Concepcion

Chile, like so many countries, is a land of contrasting economic circumstances. Today the Peters took us for a drive, first to the Concepcion University, a beautiful campus surrounded by green lawns and modern buildings.





We then drove across the Bio Bio River to the nearby suburb of San Pedro where new and very expensive housing developments are sprouting up on the hills with gorgeous views over the river and sea. This is also an area where elite private schools are being built to service the upper middle class residents.







After that we drove to the township of Lota, about 30km sounth-west of Concepcion. Lota is a working class suburb that once housed workers from the local coal mine. The mine closed in 1965 and since then the level of unemployment has risen to record levels with the result that Lota is one of the poorest towns in the region. The houses are run down though very colourful, the roads are in poor condition and the local market is said to have the cheapest produce around. We had lunch in a local cafe where our two course meal cost about half what we'd paid for an iced coffee in Santiago last Thursday!


















Finally we drove to Wessex School where Benjamin, Samuel and Martin go to school. This is an English medium school to grade 7 then Spanish with some English classes. It's one of the better schools without being an elite private school. As you can see from the flags the English heritage is still valued here.