Hola from Santiago, Chile!

Yes we´ve arrived in a new continent after some excellent adventures in Spain. We visited Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, Seville and Madrid. Ruth also went to Los Alpujarras, Tarifa and Cordoba. We soaked up the beautiful buildings (including the amazing Moorish castles the Alhambra and the Alcazar), wandered the galleries and ate too much tapas in Granada where its FREE!

Although a lack of langauge prevented us from really getting an idea of Spanish politics one thing that was immediately obvious was the racism against African immigrants. As out bus went over the French border into Spain border guards got on to check our passports. They ended up hauling off an African guy who presumably didn´t have a passport. This would have been bad enough but in full view of the bus the border guards hit this guy round the back of the head and then started shoving him towards their office. The bus sped off and left him there to face who only knows what subsequent abuse and then probably to be sent to a detention centre and possible back to Mauritania or Senegal, where the majority of African immigrants to Spain are orginally from. The GDP per person in Mauritania and Senegal is about $1500 / year compared with Spain´s rate of $24 325. Spain however is, like all western countries, introducing increasingly strict border control. The Spanish police have a reputation for racism see the following articles
http://www.hrea.org/lists/prisoner-rights/markup/msg00020.html

http://www.justiceinitiative.org/activities/ec/ec_spain

Tonight we start our trip north to Bolivia where we´ll finally get some Spanish language skills and therefore be better able to report on the exciting developments in that country.

Also we´ve got a new camera (the last one was stolen in Barcelona) so more photos will be going up soon :)