'Mentally, we're in crisis mode': protests leave Chileans living on their nerves

Chileans are gripped by uncertainty - suspended between hopes of progress, and frustration over an elusive political solution

When a tsunami of unrest spilled into Santiago's fashionable Bellavista neighbourhood in October, Daniel Gajardo, 33, was torn between sympathy for the protesters and frustration at the harm they were doing his fledgling business.

The recording studio and music shop he co-owns had been thriving, and moved to new premises just a day before the first major demonstration.