After a good night of sleep we were up and ready for our next adventure – a city tour of Santiago, Chile. Our guide, Rubin, was also our driver.
It was raining pretty steady – a first on this trip – so taking pictures out the windows proved to be a challenge. Santiago is a very large metropolitan city that has approx. 7 million people - 8 million if you include the dogs!!!!!
Santiago also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation (Greater Santiago). It is located in the country’s central valley, at an elevation of 520 m (1,706.04 ft) above mean sea level. Although Santiago is the capital, the National Congress of Chile meets in the coastal town of Valparaíso, 120 km to the west.
Chile’s steady economic growth has transformed Santiago into one of Latin America’s most modern metropolitan areas, with extensive suburban development, dozens of shopping centers, and impressive high-rise architecture. It has a very modern transport infrastructure, including the steadily growing underground Santiago Metro, an effort at modernizing public bus transport and a free flow toll-based ring road and inner city highway system, part of which is tunneled underneath a large section of the city’s main river Mapocho connecting the Eastern and Western end of the city in a 25-minute drive. Santiago is the regional headquarters to many multinationals and a financial center. Santiago has a diverse, cosmopolitan culture.
There are dogs everywhere and from what our driver told us the dogs have rights. And they are very smart. They hop on and off the buses and even cross the streets on a green light!!!!!!!
The architecture in the city was quite impressive. We stopped at the local horse race track and managed to get some great pictures of a race horse that were being exercised.
The rain eased up and we took a walk around the city stopping at the Presidential Palace for a picture. A picture with the guards at the Presidential Palace. Very serious looking guys!
We stopped at the local museum ad enjoyed looking at the artifacts on display.
Trying to stay dry in the rain.
An Apothecary Shop with original jars and artifacts from years ago. Looking at some of the artifacts reminded me of the equipment we used in nursing school at Pondville Hospital in 1965. Oh, am I really that old!!!!!
An old cash register. Ron remembers salvaging similar cash registers when he worked for his father at Tremblay Movers – also eons ago!!!
As we walked and drove around the city we noticed there was graffiti everywhere. Rubin told us that the graffiti was done for no particular reason – just to be destructive. I guess the government is trying to crack down and clean up the mess – but it is everywhere.
Our day would not be complete without a tour of a cathedral. Initially we thought we couldn’t take pictures inside but when I was talking to Rubin about how beautiful the church was – and too bad no pictures – he said it was OK to take pictures without a flash.
After visiting the church, Rubin took us to the highest point in Santiago so we could get a birds eye view of the city and the mountains surrounding the city.
We were back at the hotel in time for lunch. We walked to a local Ruby Tuesday and despite the language barrier – no one spoke English - we managed to order our food. Patrick had an app on his phone that allowed us to communicate a little easier.
We had several hours before Rubin would be picking us up so we opted to chill for the rest of the day. We had been notified by our travel agent that our return from from Santiago to Miami had been changed from a 7 pm flight to a 9:00 pm flight getting us into Miami too late to make our connection. Ron and I had booked our flight from Miami to Boston using our FF miles. Mary at SA Vacations was extremely helpful but in the end we were on our own trying to get our flights changed. We used Google voice to make our calls to AA. Thank goodness because an international call would have been a fortune and Google voice was free. It was not without some stress since Google voice gives you 30 minutes then cuts out the call. Seven phone calls – the last being a desperate plea to a supervisor and we had our flight adjusted and changed so we would be able to make the connection in Miami.We did have to purchase more air miles and there was a change fee but in the end we were happy to know we had seats on the plane home. We learned a valuable lesson- let the travel agent book all flights for you from beginning to end!
The rain was clearing and we were hoping to get a good view of the mountains. Unfortunately our room faced the city so no mountains for us.
Around 5 pm Kelly came to get us to show us the view out her window. WOW – it was spectacular!!!
After being enthralled by the mountain views we went back to our room armed with great pictures.
Rubin picked us up at 8 pm and brought us to our dinner show. at the Bali Hi Restaurant. I chose to try something different and had a seafood appetizer. Not sure why – because am really not a seafood lover. I didn’t like it so left it behind.
The meal was excellent and the entertainment quite good. We had a lot of laughs especially when Ron was pulled from his seat to participate in a local dance. Watch for his signature move! LOL
The overall entertainment was really good and we were enjoying ourselves so much that we stayed until after 11 pm knowing that we had to get up at 3 am to catch our plane.
More fun dancing going on. Rubin stayed at the restaurant while we partied. On our way back to the hotel we noticed people everywhere. He told us the party was just getting started in the city and most of the young people would be out all night. Oh, to be young again.
Back at the hotel I set the alarm for 2:45 am – Uggh – another early flight and the very last destination of our journey - Easter Island.
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