Good News From Chile (You Go Girl!)

The Dear Friend and Conscience (DF&C) is a world traveler and recently returned from a five-week sojourn to South America. Yes, she thought Machu Picchu was all that it was cracked up to be. Patagonia with its penguins, sea lions, cormorants and condors was fab. Uruguay was sweetly quaint. But the country she unexpectedly liked best was Chile.

The DF&C said you could feel the winds of change, and riding those winds is Chile's new president, Michelle Bachelet, who is a Socialist, pediatrician and former exile. Who would have thunk that someone like her -- and it is extraordinary that Bachelet is a her -- would take the helm of this most conservative and chauvinistic country. (Update: Bachelet took the oath of office on March 11.)

The New York Times has now noticed these big doings. Go here for the details and here for a story on her swearing in.