our Spanish from Mexico is coming back to us, and it is exciting to feel like we are more self-sufficient here than we were in our first few days in other posts.

We packed our home leave with tons of visits to family and friends, so we didn't get a chance to do as much blogging as we had hoped. We'll try to catch up on posting photos from that soon. In the meantime, here are some pics from our first few days in Chile.

Here's the view from our apartment. Our permanent housing--a house in the 'burbs--won't be ready for a month, so we are staying in a nice apartment downtown (in the Las Condes neighborhood) about a 15 minute walk from the embassy. You can see how modern Santiago is with all the big buildings surrounding the little Catholic church.

The kids are enjoying the cold. To Nathan and me, this feels less like winter and more like fall, with daytime temps in the 40s to 60s.

In our first few days here, Nathan and the kids found two great playgrounds within walking distance of our apartment--that's two more nice playgrounds than there were in all of Cambodia for most of our time there.

The embassy is a nice, modern building.

Ambassador Paul Simons and Deputy Chief of Mission (ie #2 at the embassy) Carol Urban watch the flag raising ceremony at the embassy on July 4.

A Chilean military band played American patriotic songs at the flag raising.

Well, the kids are starting to tear apart the Starbucks where we are, so I need to go. One note for all our friends and family is that we will have trouble staying in touch for our first few weeks here. We can't set up internet or long distance access until we are in our permanent housing and have Chilean national IDs, which basically means that we can't even start that process for another month. In the meantime, our internet access will be limited to periodic visits to Starbucks and other shops with wi-fi (and Jen squeezing in a few minutes to check personal messages from work), and the only way we can call the US is to make a special trip to the embassy on the weekends. But we'll do our best to stay in touch despite these limitations!