Easter Island-Santiago Day 2
Easter Island-Santiago
Day 2 - Saturday, November 24, 2007 – Santiago, Central, People, and Flower Market, Bali-Hai Restaurant
After a long day/night in the plane, we arrived at Santiago at 6:10 AM. We stood in a long line of Canadians to pay our US$100 reciprocity fee to enter into Chile. After paying the tax and claiming our luggage we cleared customs quickly.
After clearing customs we were met and greeted by Eduardo Flores, a representative of EEI in the Arrival Hall with a sign “Duane Feisel Group”. We then waited for about 40 minutes for the rest of our group who came in from Miami.
We are traveling with a group of 14 people who are all frequent travelers with Overseas Adventure Travel who we have met on previous tours. We met Duane on our Route of the Maya trip to Central America and Jack and Andy from New York were with us in Costa Rica.
We met Judy, our wine buddy, on our Dalmatian Coast trip and she is from Maine. Carol (Grandma) was my Scotch drinking friend from Wisconsin who traveled with us to England and Scotland. Duane knows the rest of the group from his previous journeys!
We all were present and accounted for by 7:45 so we went to the bus to meet our driver, Freddy. Since the hotel will not be available so early in the day we enjoyed what was termed the "Guide's Choice Tour" – a tour to our local guide's favorite neighborhoods.
On the way into the city from the airport, Eduardo gave us a brief overview of our day. He also told us about the 19% Value Added Tax, the weather, and reminded us about being careful with our valuables. As in any big city Eduardo reminded us of the concerns of pick-pockets. Generally the city is very safe and there is a low violent crime rate.
We are about the same latitude as Los Angeles and it is springtime here in Chile. The air was crisp and there was the usual big-city smog, but relatively clear skies. As the day progressed it got warmer, Eduardo told us this was the warmest spring on record here in Santiago.
We followed the Mapacho River through the city which is running very fast and deep now as it is bringing the snow melt and silt down form the Andes. The city itself is very green with many parks, tree lines, boulevards and streets.
Our first stop was a visit to Central Fish Market, a seafood lover’s paradise where all of the local restaurants and local people shop for fruits of the sea. We then went to La Vega Market, the "people's market" located nearby, and ended this stop at the flower market.
From the market we went to the 16th Century City Center. Although many of the older buildings have been damaged by years of earthquakes, the city still has the charm of the old world Spanish influence.
We enjoyed our walking tour of the Plaza de Armas, the social center of the city. Surrounding the square were beautiful buildings including the Metropolitan Cathedral, a highlight of the plaza.
We sat down at the Marco Polo coffee shop, an outdoor café for a coffee and bite to eat. After visiting the cathedral, we walked a few blocks to the government center and learned more of the colorful history of Chile. Chile now has a stable democratic government but we were made aware of it’s painful past history.
We walked a few more blocks and met Freddy and our bus. We continued the city tour as we traveled through various neighborhoods in the sprawling capital.
At 1:15 we arrived at our hotel and were given our room assignments. Our room is small but comfortable and we were happy to take a shower and get our small bags organized for our flight to Easter Island in the morning.
At 8:00 PM our driver came for us for our evening dinner and show at the Bali-Hai Restaurant. This was a lot of fun! The Bali-Hai Restaurant has a wonderful web site that can be viewed at http://www.balihai.cl/ -- they offered interesting drinks, great food, and exotic desserts in addition to a highly varied show.
Several of our group members were invited to dance with the cast and enjoyed themselves. We finally arrived home at 12 Midnight and knew we have to be up at 4:30 AM for our flight to Easter Island.
Accommodation: Hotel Diego de Velasquez - - - Meal: B
Temperature on Arrival – 52 degrees
Temperature Midday – 82 degrees
Sunrise and Sunset: 6:28 AM 8:31 PM
Comments
Post a Comment!WOW! The fish market reminds me of the fish market in Seattle.
Map of Chile
Our Group with Eduardo
Chile Flag
Fish Market
Cathedral
Featured Journal
Day 13: Azores & Madeira: Portugal's Unspoiled Archipelagos
Day 13 - Saturday, April 22, 2022 - Depart for U.S.
The hotel prepared a box breakfast for us as we had to be in the lobby way before the breakfast room was open.
Last night we found out that our departure flight back to...
