Just when we thought things were on the up and up...

...here's a translation of an email we got from Daniela, one of our employees who works with the Patagonia Sin Represas campaign in Coyhaique:

As far as things go here, nothing came of the minister's visit; he asked yesterday that all the barricades come down before he'd even sit down and talk.  This morning, the protesters counterproposed that they open the barriers every two hours, but the minister rejected the idea, which spurred the leaders of the protests to declare a total blockage.  The government answered with the threat to impose the national security law.  People in Coyhaique started to protest and set up barricades early this afternoon, and there are a lot of people in the central plaza who plan to spend the night there.  For now things haven't gotten out of hand, but the government is just waiting for the first fighting or looting to send in special forces.  It's looking ugly.  This afternoon, finally, I got to talk with Patricio [another Sin Represas employee] and I told him that I was worried...his words were, "That's how revolutions are..."

So far things haven't gotten worse here in Val Chac, but if things continue as it seems they will, we may be waiting for an air drop of food and seeing cancellations from our guests slated to come in the next couple weeks.  Stay tuned...