Blogs from Santiago, Santiago Region, Chile, South America - page 3

Tuesday, my fourth day in Chile, was one of the most beautiful days I have ever spent. We had signed up with ilovechiletours.com, for their Andes Mountains Gem Route tour, which included a visit to the Concha y Toro Vineyard, and then a visit to Embalse El Yeso in Cajon del Maipo. Once again, it was a very nice experience with only my friend and I, our guide Fran, and our driver Gabriel, on this trip. Both Fran and Gabriel were young and fun, and very enthusiastic. We immediately developed a rapport with both of them. I guess the advantage of being the only guests on the trip, plus the fact that it's a new and small company and their services are very personal, and their interest in our enjoyment very genuine. I had already been ... read more

My second day in Chile, Sunday, we decided to visit the historical neighborhood of Barrio Lastarria, which is a very popular tourist hub packed with cafes, restaurants, and eye catching street art. We reached the “Alameda” (Avenida Liberador Bernardo O’Higgins) by Metro via the Universidad Catolica metro station. The Metro wasn not too crowded on a Saturday, and it is certainly a very quick and efficient way to get around. It is certainly helpful not to have to try to find parking, which is always difficult and expensive. Our first stop was GAM, or the Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral, and the two exhibits it was hosting. Built in 1972, it was originally a convention center, and since 2010 it has been a cultural center open to the public, devoted to promoting performing arts and music. When ... read more

We spent today with our friends and locals, Pakita and Emanuel whom we met in Vietnam three years ago. Emanuel had to work in the morning so Pakita came out and met us 10:30am at our apartment. As the museums are closed on Mondays, we were keen to visit the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art and the nearby Monseda Palace. Our timing was perfect as there was a large crowd gathered at the rear of the Palace for the Changing of the Guard and we got there just as they were starting. It was very entertaining as there was a brass band playing music including a tune my father use to always whistle or hum. When that finished we walked around to the front of the Palace for a look and then went into the Cultural ... read more

As parents with small kids, I think you end up taking those small moments where everything is going well, be it five minutes, ten minutes, or whatever, and they make an entire day worth it...even though there may have been a lot of effort, a fair bit of whining (not necessarily just from the kids), and a few moments where you thought that maybe the whole endeavor you’d undertaken could have been a mistake... ...yesterday was like that for us. As I mentioned in my last blog post, we had all been smacked in the face a bit by the undertaking of moving here, and the weekend had been ruled somewhat by that stress. We did make the effort though on Sunday afternoon to focus on going to a festival called “Chile Lindo” (loosely translated it ... read more

After an uneventful flight we arrive in Santiago at 2pm Friday. It is surprisingly grey and cold but the airport necessities were efficient, until we looked for our pickup. Lucky though, Linda found an alternate pick up (I am going to have to keep an eye on her..) and we determined that Flight centre had let us down. I negotiated a taxi rate of $35 US with Linda’s new friend and we headed off. He introduced us to a driver and we got on a bus, to go to a car park where our driver scurried off and got a car - not sure whose! Half way to the hotel he says in his broken English 35,000 peso. The Chilean peso is approx 666 to the USD so this means about 50 USD. Needless to say ... read more