as you can see in your pictures, there's a ton of construction in downtown santiago. it's too bad these are mostly ugly apartment blocks. the good thing is that people are moving back to downtown and the city center is becoming more and more vibrant. for years, people and businesses have been moving out, usually to las condes or providencia east of downtown, and now many older neighborhoods (like barrio brasil, just west of downtown) are being revived by young professionals. if you get a chance, i really recommend you explore barrio concha y toro (just north of the "republica" metro station, line 1) between the alameda (the big main street) and plaza brasil. cumming street and barrio brasil have a lot of neat little restaurants and bars.
out of bencina congrats on not getting scammed by the cabbie. damn taxi drivers give every city a bad name (i read another travelog where an australian paid US$100 for a cab ride plus $20 tip!). i don't know which travel guide you read that told you you'd be fine with just english. everything i've read on chile says the opposite, that english speakers are rare and knowing some spanish is helpful. i'm chilean and i can tell you very few people speak english well enough to help you, despite the fact the almost everyone is taught it at school and that chilean spanish is packed with english words (esp. chilean slang). enjoy the rest of your time in chile and south america. (bencina [like benzine] is what gasoline is called in chile; in argentina it's called nafta). cheers!
james st. james
non-member comment
as you can see in your pictures, there's a ton of construction in downtown santiago. it's too bad these are mostly ugly apartment blocks. the good thing is that people are moving back to downtown and the city center is becoming more and more vibrant. for years, people and businesses have been moving out, usually to las condes or providencia east of downtown, and now many older neighborhoods (like barrio brasil, just west of downtown) are being revived by young professionals. if you get a chance, i really recommend you explore barrio concha y toro (just north of the "republica" metro station, line 1) between the alameda (the big main street) and plaza brasil. cumming street and barrio brasil have a lot of neat little restaurants and bars.