Oct 25 – Day 1 – Travel
We leave Charlotte at 6:10 PM and have an uneventful flight down to Miami. Our next flight down to Santiago is delayed until midnight, but we hope to sleep on this 7 hour flight anyway. The waiting area is full of cute kids playing happily and noisily. And judging from the waiting area, the flight is going to be packed.
The kids- all of them, are sitting on our row of the plane, of course. And by 12:30 they are no longer cute but whiny, crying and tired. I do love kids, and having traveled with them many years ago I tend to be empathetic to them and their parents… but did I mention they were all beside me, and crying for a good two hours. Needless to say I did not sleep much, or well. Melinda was smart enough to bring earplugs, eye mask and sleeping meds. She is the wise one…
Oct 26 – Day 2 – Santiago & More Travel
At 8:00 we arrive in Santiago- at least one of us is really tired! Customs takes us an hour to get through, and at the end of which we each get a little piece of paper that looks like a grocery store receipt- thin and flimsy. Mine gets shoved deep into my pocket as I am trying to get out of the line as quickly as possible.
What I didn’t realize is that this little receipt is immensely important- if the customs agent told us that information it didn’t sink in. But we were also tired and transacting in our limited spanish. But this little paper is called a PDI, or Tourist Card, and it is required to check into a hotel, rent a car and get out of the country. I must emphasis- DO NOT LOSE THIS PAPER! Do not, as I did, shove it deep into your pocket where it is likely to get wadded up and discarded. Luckily for me I did not discard mine, but came very close to throwing it away. Learn from my mistakes!
Our layover in Santiago was 8 hours long- far too long to hang out in an airport, so we caught a taxi downtown to the Santa Lucia Hills area. There were a lot of interesting, winding paths that go past fountains, cathedrals and historic buildings before giving way to some of the best views of Santiago. Free to visit after signing in at the front gate. On Merced Street we found a delightful streetside cafe with hot empanadas and much needed coffee. A stroll around Barrio Lastarria and some delicious queso bagels from a panderia to take on the next part of trip completed our short adventure and was a welcome break from the airport! We also did a money exchange there at one of the cambios. We had estimated we’d need just under $300 exchanged to Chilean pesos and it was straightfoward and easy. Argentina is a different story and we’ll cover that later…
TRAVELERS NOTE: Santiago is a big city, around 8 million people, and is not free from crime. We were warned by our taxi driver and the sweet lady at the empanada cafe who brought her phone with Google Translate on it and typed out “Take Care of your phone”. Phone theft is apparently very common- a motorcycle or bicycle can come up on a curb, snatch a phone from your hands and be gone before you have a chance to react. So keep your phone out of sight, keep your purses and wallets secure. Now that being said we felt completely safe the entire time, and the people were nothing but friendly and kind… but it is always good to be situationally aware of where you are and what you are doing.
Once back at the airport we had our tasty bagels and an uneventful flight to Punta Arenas. Our hotel, The Casa Hostal Innata had arranged for a taxi driver to pick us up for 15,000 Chilean pesos (around $15) and he was waiting there with our name on sign- we were thrilled to not have to figure out a taxi and give them our location and hope for the best…he picked us up and delivered us to the hotel with a smile, explaining all the “muy, muy importante” monuments we passed by on our way into town. There was no way our tired brains could have kept up but we appreciated his enthusiasm! The Innata was quaint and clean- nothing fancy but we loved the design! And after 32 hours, 3 planes and 3 taxi rides we were happy to be horizontal!
Oct 27 – Day 3 – Punta Arenas
The Innata provides a delicious breakfast- fresh eggs, toast with amazing Calafate honey, juice and steaming hot coffee. The owners are delightful and speak english well and their employee Brian was just awesome to meet, and extremely helpful!
Our cruise ship doesn’t board until 5, and despite the weather being rainy and 40ish F we decided to walk and explore Punta Arenas for a while. Obviously we had to visit the “muy importante” monuments our taxi driver told us about- one of which we are pretty sure was a monument dedicated to a oil company- oh well, nothing wrong with celebrating businesses that helped develop a region, but seemed a bit out of place there. The big thing to see is the amazing Cemetery of Punta Arenas– considered to be among the most beautiful in the world… I’m not sure who decides those kind of things, but it is beautiful and impressive and well worth the visit. The mix of rain and snow combined with incredible amounts of wind made for difficult photography but it was fascinating to walk around. We laughed every time the wind blew us around, not realizing we were just getting started with wind! But the wind eventually drove us into a small cafe for empanadas, sweet treats and coffee. At 3PM we walked 8 blocks to the dock, dragging our big bag behind us, to check in. But once the bag is dropped off we have yet another hour so we brave the wind for another hour to get a picture of our first “big sign” of the town name- something that seems mandatory these days!
Returning the dock we began our boarding process for the cruise- metal detectors, turning in our passports to ship security and finally a bus ride down the dock to the ship, where we found our luggage already stowed in our comfy room. The Stella Australis has room for 210 passengers but since we are early in the season there are only 97 on board, so plenty of room to explore! A welcome presentation at 7 includes our first of many pisco sours, then dinner at 8 followed by a exhausted, well deserved sleep to prepare for all the adventure awaiting ahead!
