Santiago, Chile

SANTIAGO, CHILE

January 21, 2020

The long anticipated South America & Chilean Fjord cruise on the Viking Jupiter finally began.  We departed on January 21, 2020 with plans to stay in the Santiago, Chile area a couple of days to explore before boarding our ship.  In Miami, we connected with our fellow traveling friends, Bill & Sandi.  All our flights were on time and smooth.  The dreaded 8+ hour overnight flight was not so bad when traveling in American's Premium Economy with extra leg room, more seat recline and a foot rest to boot.  Eat a meal, have a glass of wine, watch a movie, sleep and you are there.  Voila!

Our first sighting of the Andes Mountains occurred on the airplane's approach to Santiago as we flew South in the valley between the coastal mountain range and the Andes to the East.  Are those really mountain peaks above the clouds?  Holy moly.

Andes Mountains but not from airplane

We had very clear written instructions emailed to us by our hotel prior to traveling including exactly what to expect and find upon arrival at the airport as well as how to get to them via taxi.  We easily spotted the very long line for Immigration but were surprised at how quickly it moved.  Safeguarding this document is important as one must possess it to board the ship as well as present it to the hotel so as avoid paying the 19% hotel tax.   Our next stop was the crowded baggage claim area to collect our luggage followed by Customs & Agriculture where we were placed in the Priority Line.  Why?  Who knows.

Following the Blue Line to the Tourist Taxi Desk, I arranged and paid for a Private Transfer to our hotel.  Arranging a taxi in this fashion was highly recommended as there are many taxi scams in Santiago airport.  Taxi receipt in hand we exited this controlled area into the chaos of the main airport saying "no gratias" to numerous offers of taxi services and explaining to the many Viking reps on hand that we were on a "do it yourself" pre-cruise stay not a Viking one.   Our destination was Door #4 where our Transfer Delfos taxi awaited us.  Being the short and slow one, I soon became separated from my friends in the press of people and bags.  I did not see them exit nor could I see them ahead.  I found a door to the street but there was no number marking it.  Since I had the receipt for the taxi, I stopped and waited for my friends to notice I was missing and return to find me.  They did.

As we boarded our van, I told the Spanish speaking driver that I had directions written in Spanish to our hotel.  We were staying in a little six room inn on a quiet dead end street and not a well known destination.  Our driver studied the directions, entered something into his phone and we were off.  In about 45 minutes along highways, past tree lined parks, through the heavy traffic of downtown historic district streets we arrived at our Casa Sur Charming Hotel.  We were greeted by Catalina Trucco, the owner, and to our delight, the rooms were ready early.  As we relaxed in the reception area taking in the architecture and decor, Gabriella and Javiera carried our bags to our rooms.  We were very glad to be checked in to our Santiago home base on January 22nd almost 24 hours since leaving our house.

CasaSur Charming Hotel

Can see our balcony room in the above photo with Bill & Sandi's room at the window to the right.  Our small window overlooked the courtyard.

Javiera

Stairway from rooms to lobby

Lobby/Reception

Casa Sur Charming Hotel is the #1 ranked hotel on Trip Adviser since 2015 (casasurchile.com).  Our room had a very comfortable bed with simple decoration, a great bathroom, ample counter space and shelves for our things, a window overlooking the courtyard and a balcony overlooking the street.  Perfect.  The public areas were comfortable, the street was quiet, and the staff was attentive.  We felt at home.

Each morning there was a full breakfast beginning at 8 am with more then we could eat.  They served cut fresh fruit, yogurt with granola (both homemade), a mini crepe, and your choice of eggs with homemade biscuits.  Coffee, tea and a fresh fruit bowl were available 24/7 and there was an honor bar if you wanted a glass of wine or a beer.  We were given one bottle of water each and asked to refill it from their large bottled water system in the dining room.

Inside Dining

Outside Dining

We were ready to explore a bit and chose the neighborhood in which we were staying.  Barrio Italia is Santiago's neighborhood on the up with renovated old homes like CasaSur, boutique cafes, galleries and antique bargains.  It was settled by immigrant Italian artisans in the 19th Century who were known for the making of beautiful furniture.  The CasaSur staff armed us with maps, directions and suggestions.

Making a right and then the first left after exiting CasaSur, we came across a street of murals.

An artistic rendering of the black and white feathered Condor

We found Avenida Italia and walked up and down enjoying the new sights and sounds while looking for a place for a beer and a bit to eat.  We ducked into several shop lined alleys hoping to find a cafe at the end but all we could see were coffee and pastry shops or else Helado (ice cream).  Apparently it was too early in the day for an alcoholic drink and lunch.  We did enjoy peering into the different shops and, to our delight, found Avenida Caupolican, where furniture was still being refinished and antiques sold.  There we chatted with a local fellow who explained this street was the original center of the Barrio whereas Avenida Italia was all newly redone.

"The Waiting Room"

Name that Beatles album

You can see the original ironwork overhang and antique signage.

More modern collectibles

Eventually we did find a cute place to eat called Fogadela Fusion & Grill where we ordered lunch specials however they served no wine or beer.   Relying on my Spanish skills from Puerto Rico, I quickly learned that many words in Chile are different for food and how it is cooked.  An English speaking patron at the restaurant helped us overcome this language confusion by translating the words in question and we had an excellent lunch.

Plaza Baquedeno

The new Rainbow Warrior.

(I love it.)

Plans for the evening were to meet our other couple in adventure, Jack & Tom, at Castillo Forestal, a Chilean/French restaurant where we would celebrate Bill's birthday.  To do this we had to take a taxi and venture into the area where all the civil unrest and protests began the previous October and were occasionally continuing.  We drove through Plaza Baquedeno, the main gathering area, where we saw police using water canons to disperse the small group of people milling about.  They routinely used tear gas and water canons for crowd control.  Fortunately the Plaza was fairly quiet at 6 PM this day.  Throughout the historic downtown area we saw graffiti splattered buildings, boarded up windows and doors, and the Plaza statue (above) painted rainbow colors.  Even the Bellas Artes building across the street from our restaurant had graffiti.  Such a shame that the beautiful old buildings were defaced.  We later learned from our excursion guides that some of the targets for the vandalism and graffiti were banks, large area hotels or businesses, monuments and statues from the Spanish conquest as well as Catholic Churches.  Part of the reason, as explained to us, was the Chilean people had enough of the Church protecting its pedophile priests while government and big business backed them up.  They predicted that Santiago would be fairly quiet in January & February as it was summer, schools were on holiday and locals were generally out of the city heat and on vacation this time of year.

Castillo Forestal Restaurant

The open air second level of Castillo Forestal was a lovely location for a party.  We were surrounded by trees and overlooked Parque Forestal.  Most of us ordered a pre-fixe menu offering a complete meal from soup to dessert.  The portions were huge.  I could easily have been happy with the soup and salad courses.  Great friends with delicious food accompanied by good champagne and wine.  Perfect for the end of our first day in South America.