December 19, 2022May 24, 2024

Santiago, Chile

This post is part of our epic adventure to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica. In case you don’t want to read this sequentially, or you are looking for a specific part of the trip, here are some shortcuts:

After retrieving our bags, we made our way to the arrivals area to find transportation. While I had initially considered pre-arranging a car, the steep price of over $200 USD made me think I could easily figure out how to use Uber instead. What I didn’t anticipate was the overwhelming onslaught of at least 10 people simultaneously offering to help us with our bags and asking if we needed a taxi. Thankfully, Andy took charge of defence while I connected to the airport wifi and requested an Uber. Within a few minutes, I received a notification that our driver had arrived, but we didn’t see him anywhere. When I called, he couldn’t speak English, and I struggled with my rudimentary Spanish “Puerto numero tres. No rojo automobile. Estoy Starbucks.” I glanced over at Andy, who staring at me wondering when I learned Spanish. A quick check of the Uber app revealed that the driver should have been within sight, leading us to the realisation that he was likely waiting for us upstairs at departures. We eventually found him, and I busted out more kindergarten Spanish and asked “cuantos minutos” to know how long of a ride it would be. Lesson learned: pre-arrange transportation.

Around 9am, we reached our hotel, the Sheraton Santiago, which we had booked using Marriott Points. To my surprise, we were upgraded to a suite and allowed to check-in despite the early hour. I also learned that it is pronounced “Chera-TON”. We were determined to combat jetlag, so decided to head down to the pool. The weather was hot, about 30C/86F, with bright sunshine and low humidity.

We stayed for about an hour before deciding to venture out for some sightseeing and lunch. There were two things that I wanted to see during our 24 hours in Santiago: Cerro San Cristobal and the Central Market. Unfortunately Cerro San Cristobal is closed for maintenance on Mondays, and the concierge shook her head and said “too crime” when I asked about Central Market. She did recommend a restaurant within walking distance, but it was fully booked when we arrived. By this time we were hot and hungry, so we decided to walk towards the Costanera Center. It’s the largest mall in South America so it seemed like a logical place to get lunch.

We were trying to avoid crowds due to covid, and the mall was in a word, overwhelming. Though it was 1pm on a Monday, it seemed like all of Santiago was crammed into this six story mall. We wandered endlessly looking for anywhere to eat and finally found the restaurants on the top floor. Andy picked a cute place, but the menu was entirely in Spanish and turned out to be all fish, which I don’t eat. In our desperation we wound up at Chili’s for some southwestern eggrolls.

We were on a mission to do something touristy, so we made our way to the Costanera Tower observation deck after lunch. As the tallest building in Latin America, the views from the 62nd floor did not disappoint. The urban sprawl of Santiago and the surrounding Andes mountains reminded us a bit of Phoenix.

Despite our best efforts to beat jetlag, we couldn’t resist an afternoon siesta before dinner. We went down to the poolside restaurant, El Cid, around 9pm. We’d forgotten that South Americans dine much later than we are used to and were actually the first ones there. We enjoyed a fantastic dinner with a great lovely bottle of Chilean red wine and the company of a few local cats.