One thing that appears to be the recurring theme in Chile is work, all of the drivers that picked us up have all said the same thing about work, there is lots of it, also lots of unemployment but when you do have work, you have to work really hard, long hours and get barely any money for it. Most of the people out of the city seem to be construction workers of some kind, a welder said that he gets more than most but it is still peanuts to how how much work he puts in and how long he works for. Poverty is a big thing here in Chile, there are a awful lot of unemployed people, especially towards the south of the country and in the city suburbs. It seems that a lot of people flock to the cities to find work but there are so many people doing the same thing that they all end up having the same problem and forming little communities in the suburbs. I have been to one of these very places, a small suburb just outside Santiago to the north, it smelt really bad, they didnt have fresh runnig water, power and phone lines were limited but the people all seemed very happy and were getting on with there lives. So far everybody has said the same thing and it is really the only thing I have heard about on the open road.