12/5: A Sad Santiago

After a blissful few weeks in Antarctica and a small part of the Chilean section of Patagonia, we flew onto Santiago, the capital of Chile, for two nights before going onto Paraguay for the last section of our six week trip. When we planned this trip months and months ago, we had been really looking forward to returning to Santiago, a city we'd first visited two years ago as part of a three plus month trip to South America.

It was so sad witnessing immediately how much the former beautiful Santiago had changed due to the civil unrest that had begun about two months previously. The problems began when the government increased the cost of using the local metro system by the equivalent of a quarter. That was all it took to spark widespread riots in Santiago that soon spread throughout Chile because of the huge economic divide between the rich and poor in Chile.

This turned out to be the only place we saw in all of Santiago where an attempt had been made to get rid of the graffiti. 

We only had the one day to re-visit Santiago so we set out to explore it. Near our hotel in the center of the city was Cerro Santa Lucia, an attractive hill with interconnected paths and plazas that we'd enjoyed exploring previously.

The impressive National Archives:

It was with some trepidation that we walked through Plaza Vicuna Mackenna as there were a lot of homeless people and others clearly down on their luck.

One of many monuments in the city that caught our attention:

Across a major thoroughfare from Santa Lucia was a souvenir market called Centro Artesanal Santa Lucia with both indigenous and locally made crafts. Many of the kiosks featured lapis lazuli jewelry so it was lots of fun wandering around! Because of all the unrest, there were few tourists so the vendors had to be suffering financially.

Sadly, damage like this to banks and shops was more the norm.

At the foot of Cerro Santa Lucia was the block-long classical facade of the National Library, that was founded in 1813 and had one of the oldest and most extensive collections in South America.

CLH Suites was our old stomping ground on three separate occasions in Santiago in late 2017. It was a shell of what it had been. No wonder we'd received an email shortly before we left for Antarctica saying the hostel cum hotel had had to close and we needed to find another place to stay for the two nights we would be in Santiago.

Directly across from CLH was what had been a topnotch hotel, now only accessible via narrow doorway. How sad to see even the replica moai statues from Easter Island desecrated in front of the hotel.

Quite surreal to see the bar and restaurant named after former President Bill Clinton!

If you click on the photo below, you will notice the graffiti someone had written referring to the country being a torture state.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at this Chinese restaurant when we were in Santiago in 2017. How sad it was to see the graffiti and the restaurant almost totally boarded up. Several hours later, we returned for old times' sake. Unfortunately, this was one of those times we shouldn't have as it wasn't nearly as good as my memory! 

Two years ago, these chess tables in the Plaza de Armas were always filled with older men playing chess each time we passed by.

We noticed several health-care professionals working in pairs approach people in the square asking if they needed care. 

The square's fountain was as beautiful as we remembered from our prior visit. Since we'd seen so much of the city back in late 2017, there were no particular places we wanted to visit in the city this time around. Since we knew we'd be on the go pretty well non-stop touring much of southern Paraguay for the next week, we found one of the few benches in the shade in the square and read our kindles for over an hour while watching people pass by.  

Fortunately no damage had been done to the stately Post Office or the city's Iglesia San Francisco that surrounded the square. Construction of the church began in 1586 with the neoclassical tower added in 1857 after a series of earthquakes. The church was the city's oldest structure, greatest symbol and main landmark. 

Surprisingly, there were no police visible in or around the square. For some reason, there was no evidence that we saw of any damage to some of the city's most important landmarks. I wish there had been someone we could have asked why the Plaza de Armas had been left alone. I wondered if possibly the cultural institutions had been considered sacrosanct?

A large display of photos that chronicled the unrest caught our attention in the square. We were so thankful we hadn't been in Santiago earlier when the violence had been so bad. However, we still felt a lot of unease as tensions seemed to simmer just below the surface.

Just a couple of blocks away was Constitution Square, the country's most formal plaza which was lined by government buildings. 

The square was defined by a dozen Chilean flags.

The Palacio de la Moneda or originally the royal mint was completed in 1805 and became the presidential palace in 1846 for more than 100 years. When President Salvador Allende defended his presidency against the assault of General Augusto Pinochet in the 1973 coup, the palace was bombarded by the military. Allende committed suicide at the palace.

Monuments to notable national figures adorned the square.

While walking around the city that morning, we'd only seen a couple traffic cops out on the streets and armed and bullet-proof-wearing guards in grocery stores. When we reached the historical area with all the government buildings, there was a marked increase in police presence everywhere all of a sudden. Massive police buses and police officers were omnipresent. It was hard to know to feel more relieved they were around or more anxious!

I remember writing in a previous post from two years ago about being surprised how many Canadian Scotiabanks there were in Santiago. The vibrant Paseo Bandera was designed by Chilean artist Dasic Fernandez to draw pedestrians to the street in lieu of cars.

This was a more attractive and cheaper way of covering up a building's facade than with boards or fencing to ward off graffiti artists or those intent on damaging storefronts.

The Santiago Stock Exchange was the third largest in South America.

After a break back at the hotel, we decided to walk along Bernardo O'Higgins, the city's main boulevard that seemed to stretch forever. As we were heading toward Plaza Italia, where the main demonstrations had taken place, there was again a massive police presence. It was unsettling seeing tanks and armored vehicles along the major thoroughfare and side streets. 

We saw many more street vendors on O'Higgins and neighboring streets than we remembered from before. Lots were selling handkerchiefs, likely to cover mouths from tear gas. One enterprising salesperson was offering brightly colored goggles for sale, again to protect one's eyes in the event of tear gas, I figured.

Was walking in this part of Santiago the safest place to go and the smartest idea? Probably not, but I particularly was very curious to get out of our 'comfort zone' and see for ourselves what had taken place so recently.

Seeing what had been remarkable monuments so desecrated was heartbreaking as we could only wonder if and when they might be restored to their former beauty.

Never before had we walked down city streets where, for block after block, not one store was open. I could only imagine the horrific financial hit small store owners had taken as a result of the unrest that had started months ago and if they might recover. We also felt for all the people whose jobs had been lost as a result of the unrest that caused so many stores to shutter their doors. 

Clearly, bus services and trash pick up were obviously up and running unlike so many of the city's metro stations that had been destroyed. All the stores around our hotel closed by the unusually early hour of 8, one more sign that the city was so affected by the protests.

The huge roundabout known as Plaza Italia was Ground Zero for what has been described as Chile's 'social earthquake.' The plaza had been chosen because it was the symbolic site in the country's history for social struggle.

This plaza had been turned into a first aid station for protesters.

I wish we had had a better knowledge of Spanish to have better comprehended the signs we saw as we walked along O'Higgins. I think, though, the pictures told a thousand words.

Two years ago while on a walking tour of the city, we had learned about the popular ice cream shop, Emporia La Rosa, located in Parque Forrestal. It was great fun returning there unlike eating at the Chinese restaurant once again!

Even after walking eight miles around the city that day, it was hard coming to terms with seeing so many barricades and only small doorways open to enter shops and hotels.

Just ten days ago, I read that there was once again a lot more strife in Santiago. When might it end and who or what can bring the people together again?

Next post: Asuncion, Paraguay, here we come!

Posted on January 25th, 2020, amid all the impeachment trial hoopla.