2024-07 - Santiago, Chile

Singular Santiago, Merced 294

I stayed in the dead-center of Santiago, which apparently used to be one of the nicest parts of town, but now was very run down, graffiti everywhere, broken windows, boarded-up shops, empty buildings. Everyone says it's been this way since the 2019 protests, and that they still haven't recovered from that.

Years ago, I'd heard that Chile was the most prosperous economy in South America, so I expected it to be like Switzerland, but so many people I met emphasized that most of the population lives in poverty, and it's a very classist/caste-system culture.

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