Rise of a New City

Walking around Santiago, you can feel that the city is growing and moving forward. There's an optimism in the air that comes with continued work and growth during what is certainly one of the most intense financial busts in the last 100 years. Chile has always, like many Latin American countries, been reliant on the economic swings in the commodity markets. Demand for raw materials is often a back and forth game, and these countries have entire economies built on their country's natural resources. Chile stored away it's acorns in these last boom years and has been able to crack open the piggie bank in the last 8 months to continue supporting their population and drive their economic infrastructure. While copper was trading at ridiculous highs, the Chilean government spent about 3 years building up a 'rainy day' fund. That fund is what is driving the continued growth here in Chile as well as the drop that Caitlin and I have seen in the dollar's strength against the peso. Recently, at the summit of the Americas, Chile held center stage with their economic strength and infrastructure plans putting them ahead of the pack. Prosperity has risen at such meteoric speeds here that Chileans are eager to shed the tired label of a developing, and peripheral nation. Part of the reason that conservation seems such a long way off here(we routinely have to beg off a store clerk who wants to double bag our purchase of butter) is that Chileans are proud of their prosperity and want to show the world that they're not in the minor leagues. Along with this optimism are the everyday reminders that this city is marching on and becoming a booming, modern metropolis. Reminders that times are good can be seen not only in the cranes that dot the cities skyline as crews work 12 hour shifts to change the cities skyline. City workers can be seen everywhere manually raking leaves, sweeping sidewalks, and collecting trash. Viva Santiago!