This is mainly why I became much more critical of Santiago during my second round in Chile. It also may have been because I was there during the winter, when the skies are a constant, suffocating, polluted gray. That environment would make anyone exhausted. Whenever I would get on the metro, I would mostly see detached, angry faces avoiding eye contact. I learned that few people are here because they actually love the city. Santiago is where all the opportunities are: the jobs with money, the best universities, and semi-accessible quality healthcare. I've never heard of a country that is so centralized: all of the government and institutions that offer a shred of social mobility are trapped in one place. For example, university students hoping to move upward in social class are often those who already have the means to do so; travel expenses, living expenses, and tuition at the highest quality universities make it nearly impossible for the lower class to get an elite education. So Santiago is the most attractive for those looking to move up but repellent to those who have been there for a long time, and it creates a weird dynamic that I couldn't wrap my head around in the limited time I was living as a semi-real person this time around. There's always more to learn, and it makes me sad I wasn't there longer to understand this dynamic better.
One thing I learned about myself: I love to strike up conversations with strangers in line, smile and make eye contact with people I walk by, and laugh on the street for no reason. That, to me, is home and how I truly want to live.
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| Santiago as viewed from the Saltos de Apoquindo trail |