Before moving to Santiago, all the travel guides warned that the city has terrible pollution. Having lived in Atlanta for many years, I thought nothing of the warnings. But now that we live here, I think there should be a different word with a stronger negative connotation for the pollution here. I also wonder about the health effects of living here long term. Little boys are uncommon here. Feminization of nature? (Link to a fascinatingly terrifying book)
For some reason, maybe the geography of the mountains around Santiago, smog is much lower than I've ever experienced. Our apartment is on the third floor, yet sweeping and dusting is a constant chore. The air carries the dirt. You cannot escape it, not even by keeping windows closed.
Now that it is the beginning of Fall, the air carries more smog, causing our little family to get sick. My husband rarely gets sick and Graham lived the first 9 months of his life with only one day of a cold, but we have all been sick for the past two weeks here. Locals sell tissues at the metro stations because colds are so common.
The day after a rare rain, the mountains around Santiago are beautiful. In the time I have been here, it has rained three times (same as the number of earthquakes). We have been here about six weeks. Normally, the mountains are dark silhouettes on a grey sky. After the rain rinses the city of some of the smog, you can see the snow on the mountain peaks. The mountains are grey and white against a blue sky. The difference is incredible. Before the pollution, the views must have been incredible all the time.
After two weeks of living in Santiago, I thought it was a great place to live. Of all the Latin American cities I have visited, it is the cleanest and safest. But now with the pollution, I don't believe it is safe to stay here long term. Low fertility, high occurances of cancer, and decreased life expectancy of males all indicate a major problem. I think two years is the maximum I would want my family here.
