Blogs from Santiago Region, Chile, South America - page 2

A great person once said "Not all vaccines are created equally"...or at least I think they said that, I'm not sure, but someone probably said it sometime somewhere. As we've moved through this pandemic, it's certainly become clear that not everyone agrees with the sentiment that the best vaccine is the one that is provided to your first, despite the quotes from medical professionals. Case in point is the country in which I am currently residing...that's right, you guessed it, Chile. We've been somewhat fortunate as Chile has consistently ranked as one of the top 10 in vaccines given since they were first approved and available. Even now, I think it's probably at around 80% of eligible people with first dose, and somewhere around 60% with two based on a quick google search. Which gets me ... read more

http://www.heygo.com 3rd February- Santiago - Chile We started our virtual tour today in front of the Palacio de La Mineda (Palace of Mint) The seat of the President Chile. It also houses the offices of three cabinet ministers: It occupies an entire block in the area known as Civic District. We heard how Chile’s armed forces stage a coup d’état on 9/11 1973 against the government of President Allende, the first democratically elected Marxist leader in Latin America. Allende retreated with his supporters to La Moneda, this fortress-like presidential palace which was surrounded by tanks and infantry and bombed by air force jets. Allende survived the aerial attack but then apparently shot himself to death as troops stormed the burning palace, reportedly using an automatic rifle given to him as a gift by Cuban dictator Fidel ... read more

So I started writing an entry a few weeks ago, as I really feel this whole COVID situation deserves an entry, but I think I was in a dark place, so when I reread it after writing about 1,000 words I decided that you know, it wasn't really in the spirit of what I had been writing in here...not to say I'm in a "bright" place right now (well it is very sunny outside), but it's less dark, and maybe this will be a bit on the lighter side. Well really, there's not a lot to say on the travel side since my last entry...mainly just travel cancellations...we did get squirrely after spending about 3.5 straight months in the house in a government mandated quarantine (minus a few days in April), and traveled back to Canada ... read more

It's a beautiful Sunday morning here in Santiago, Chile. Most of our small group arrived on Friday morning, looking forward to a lovely trip through four countries in South America, and for me, another chance to escape some of the winter's colorless cold in Maine. Our group numbers only ten intrepid travellers; eight had already cancelled for fears of the coronavirus or of the unknown. As it turned out, they were the smart ones. I hardly expected this trip to go forward because of all the shutdowns, but after calling Vantage and the airline multiple times (including on the morning I left home), I was repeatedly told that there were no problems in South America. So I travelled most of the day Thursday, and after arriving on Friday morning we met our Vantage leader, Nadia, and ... read more

We learned a lot about the history of the countries we visited on this trip. This was due to us in part to the walking tours we took. The guides were very knowledgeable and enjoyed being able to share what they knew. Some of the guides we had have degrees in tourism and love the work they do. We enjoyed the local food. We noticed the dinner hour is much later there. Most people don’t eat dinner until after 7 o’clock in the evening. Some of the restaurants open for lunch then close for a few hours and then open again in the late evening for dinner. Breakfast is not readily available. There are many cafes and pastry shops where people stop for a coffee and some type of roll or pastry. We found that the ... read more