Date: November 10th 2005

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So,

I have some news to share with y'all that has us a little concerned and you should be aware of. On Monday morning (the day after all the fences came down and all the presidents and police had left) we were walking into town and were followed by a large military truck. At one point, someone in plain clothes got out of the truck and followed us for more than a dozen blocks. At one point he said the word¨"gringo" to nobody but himself (and maybe a radio?). We met some of our friends a few hours later at a place we meet them often in the center. They said "you are not safe here" and quickly ushered us to a small out of the way cafe a few blocks away. There we found out that there had been an announcement made on a local radio news station that morning that the police had "identified and were pursuing" a group of "four north Americans" in association with Friday's protest. While they announced on the news that they identified us while reviewing videos of Fridays protest, we are not sure what for. None of us did anything illegal at anytime during the protest, and while we were seen associating with people who participated fully with the protest, we ourselves did not do any property damage or light any fires, or anything of the sort. Realistically I don't think even if they caught up with us they would have any legal grounds to do anything to us. We stayed in the back of the cafe discussing for a few hours and then took a taxi back to where our stuff was where we stayed with a neighbor until our bus left at 9:40 last night. While there we found out that other people had heard the same news on various TVand radio news programs, but it doesn´t seem to have turned up in newspapers.

We are now safely in a town about 16 or 17 hours south of MDP, camping on a secluded point on the beach (or at least we just got off the bus and are on our way to find such a campground which we read about in the lonely planet!). We plan on staying low profile here until the day before our flight home and taking a bus directly back to Buenos Aires.

This news has us a little concerned, but I think all will be fine. We are pretty sure they are talking about us as we are the only group of 4 north Americans who we met at the protests at all, and certainly the only four who stuck it through the tear gas! We also think its us because we have not heard of any other gringos who had been taken to the police station for "identification" which was what happened to us a few days before the protest.

My friend Oscar who I am traveling with has contacted his dad who has a close friend who owns a large corporation in BA (which operates all over the country) who has the iinfluenceto help us out if any legal trouble does arrive. We also have left copies of our passports with friends in MDP, and they have contacted their lawyers just in case.

Again, I don't write this to make you all nervous, but it is something to be aware of. We are pretty certain we are totally safe here. The biggest worry is if something happened when we get to the airport (or even in DC) but all that seems unlikely. It seems much more likely that it will all blow over by the time of our flight.

Anyway, I will write again every couple of days and keep you all updated! No need to worry, we are doing what we can and I´m confident it will all work out just fine!

lots of love,
Jamie