the streets around the embassy are closed to all local taxpayers .

 

  

walking back from the ecovía stop on the 6 de diciembre , we bumped into the US embassy . it takes up a whole block . they have closed the streets around it , to create a buffer zone . the embassy grounds are surrounded by a 25 ft (or so) tall stone wall . it's quite depressing . there is a white concrete and steel draw-bridge-like contraption (picture below , center) operated by a guard that controls vehicular access . it's like andy grove's book : only the paranoid survive . i wish they would pick up and move . they could build a proper bunker on the outskirts of town like they did in ankara rather than disrupt the fabric of the city .

the guard has noticed us . he's getting nervous and so are we .