I wrote on Facebook that most tourists take pictures of art and architecture. Here, given the local situation and the brevity of the Santiago portion of my trip, most of my pictures are of graffiti, protests, broken glass and other evidence of protests.
This was typical – a boarded up window with some statement slamming the center right president, Pañera. (This one says he can neither buy karma nor avoid it.) Chile is prosperous and modern – but not everyone has prospered. They want change – and have started to protest. Will protest turn into revolution?
Most of the bus stops I saw had their glass broken.
It is said that some people just want chaos, which was not lost on me when I saw this sign – at the Caos Restaurant. This sign asks for no tear gas pellets; pregnant women and children live here.
Here are some miscellaneous signs, spotted around Santiago.
Graffiti was all over the main streets. Protests were not everywhere and all the time – but you never knew when you would find them. From a distance, we saw this one on Sunday at about 1 pm – and avoided it.
Sunday evening we saw something more pleasant – a roller skate/rollerblade/bicycle parade of sorts.
However, we learned that it, too, was a protest.
Although all this is not what we would want to see, I must say – it did not impede us. We were able to get around Santiago without any problems. (Really, I rather liked Santiago – which I’ll talk about in my next post.) However, we were careful – and watchful.
Random Musings of A Quasi Educated Person 