17-01-20: Encounter with tear gas

Before I write this text, a note: Dear mother-in-law, don't worry. Everything is fine and will remain so!

After having wonderful and carefree days in the wine region (see previous text), we now come to a less carefree topic.

Today we arrived back in Santiago de Chile and returned our rental car. Everything went smoothly. We were able to leave our luggage at the car rental station (Thanks, dear Seelmann Car Rental) and explored the Italia district. Italia is one of the trendy districts in Santiago.

However, the Plaza Italia is also the site of (daily) protests. It is safe to go during the day. But the protests escalate in the evening. The last three months of demonstrations have left a heavy mark in a small radius around Plaza Italia. In addition to many graffiti, you can see broken windows, burned buildings, and destroyed (now closed) subway stations.

Some arguments of the demonstrations can be understood. The cost of living in Chile is as high as in Germany in some areas. Gasoline is almost as expensive, food in restaurants, as well as bread and other essential food items, cost as much as they do with us. However, the average income is only a fraction of that in Germany. So far, we haven't met a single Chilean (from taxi drivers to vacation rental landlords) who understands the demonstrations. The destruction is incomprehensible. Subway trains are used by the people who take to the streets here. However, today we spoke to a waitress who said it was overdue and that something urgently needs to change.

In the evening, we saw demonstrations forming again at Plaza Italia. The mood apparently changed around 9:00 PM. People with their children left the demonstration and fires started. However, 500 meters away from the square, the nightlife in the Bellavista district was booming, where we also have an Airbnb apartment. When we left the restaurant, we already noticed a stinging smoke in our eyes and nose. That was tear gas. We then went to another place to have a drink, and sat outside. The staff suddenly became more nervous, and we noticed that the crowd was getting closer to the bars. Everyone was asked to go inside the establishment, as the protesters had already started setting things on fire on the street. The iron gates, which are already barricaded in front of every store and pub here, were closed. Then a tear gas canister (fired by the police) crashed a few meters away and stopped the protesters, so that this beautiful district would not be affected. However, it was unbearable on the street itself due to the tear gas. The air was still filled with tear gas for some time afterwards. A strange situation, but still, you don't feel unsafe.

It remains an exciting vacation with many facets.