Santiago, Chile. The city of reflections. The main thing that struck us immediately upon landing in Santiago was the European feel of the city. It was so different from other South American cities and the European influence was everywhere. The buildings were made of mirrored glass and the way reflections of the old buildings mirrored into the new was incredible. Our hotel was located in the heart of Santiago so we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to the sculpture park for a stroll. As we entered the park just before sunset, we noticed a trend. Couples of all sorts were very affectionate in this park (for lack of a more socially acceptable description). We named it “Love Park” and as we made our way deeper into the park, the ‘love’ became more and more apparent. Let’s put it this way, if my father had ever seen me behaving that way in public, I would have been locked in the basement. We definitely made sure our walk was completed prior to the fall of darkness! As we wandered the streets heading to dinner, we passed by a line of people at least 20 deep waiting at the Dunkin Donuts. I am not sure what the Chilean Dunkin Donuts added to their recipe but evidently it was worth waiting.
The next morning, we began our exploration of Santiago. We took the Metro (one of the cleanest we have seen) to St. Lucia Hill. St. Lucia Hill boasted an old castle and beautiful views of the city. Our afternoon was a scheduled tour of Palazzo Moneda. Two months earlier, I had contacted the Palazzo via email to request a tour in English for the palace. I had to send copies of our passports for background checks and wait for security to approve our visit. Once we were approved, we were scheduled for the 4pm tour in English. We arrived and were shuttled to the main entrance of the palace. The tour guide came and took everyone’s passports and handed them to the guards on duty. We were told we would get them back at the end of the tour. We felt like we were going into the Pentagon. As the tour started, our guide began to spit out rapid-fire Chilean Spanish (which is about 10 times faster than other countries’ Spanish). When she finished her first speech, I went up and asked about the English tour. She stated that the tour was not in English but she spoke English so she could answer any questions we had along the way. More than a bit frustrated, we fell to the back of the pack near a family whose father was interpreting the tour into English for his daughters. We asked him if we could hang out with them and he was very gracious to be our personal interpreter for the afternoon. As we made our way through the palace, we were not sure why we needed so much security. Evidently, some of the government offices were housed in the building but no president had lived in the Palazzo Moneda since 1952. It had originally been the mint in the 1800s and was the site of a military coup in 1973. Overall, the “palace” looked just like you would expect government offices to look so it was a rather disappointing visit. We finished the day with a trip to the Samsung store to buy a new phone for me. When I told the salesman I had “lost” my phone in Calama, he responded, “Lost in Calama? Or stolen?” I said I was not sure and he gave a nod and a facial expression that let me know his opinion quite clearly as he said, “Calama!” in a disdainful tone. With phone in hand, we returned for a quiet night of downloading apps and getting all the trip information back into the phone which made me feel much more settled. The next day, we took a funicular to another mountaintop that had hiking trails and a state park. We did not feel like hiking so we enjoyed the views and had some delicious berries and cream. It was a good thing I had my blood sugar steady because our next stop was Cemeterio General de Santiago. Of all the cemeteries we have visited, this one slid solidly into first place. The statues and headstones were incredible, the mausoleums were a reflection of the time they were built and the grounds were immaculate. Many of the mausoleums built in the late 1800s and early 1900s were Egyptian themed pyramids or Greek Parthenons. Bill patiently wandered the cemetery with me for at least an hour while I took pictures and enjoyed the peacefulness. We finished the evening with a trip to Sky Costanera which was the tallest skyscraper in South America. To access the elevator area, we had to go into the largest maze of a mall I have ever seen. After getting directions from several different people, we made our way to the top of the building for expansive views of Santiago and the surrounding mountains. Getting out of the mall proved to be even more of a challenge and we wandered aimlessly for 30 minutes until we managed to make our way out through the underground parking garage. We just waved a friendly wave as passing cars swerved to miss us on ramps but we were not going to stop until we hit fresh air and sunlight! The next morning, we headed to the airport for our one-hour flight to Mendoza, Argentina. We had no issues with customs/immigration and found our gate easily. When it came time to board, an announcement in Spanish followed by a collective groan alerted us to trouble. The flight was delayed for 20 minutes. Then, another 20 minutes. Then 2 hours. We finally figured out the plane was having a computer issue. When the next announcement was made, the crowd began to clap loudly in unison so we were very happy the computer was fixed. But it was not fixed. Evidently, the Chileans clap loudly in unison to indicate sarcasm for “job well done” when the job is not actually well done. Another hour passed and Bill walked down to another gate to see if we could get on the Sky airlines flight that evening. Just as he left, Aerolineas announced the flight was cancelled because the flight crew had reached their maximum hours on the clock for the day and were not allowed to fly. Needless to say, the Chilean mob was not happy. The counter agent immediately told us to follow him so he could get us hotel and transportation vouchers for the night. Without Bill in sight, I followed the mob. I texted Bill (thank goodness for the new phone!) and told him where we were headed. He met me in immigration and we were passed back into Chile and picked up our voucher from the agent. Instead of securing a hotel near the airport, they shuttled us 30 minutes back into the city. When we checked in, the desk clerk said, “This is a transportation only voucher. Where is the hotel voucher?” I am guessing my face must have spoken without words because she immediately said, “That’s okay! I’ll figure it out later. You go to your room and get some dinner.” The airline paid for dinner and we noted the airline crew eating and drinking wine at the table next to us so I figured we were not flying out any time soon. At 10pm, we received a text telling us to be in the lobby at 7am to transport back to the airport. While the delay was a huge inconvenience, we were grateful we did not have to spend the night in the airport. Mendoza, Argentina is the wine capital of Argentina. There are over 2000 wineries in the region as well as olive oil manufacturers. In order to visit the wineries and olive oil companies, I had to make reservations months in advance. The winery we had originally reserved for that morning was gracious enough to allow me to reschedule our tour to the next day. We rented a car in Mendoza because the wine valley was very large. Our first stop was at Western Union. Follow me closely because this next explanation is going in the weeds. In Argentina, there is the “state” exchange rate which is what international traders use (ie banks) and there is the “blue” rate which is essentially a black market rate. The government currently turns a blind eye to the “blue” rate. For example, if you get your money out of an ATM or use your credit card, the exchange rate would be 865 pesos for each $1.00 USD. The “blue” rate on the street for cash was 1200 pesos for each $1.00. Therefore, we had a choice to exchange money with strangers yelling “cambio” (change) on the street or we could wire money from our credit card to Western Union and get the blue rate. We chose Western Union. Bill dropped me off at a small shop that had a Western Union window in the back corner. I watched as a man counted out thousands of pesos, wrapped them in packs of 100 with a rubber band and handed them to me. I looked like I robbed a bank! The largest bill that Argentina prints is a 1000 peso so an exchange of $300USD equaled 360 individual bills (see picture below). It was one of the craziest things I have seen in my life. With money in hand, we headed to Laur Olive Oil company for our scheduled tour and tasting. The production of olive oil was a labor intensive event so I have a new appreciation for the cost of olive oil. Our tasting was delicious and we even got wine with it so the Mendoza leg started off well. After the tour, we checked into our lodging. The only hotels in Mendoza were luxury spa-type places so I had booked a “posada” which was the Argentinian version of an Airbnb. We were greeted by our quirky host who immediately had a crush on Bill. Bill affectionately nicknamed her “Mrs. Doubtfire”. She showed us to our room and as we stepped into the main area, we were transported back to my great aunt’s house in the 1960s. Absolutely nothing had been touched in the last 50 years. Luckily, the owner had updated the bathrooms so our room was small but functional and we enjoyed reminiscing about our childhood as we walked through the house. We spent the evening sitting by the pool, drinking wine and watching the birds….and watching Mrs. Doubtfire flirt with Bill. Day two in Mendoza started with our tour of Otero Ramos winery. The winery was beautiful and we were greeted by Otero’s son who said he did not speak much English but he would do his best. With our Spanglish, we did quite well on the tour. The winery did not produce much of their own wine but Mr. Ramos was a visionary and had installed state of the art equipment for wine production. He contracted out to other growers to help them produce and bottle their wines. By the time we got to the tasting portion of our tour, Mr. Ramos’ daughter had taken over the tour and she spoke amazing English. She explained everything about wine and spent so much time with us. By the time we left, we felt like we were part of the family and it was the highlight of Mendoza. We missed our next wine tour because the address on Google was not correct so we headed out to have lunch at the Posada de Cerdo (House of Ham). No way was Bill passing up a place called the House of Ham. After an amazing lunch, we headed out to SuperUco winery for our last tour in the Valley. The SuperUco tour was run by a couple of young people who were nice but had no real connection to the company so it paled in comparison to the Otero Ramos tour and in my opinion, the wine was not as tasty either. After spending another night in the 1960s, we headed back to the airport to continue on our way to Buenos Aires which we will visit in the next blog! For those who are curious, the hotel in Antofagasta asked me several questions about my coat and then claimed they had found the coat. However, they would not ship it to me so my coat was destined to live in Antofagasta forever…..or so I thought….. ***More pics on the Pictures tab
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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