South American Cruise - Part 1

Wow. What a trip! I don't even know where to begin to tell everyone what we did, what we saw, who we met, what we thought. We left home at 9:30 am on Dec. 6th and arrived at our hotel in Santiago Chile at 9:30 am on Dec. 7th. We had a five hour lay over in Atlanta which is a heck of a lot better than a 30 minute dash from one end of ATL to the other to catch our next flight. We saw a lot of soldiers in uniform in Atlanta. We couldn't tell if they were coming or going. Turns out it was a little bit of both. I spoke to one who was heading out. He said he was heading back to Afghanistan after a two week break. Funny, I thought all our soldiers were coming home from Afghanistan. Or was that Iraq. We have so many wars going on that I can't seem to keep them all straight.

In Santiago, we had no plans except to see as much of the city as we could. We didn't quite accomplish this because we were not staying in the heart of the city where all the things a tourist wants to see are. But we were staying in a very nice part of the city. You could tell the city was still growing and upgrading. It´s a very crowded capital city with lots of people and crowded sidewalks. Worse than NYC. Traffic is worse than Honolulu. There was a lot of construction going on and new buildings going up. Very near our hotel they were building South America's tallest building, the Gran Torre Santiago. According to Wikipeda, it was supposed to be completed in 2010, but the global financial crisis of 2008 put the project on hold. Construction resumed in Dec. 2009 and they plan to have it completed sometime next year. They already had the spot lights playing on the building at night and changing its colors and it rose up into the sky. New Yorkers, please note: this building is only 70 floors, but it is still very tall by South American standards.

We spent our single day in Santiago walking where we could. My dear hubby got us directionally confused (that's a nice way of saying lost) a couple of times. We ended up back at the hotel twice before we got straightened out. Of course, I believe it was my fault for failure to read the map. In my defense though: 1. He didn´t tell me where we were headed so I didn't look at the map from the start; 2. He went the wrong direction; 3. Not every street is on this map, so you have to go several blocks before you realize you are going the wrong way; 3. There are intersections where 3-6 streets merge and diverge so it´s hard to tell which one you are on; 4. Not every intersection was fully labeled with signs; 5. Since not every street is on the map, he thinks we only need to go 5-6 blocks when we really need to go 15-18 blocks so he turns too soon. On our way back to the hotel he was convinced that I had overshot the hotel by three blocks when, in actuality, I brought us up the side street right to the hotel. Note to self: study the map ahead of time and pay attention when we head out so that I can more easily figure out where we are once we determine we are lost.

In the middle of the afternoon, every large shade tree sheltered napping workers. Ah, Siesta! These guys needed the rest. For one thing, it was hot. But they also were still working when we walked back from dinner at 10:00 that night.

We saw a sidewalk repair job (they were working on the pipes underground) that was being done with shovels and pick axes. Men were standing in the trench with their shovels digging out the dirt. No wonder these guys need a siesta! That's hard work!

We ate dinner at Aqui Esta Coco, reportedly the best seafood in Santiago. It was a very eclectic dining experience. We were seated in the front dining room with a view of a very large lighted whale made of seaweed suspended over the bar. Each room had a different theme. In one section there was a wall made of volcanic rock.

Seated at the table next to us was an older couple from Vancouver Canada: Jim and Katie. They had just finished their cruise which began in Buenos Aires. They sailed on the Seaborne line and had wonderful things to say about the trip. Jim has our email address, so now we'll see if he follows up with us.!

While walking around Santiago, we came upon a cultural park filled with flowering trees and statues of various sorts. Park Art is what we always called it in Kansas. All in all, it was a beautiful day. The sky was clear, the sun was warm, and my nose got a bit burned.

From the little we saw of Santiago, it is a beautiful city. I wish we had researched it a bit more before we booked our hotel. Our hotel was very nice, but it was quite removed from the heart of the historical area. 

The following day, we took a motor coach to Valparaiso to board the ship. We were among the first ones on board (thanks to arriving a day early and needing transportation from Santiago.) We did not stop in Valparaiso, but on the drive, we saw some wonderful Chilean countryside with desert mountains full of cacti and other dry climate brush. We saw lots of farms and orchards. One of the most prevalent crops was avocados. We also saw flower farms, and hot houses were strewn end to end. With as much sun and warmth here, I'm not sure why they needed the hot houses!

Valparaiso is a beautiful city with a much older feel than Santiago. I guess most of the more modern developments are happening in neighboring Vina del Mar. We don't have many photos of Valparaiso as we saw it all from the windows of the bus. Part of me thinks I would have liked Valparaiso better than Santiago, but when you can only choose one, you stick with the choice you've made. I don't know if we'll be back to this area again, but there is another cruise through the Panama Canal that begins in Valparaiso, so we might have a second chance at this beautiful city.