This is actually not REALLY answering the ASKED question, but I’ll post this anyway…feel free to downvote me if you so choose.
I will never visit Santiago, Chile again.
I was sent there for business back in…2011???…and I stayed for just over 3 weeks, and by the end of my stay there I was absolutely miserable and openly angry.
I did go on a road trip while I was down there to visit Valparaiso and Vina del Mar (beautiful area, I could actually live there some day), but Santiago? No, never. I have a handful of friends there and I just couldn’t possibly visit them again if they remain in Santiago.
Santiago combines all the bad aspects of a large city like New York City or Tokyo with all the bad aspects of a developing nation.
Every wall, building, statue, landmark, etc., is covered in graffiti. Absolutely nothing is safe from it. Even statues dedicated to the people who liberated Chile from European rule are covered in marker and spray paint.
The pollution is horrific. Santiago lies in a zone between two mountain ranges which effectively traps all generated pollution from all the vehicles; on a cold morning, it is actually a tangible fog that you can taste, and it wouldn’t dissipate until early afternoon.
The roads are populated SOLELY by drivers who make Las Vegas cabbies look like driving school instructors. Red lights are suggestions. Pedestrians are just obstacles that need to be forcibly moved. I took a cab one night and, to save time, he turned the wrong way down a one-way street, on purpose, and just floored it to get to my destination. The next day, I saw a driver decide to pass all the other drivers by going into a restricted lane (marked with orange pylons) and just plowing over the pylons one after another.
I realize my experience was hotel based, so it may be a little…subjective…but when I would turn on the TV, I would have about 30 TV channels to choose from; of those, 1 showed MMA fights non-stop and 25 showed soccer games or highlights non-stop. It really limited my sanity.
While talking about my hotel room, I’d like to discuss plumbing really fast. I realize I’m tall, but in Chile, I’m excessively tall; the shower head was perfectly situated for somebody a full foot shorter than me, requiring me to become a limbo master in order to shampoo my hair. The sink had no P-trap in it, which is required to keep sewer gasses from escaping the sewer; if I was brushing my teeth at the sink, the stench would drift right up to my nose.
Most buildings, like apartments and such, are designed with an open courtyard in the middle; in the US, such a courtyard would be meant as a pleasant common area, but in Santiago, it’s meant as your dumping ground; people would open their windows and launch bags of trash into the courtyard. One building I saw had an apartment under construction, so the courtyard was filled with demolition trash, including a bathtub and a sink, that had just been launch from the 5th/6th floor. I also noticed nobody ever checked to make sure nobody was below; the trash would just get launched.
Stray dogs are everywhere. You may think you know what this is like but I bet you don’t. I’m talking you can stand in any spot of Santiago you like and you’ll see at least 4. And these aren’t just strays, these are mangy, diseased, walking-around-with-open-wounds dogs. It’s heartbreaking and disgusting. The dogs crapped and urinated wherever they wanted and nobody cleaned it up, and if it was humid or rainy out, the stench of dog feces is rich in the air. Yummy!
When I walked down the street, people looked openly angry or depressed and were packed together like sardines, with no “stay to the right” rules of any sort and absolutely no sense of decorum or courtesy. Most walked head-down, but those that walked head-up looked openly confrontational. Except with me. For those of you that follow me, I’m a large man; 6′1″ 260 lbs, I’m basically an NFL lineman. In the US, I just look “big”, but in Chile, I’m an absolute giant. The entire time I was there, I saw one person taller than me, and I don’t think I saw anybody with my overall girth. When I walked down the street, people looked at me in fear, but because of how crowded the streets were, people were forced to get close to me. The longer I was in Santiago, the more depressed and angry I became, and by the end of my stay there I must have had the most terrifying look on my face. One of my last days there, I was running a little behind and I was in an even worse mood than usual, so I just put my head down and charged; the crosswalks, where I usually turned sideways and slowly waded through the mob, I just trudged through and people were bouncing off me like bowling pins.
Oddly, most all of these items were non-existent in Valparaiso. Yes, there were stray dogs, but not so much, and the dog crap was either not as bad, or there was a clean-up crew running around. People looked happy! It wasn’t over-crowded. The sea air…it was a delight! Yes, there was graffiti…but it was artistic! Such a refreshing sight in the middle of my stay.
Oh, and one final thing, but this applies to all of Chile: THIS IS NOT A HOT DOG, THIS IS AN ABOMINATION!!! (in case you’re wondering what you’re looking at, in that bun is a normal-sized hot dog, covered with about a 1/2 cup of mashed avocado and a 1/2 cup of mayonnaise, plus a mountain of chopped tomatoes. Oh, and a bottle of ketchup)