The best economic prospects in this region lie in more modestly sized cities like Santiago, the capital of resource-rich Chile, and even Campinas, Brazil, a growing smaller city--with 3 million residents--that lies outside the congested Sao Paolo region.

FORBES: New Geographer

They visit San Diego to attend Comic-Con, like pilgrims journeying to Santiago de Compostela, and then rent an R.

NEWYORKER: Out There

In fact, Santiago seems like a smaller Buenos Aires, with a European style embodied in structures such as the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Museum of Fine Arts), housed within an elegant neoclassical building, and the Mercado Central (Central Market), with its filigreed steel framework imported from Britain.

FORBES: Lapostolle Residence, a Chilean Wine Country Hideaway

President Castro said Cuba's second largest city, Santiago, looked like it had been bombed.

BBC: Cuba leader Raul Castro says island 'hard hit' by Sandy

"This role seems almost like a logical extension of everything I've done up to this point, " Santiago told us in an email interview this afternoon.

ENGADGET