Santiago (February 24th to March 2nd)

---

About The Pictures
I spent most of Monday, the 27th, walking around Santiago taking pictures. Somehow, I managed to stumbled across an impromptu military parade, a movie shoot, and a crazy guy dressed in a maid´s outfit. I missed some good shots on the movie set because I left my zoom lense at home and couldn´t get close enough.

The only story I HAVE to tell regarding the pictures is about the crazy dude at the bottom. In Santiago, there is a magazine called "The Clinic," which is a lot like "The Onion" in the US. Sometime ago, The Clinic had an article called "The 100 Least Influential People in Chile." Guess who was number 1? This guy. So, when I ran into him, he saw me taking pictures of the military parade, and asked if I was a journalist. When I said I was, he got really excited and wanted to talk to me. He had me take a picture of him and this pamphlet, which is titled "Anthropologia de La Clinica." But when I asked him to hold it close, he said he wouldn't, because he wanted to make it clear that The Clinic was his enemy. So anyways, when I got back, I read the pamphlet, and it basically contains 20 pages of curses about the editors, including details about where they live, their families, girlfriends, ex-girlfriends, etc.... All my friends in Chile have asked for this picture.

Santiago is a very modern town for Latin America, but the pictures are, admittedly, what I want people to see. Most of them are of the nicest buildings in the newest parts of town. This is the fourth time I have been back to Santiago, and everytime it is a little more like a first world city. Since two years ago, they have constructed a 10 kilometer highway under the river downtown, which has cut the commute from the suburb of Lo Barnechea to the center down from about an hour to 15 minutes, added a subway line that goes to La Florida, the largest of the communas in Santiago, and replaced the old yellow buses with modern, eco friendly buses that will help with the enormous pollution problem. In Provdencia, specialty stores and cafes are replacing dollar stores.

For me, its exciting to see the place develop. The first time I was in Chile, I think most Chileans thought that the good times weren´t going to last, and that another crisis was soon to follow (as indeed, has been the basic economic story of Latin America for the last 200 years). These days, Chileans are starting to wake up to the idea that maybe they have a good thing going. I could go on about this for awhile, but I´d rather just post the pictures.

What Isn't in the Pictures
I have almost no pictures of my friends, or going out. I spent half my time in Santiago going out for lunch, coffee, dinner, drinks. But, unless it is an official party or special occasion, or people have had so many drinks that people are doing funny things, I hate interrupting to take pictures.

---