Today was to be a transit day and it turns out much longer than any of us would have liked. Prior to the transfer to the airport, we needed to be up at 4:00am for an ‘American Breakfast’ prepared for us in the lobby. With a time zone change of two hours back, our heads hit the pillow in Quito at 9-10:00pm, meaning 18 hours for some who didn’t get any sleep on the two flights. Although we arrived at Santiago Airport by 6:00am, a ‘quick movement’ through check-in, immigration and security added up to 1 and ¼ hours. The first flight was 3:20 into Lima and after the layover of 2 hours, the flight on into Quito was a further 2:15hrs. However immigration alone at Quito was 1:15 and then some folk couldn’t find their baggage on the carousel – it had been taken off and left in a “this baggage is dizzy” section. It was a additional hour to the hotel before the end of our transfer.
Ecuador is quite a mountainous country, so much so that on our approach into Quito, I wondered where a long, flat piece of land was going to be to land on. With the sharp valleys all around causing updrafts of strong winds, our aircraft got buffeted around somewhat before finally resting on solid ground. The housing you could see around looked very much like Palestine, unpainted concrete looking boxes with windows and doors in them. The lack of vegetation ensures the landscape looks rather barren.
We have been told that tourism is not a priority for South American governments and so immigration and customs formalities are yet to improve the processing time, or should I say reduce processing time, both into and out of border controls. I guess we will just have to put up and be patient for another – 4 ports.
We are staying at the Swissotel, looking out over ‘the city of concrete boxes’. Security is like most other countries but “keep your back packs on the front of you”. The tap water is ok for washing teeth but it is best to drink from the supplied bottled water and to do so regularly. Regular fluid intake helps with the problem one can come up against in high altitude regions. We are at 2,850 meters in Quito. (More on Quito after our walking tour on Saturday.) There must be about 8 restaurants and cafes in this hotel each with a different cuisine. A meal of quesadillas was delicious last night and the bed was even more welcome after such a long day.
Senior Moments
SC couldn’t sleep and got up at 1:00am, put her makeup on ready for the early departure and then went back to bed.
AH was seen coming out of the ladies loo. He’s Lyns ‘right hand tour director’ so who knows how many others followed him in.
Early am Santiago AirportWaiting for departure out of SantiagoLAN Airlines Airbus 320Valparaiso near SantiagoNotice the hedges around the paddocksApproach into QuitoThe ‘old’ highway bridgeQuito suburbs with Virgin Mary Statue on the skylineVolcano in the distance
Santiago is the capital of Chile, the country that forms the narrow western backbone to the Andes Mountains stretching 4,300 km from the fjords and glaciers of the south, through the fertile valleys of the heartland to the mineral-rich Atacama Desert bordering Peru and Bolivia in the north. Although the country barely averages 160km in width, it still encompasses an incredible diversity of volcanoes, lakes, beaches and ice fields, forest and desert. You can ski in the mountains in the morning, go home to Santiago for lunch and then off to the beach on the coast in the afternoon.
Chile, with a population of just over 17 million, was under the martial dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet between 1973 and 1990. During that time, 3,000 people were killed and 200,000 went into exile. The dictatorship shaped much of modern Chile’s political, educational and economic life. But since the overthrow of the regime, the country certainly has advanced forward.
Chile has a free trade agreement with over 120 countries. This has enabled China to use Chile as an entry point to the rest of South America for significant trade initiatives, thus creating added income for Chile. The country has NO national debt. Because of this, Chile has been able to grow at a rapid pace. (The recent Labour Government of Australia could learn a lot from Chile about having no national debt). All motor vehicles are imported from countries all over the world. What does Chile have of benefit to other countries for that free trade agreement to exist? The arid Atacama Desert in northern Chile contains great mineral wealth, principally copper and lithium (used in the production of batteries in phones and cameras). The relatively small central area dominates in terms of population and agricultural resources, and is the cultural and political center from which Chile expanded in the late 19th century when it incorporated its northern and southern regions. Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes.
It’s interesting that very few Chileans seek to migrate to other South American countries but many migrate from them to Chile. The highest intake of migrants into Chile come from Spain. That’s how attractive Chile is to its forefathers today. The universities in Chile and particularly Santiago, are of a very high standard and sort after.
We enjoyed breakfast prior to our day tour’s departure at 9:30am. Jose has a wealth of knowledge which he passed on to us during his commentary while touring this busy city in the coach. There are many parklands and wide boulevards making the city attractive even though very busy. High rise buildings are around but not to the extent of many cities of the world. The main reason for the low number of centralised sky scrapers is that Chile is affected by seismic movement on a regular basis. Despite this, the architecture is very modern, and with many of the ‘fallen’ buildings being rebuilt with extra importance placed on the expected regular ‘earthly movements’. Recently, there was an earthquake measuring over 8.0. Only a very small amount of damage was sustained.
At a public convention centre, we had a comfort stop and were held up by a protest against the road tolls being charged to motorists using the expressways of the city. The system used is copied from the one initiated in Melbourne when Melbourne’s City Link was created. Our route from the airport to our hotel took us on the expressway, 8 km of which was in a tunnel with 4 lanes in each direction (eat your heart out, Melbourne’s east-west link protestors).
Noticed at the convention centre, was a sculpture located just outside glass doors. Some of our group noticed the sculpture and deemed that photos had to be taken. It was noticed that the sculpture was of a couple enjoying the finer moments in life and ALL the photographers were ladies, mmmm!!!! (I wonder where they will share their photos and with whom?)
We walked through the town’s maze of plazas before being treated to morning tea at a lovely restaurant in the middle class part of town. Cappuccino became Italian coffee, black coffee became known as American coffee, and tea became know as English coffee.
From there, we were taken to a hill nearby the city for an expansive view of the city and the snow capped Andes Mountains in the background. This hill is where the population use as their exercise location.
Our afternoon was free and many took advantage of this time to either just sit, look around the local shops, sleep or sun bake beside the pool. (No need to tell you who sun baked beside the pool.) I must have picked up a bug and so stayed in the room for the late afternoon, changing seats. LOL.
Seniors Moments
We are aware that many of the regular blog followers, look for our Seniors Moments section. That will not change, but I have to say, the first was on me.
During the city tour, I had been typing notes into my iPad for use in this post. Right near the end of the tour, I touched an icon that I thought would get me to a particular line quickly but all it did was wipe all the data and file and so my memory and ‘good old wikipedia’, has been the main source of information today (I’m writing at 3:00am)
There have been many reports of handbags and cameras being ‘left behind’ and someone left an expensive headset on the aircraft while taking a break at Auckland Airport only to find that the aircraft was well and truly cleaned for the next segment to Santiago. Hence, they will have to revert to the cheaper alternative of airline sets for the rest of the trip.
Some took a sip on a straw only to find that it was just a stirrer.
Jose – our City Tour Guide“THE” sculpture.Church Number 1Inside Church Number 1City bike hire.Inside our coffee stop shopThe AndesSantiago’s Tallest buildingOur restaurant last night.A garden up the side of a buildingHow to weed a garden up the side of a wall.Found on the street – a mobile loo.
Just before we left Melbourne, Lyn looked up to see when we first did anything about organising this trip to South America. Surprisingly, it is almost 2 years to the date that the first couple made a firm enquiry about joining us. At the time we set up the group booking, we had sent only 3 or 4 people to South America in 23 years. Within 6 weeks of first advertising, we had 23 people make firm enquiries with a couple having to pull out due to sickness.
We had made a booking for a bus to transfer us from Woori Yallock to the Park Royal Hotel at Tullamarine. It’s always good to keep surprises in store for our group members and the jaws certainly did drop when an enormous black limo pulled up to transport us. The driver was the grey-beard type of individual suiting his task to the ‘T’. 11 of us were able to be comfortable for the 75 minutes transfer with many outsiders taking a second look at this long vehicle with a trailer on the back.
After a delicious meal and a pre-embarkation sleep, 17 of us left Melbourne at 6:30 (with lots of business men and women) for Sydney to be joined by an additional 2 where we transferred to our LAN Airlines Boeing 787 for Auckland and Santiago. 2 passengers met us in Auckland. The flight was quiet during the 11 hour apart from a couple of meals and many computer games to keep us amused.
As a New Zealander, I was feeling really good as we moved from the immigration point to collect our baggage because I didn’t have to pay the $US117 immigration fee into Chile. Countries have a reciprocal agreement with regards to immigration visa fees and New Zealand has a ‘no fee’ policy with Chile.
A check-in clerk in Melbourne had booked one of the bags through to Lima, why? we don’t know but it did cause a period of anxious waiting for one of our ‘new to travelling’ members. Patiently, everyone waited for the baggage to be found on a trolley bound for Lima in two days time. It was just a 20 minute transfer to our accommodation at the Grand Hyatt in the interesting city of Santiago. This is a VERY comfortable hotel – our room is enormous and looks out over a great pool with the Andes Mountain range in the close background. Snow still covers the mountains but, for some unknown ‘climate change reason’ there is just 5-10 cm rather than the normal 3-4 metres at this time of the year.
Some took an afternoon nap; some a nap by the pool; while others ventured out for a look see at the shopping precent before our evening meal a couple of blocks away in a seafood restaurant.
Tomorrow is a city tour of Santiago.
Limo and trailer – what a way to transfer.Jeanette Street hasn’t seen long vehicle of this nature in a long whileInside our transfer to TullamarineRod and Lyn Dwyer leaving Tullamarine on a Scenic trip on the Mekong RiverLan Airlines – SydneyThe Atrium at Grand Hyatt SantiagoBaggage being sorted prior to delivery to our roomsThe Andes in the backgroundVery comfortable roomsView from our 5th floor roomLyn’s toes saw the water but didn’t FEEL the water.
