Chile 03

Chilean Fjords and Magellan Strait

Grand Circle Travel

21 Day South American Tour/Cruise 2003

December 11 to January 1, 2004

Under TRAVELS, click under CRUISES, South America 03, then Falkland Islands, Uruguay and Argentina for other parts of this three week vacation.

To speed up downloading time I have used small pictures in place of larger ones.  However, please "Click" on any small one and a larger picture will appear.  Click the "Back" button to return to this story.  

Our flight began on Thursday evening, Dec. 11, from Dulles via Miami and ended in Santiago on Friday morning at about 9:30 a.m. (two hours ahead of Eastern time.)  Here we are nearly 19 hours after leaving home in Charlottesville and just a few minutes before landing.

The terrain approaching Santiago was stark as this shot reveals.  

A little geography of Chile and their National flag.

Long lines greeted us as we arrived to clear customs.  Wouldn't you know it; after reaching the agent's booth we were rejected and sent back to pay our "reciprocity" dues, $100 each.  This line was as long as the first plus and after making payment we got to rejoin the original line, at the end!  

GCT representatives met us inside, loaded our baggage aboard a large bus and we were off to the hotel.  Fortunately the trip was short, check in went smoothly and we were finally in our comfortable room; three hours after landing.  Our luggage was delivered not long afterwards.  Putting it all in perspective, we were fortunate to have our room ready that early in the afternoon and in possession of all our luggage.  

Our tour group consisted of 173 Grand Circle Tour (GCT) members and three GCT Program Directors.  That evening everyone gathered to bus to our Welcome Aboard Dinner at the Camino Real Restaurant overlooking the city.  Santiago sprawls, and certainly needs to so as to accommodate it's population of more than six million.  Aside from a few hotels there were few buildings that rose more than a few stories in height.  

Dinner was famous Chile's Sea Bass and was delicious.  We enjoyed meeting eight other fellow travelers at our table.   Dotty is beside Anne and Bill Martin (U.S. Marine!)  Also at our table were Hugh and Annette on my left out of sight and Margaret and Mildred with backs to the window, and Harriet and Merton (not visible nor do I have close ups of either of them.)

Entertainment was provided by two male singers with guitars.

Dotty is standing by one of the many windows that gave us a view of the city.  After dinner we continued up San Cristobal Hill for a closer view of the statue of the Virgin Mary.

One of the more interesting things we observed from our Crowne Plaza Hotel window, and during our drives around the city, was the yellow buses.  They seemed to outnumber autos and raced along cutting in front of one another so as to be the first to pick up a passenger.  Our guide said the drivers were paid a commission for each passenger they carried which certainly explained their aggressive driving.  The picture below shows some of the 13 stopped by a stop light nearest the hotel.  Those on the opposite side of the street are not counted! 

We were off on our included City Tour of Santiago on Saturday morning.  Horse racing is big time in Santiago and we stopped to visit the city track.  It was obvious from the seating that not many average folk could afford to attend and rate a spot to sit.

The Presidential Palace was guarded by 6 foot guards; a minimum height requirement.  They were especially imposing in a country of people of relatively short stature.  The court was filled with Christmas trees from each country which had embassies in Chile.  Dotty and I are beside the one from the United States in the picture below.

The Plaza de Armas where we stopped was decorated for Christmas and drew spectators of all ages, mostly locals.  Larry found a buddy who gave us a big smile for this picture.  

The Plaza was across the street from the Iglesia Cathedral where we enjoyed a few minutes of quiet reflection.

Next on our morning city tour was the ever popular shopping opportunity where Dotty found the perfect Lapis Lazuli ring.  Lapis is a blue semi precious stone found primarily in Chile and Afghanistan. 

Lunch in a pizza place near the hotel was where we dined with two new friends, David and Adele Shapiro from NY.

Later we shopped in a small mall adjacent to the hotel and then attended a lecture given by GCT on Chile later in the afternoon.  

An optional dinner at the Bali Hai Restaurant was fun!  Here is "Table Number One" of six tables and the very best of them all.  

After dinner we enjoyed a series of skits.  Some included performers dressed in Polynesian costumes.  The connection to Chile of course is through their ownership of Easter Island which lies more than 2,000 miles west of the mainland.

Other skits included costumes native costumes.

On Sunday morning we boarded buses and took a beautiful drive west to our cruise departure port of Valparaiso, Chile's second largest city with nearly 800,000 population.  Enroute we passed through a one and a half mile long tunnel cutting our trip nearly in half of what it had been before the tunnel.  

These pictures were taken above the city.

Prior to arrival in Valparaiso we toured the small resort town, Vina del Mar, with beaches resembling some of those in California.  The picture below shows some of the modern apartment buildings in the town.  

Valparaiso is built in tiers on the hills rising above the bay much like San Francisco as can be seen in the picture taken as we departed.

While our stay in Chile was brief, it was long enough for us to gain respect for its people.   The most obvious characteristics we could ascribe to Chileans was their dark hair, smaller statue,  industriousness and friendliness.  We were to see more of the country as we cruised down their coast for hundreds of miles and made port stops in Puerto Montt, Puerto Chacabuco and Punta Arenas.  Please visit, under CRUISES, South America 03 for that portion of our journey.

Posted on the Internet on 2/17/04, revised on 3/20/04.