The Valparaiso Adventure!

I am still really tired but have decided to blog about our day yesterday.  Mary and I are sitting in the AA Lounge at the airport in Santiago waiting for our flight to Buenos Aires...and REALLY looking forward to it.  Chile has been quite an experience...

Look at all of the confiscated scissors and knives at security...

Here are some photos of the apartment that we rented from Matt Craze here in Santiago!  We would recommend it to anyone.  Very cute, clean and located in a great neighbourhood.

So, we took our sweet time and just could not get going until well after noon yesterday.  To be fair, it was our first sleep in Chile and we were exhausted from a full day of travel, and a bit jetlagged.  We planned to rent a car and drive out to the coast - to Valparaiso.  Matt told us about a beautiful winery that we should stop at for great wine and great food.  It all sounded like such a great idea.

We wandered down and rented a white Hyundai Elantra from Hertz.  From Jorge.  We were strongly advised to get the GPS for the car, so we did.  I hate that woman.  I hate her voice.  I never want to talk to her again.  Not only did she take us down dead-end alleys, ask us to turn where there were no roads, took us off-roading where that really means off-road, but she then lost her mind and started yelling at us as we entered Valparaiso.  I guess we can't be too mad.  She did actually get us there and back in one piece.

The plan was to stop at Casas de Bosque winery just outside of Casablanca.  GPS 'Jill' took us on an off-road adventure that we can't really explain, so that we arrived at the winery too late for wine-tasting or for food.  And we were starving!  Mary actually said "I have ketones on my breath" at one point because we were so hungry.  I had ONE mint in my purse and we had about 200 ml of water between us.

We made it to Plaza Sotomayor where we had to park our car to avoid petty crime.  We then took an 'elevator' up to Concepcion.  A nice little town on a hill with a beautiful view.  I will have to post photos later that Mary and I took of that elevator and most of the view.  We were still starving so we ended up in Color Cafe - a little hippy bar that would fit in nicely in Victoria.  Very cute and very colourful with lots of knick knacks and things posted all over the walls.  We split a tortilla filled with potatoes and chorizo and a glass of red wine.  The tortilla was not quite what we expected...it seemed more like an omelette.  It was very good.  And really, we would have eaten anything by that point.  We were well beyond hungry.  We were actually feeling sick.  The meal made us feel a bit better.

We walked around and took some photos of this beautiful place.  Again, the photos will come soon.  There are multi-coloured houses and a lot of street art.  I think I may have seen a Banksy original, but who knows!

We wanted to have dinner at Cafe Turri so we could have some great seafood and a spectacular view.  We weren't very hungry so we decided to split an appetizer and a meal.  We have garlic and red chili prawns and tilapia with saffron sauce and rice with poppy seeds.  The food was all great, but we quickly realized that we couldn't really eat it.  It was hard to enjoy it because we just felt a bit sick from being too hungry.  Too bad.  And they wouldn't let us take the food with us...

The 'elevator' had stopped running by the time we were done so we had to take a long walking route around.  It was a really nice walk and we saw a lot of great street art and shops along the way.  We got our car and started to head back to Santiago at about 10 pm.  We had about 1.5 hours to drive.  We also still had to pack and shower and find a place to park our car for the night.  Not an easy thing to do in Chile apparently.

We have to leave for our flight to BA now. 

To be continued...with photos!

Some photos

Mary enjoying wine with dinner in Executive Class on our flight from Toronto to Santiago.

Filet mignon!

Coming into Santiago.

I wish I knew more Spanish...

Mary at the rooftop pool.

View from the rooftop pool.

Santiago de Chile

Hola!  We made it.  It was an incredibly long journey with a few major delays for me, but our final flight from Toronto was fantastic!  We had great food, got to sleep and time went very fast.

Our apartment is cute and we now have wifi so that's good.

Today was an interesting day...

After relaxing at the apartment for a bit and having a quick nap, we went out to get some food and go for a walk.  Food was okay - not Chilean - it was a French bistro called The Normandie.  We couldn't be too picky because we were starving and we needed to get back here to meet our landlord about the wifi.  Wifi got sorted out and then we were supposed to be getting ready to go out to a club in town with Mary's Chilean friend that she met at the Grey Cup in Vancouver...and his friend.

We were so tired but we decided to suck it up and meet them.  We got ready for the 'semi-formal' dress code (this is what Adolfo told us), but of course we knew it didn't mean to dress like you're going to a prom, and we took a taxi.

I should back up a bit and tell you where things started to go wrong in this evening.

We didn't want to go.  We had changed our minds.  Meeting these guys to go to a club in Santiago was not sounding appealing.  So we tried to ask them to come meet us somewhere a little more low key for a drink near us.  We ended up feeling bad and telling Adolfo that we would suck it up and meet him.  We said that he should call us back in a bit but that we would make it happen.  He warned us that his phone might be dying.

We pulled ourselves away from our beautiful rooftop pool to go get ready for the club.  I can't even remember the last time I was at a club.

We headed out, slightly late, but thought it would be fine.  We got half way down the block and Mary realized that her feet were going to hurt her too much in the new shoes that she was wearing, so we turned around to get her a pair of mine.  When she took her shoes off they had turned her feet brown from the cheap leather - too funny.  So after washing her feet off, putting on my shoes and regrouping, we headed back out.

The first taxi we hailed had absolutely NO idea where we wanted to go.  We actually had to get out of the taxi. He would not even try.  So anyway...  We stood outside the Normandie to get free wifi while we checked that the place we were going to existed (After Office at Alto San Francisco) - it did.  So the next taxi driver claimed to know the place.  But I had my doubts...
We ended up at the Hotel Plaza San Francisco.  At least it was a nice drive and we saw some beautiful fountains and a bit of the city, but of course, it was the wrong place.  Thankfully the concierge at the hotel told our driver where the After Office club was.  So he dropped us off there. 

I started to think we were headed to a rave.  It was in a parking garage, then up to the 9th floor and through another part of the parking garage.  Hmmmm...

Still no phone call from Adolfo.

We stood around waiting and people-watching for at least half an hour, tried to convince the ticket people that Mary should go in and look for him, but nothing worked.  No Adolfo, no entry, no rave.

We decided to leave and got yet another taxi.  The girl told us that we were in a bad part of town and that we should not walk around at all.  We got into the taxi and it was clear that he had literally JUST been smoking pot.  The smell was overwhelming!  He took us on a crazy trip that cost us almost double what we paid to get out there.  Nice.  Ripped off already.

We thought we would try to go to a local restaurant/ wine bar that we had heard about.  It was packed and after being ignored for a while, we left.  Really, the evening just could not be salvaged.

We got some mojitos and then headed home. 

Mary managed to befriend a stray black pitbull.  It followed us all the way home.  He is probably waiting outside for us right now.  Mary has said "he was so nice though" twice since I have started typing this sentence.

So we ate some Clif bars that I packed for emergencies and now we are going to bed.  It's been a long day!  We are hoping that tomorrow will be a bit better...

Idiots Abroad 3?

The Long Journey Begins!

Well, it's finally here - January 24th.  Time to head out for warmth and relaxation.  It's a long one for me.  Victoria - Vancouver - Toronto - Santiago.  My flight leaves Victoria at 12:30 pm and I arrive in Santiago tomorrow at 12:05 pm.  That is 7:05 am Victoria time.  A very long journey.
The good thing is, I managed to get Mary and I upgraded to Executive Class for the longest flight from Toronto to Santiago.  It's an overnight flight so it will be great to actually be able to sleep!
I have yet to close my suitcase.  And I have to leave here in less than an hour...

Procrastination...

I am the worst.  I still have not really started packing.  I leave tomorrow.  Can someone please come help me? 

Packing Time...

The time has come.  I have to pack.  Dreaded packing.  Why am I so bad at it?  Why do I leave it until the last minute?  Why can't someone pack for me?  Why am I procrastinating right now?  Wish me luck!

Getting Ready to Leave Canada Again!

1 week from tomorrow, Mary and I are headed to Chile and Argentina!  I am looking forward to travel again! 
So follow my blog here - I will upload photos and keep you up-to-date with where we are and what we are up to.
Be back for more soon!