Santiago

Travelers' Takes

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Chile in late Fall

A May 2002 trip to Santiago by Jeanne Travels

Quick trip to Santiago, Andes Mountains and Pacific Ocean in late May (rainy season?) staying at a bed and breakfast off of Providencia.

  • 6 reviews
  • 5 stories/tips

Chile in late FallBest of IgoUgo

Overview

We took the cable car to the top of the Parque Metropolitano shrouded in clouds and had peek of the city half way up.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Marilu's Bed and BreakfastBest of IgoUgo

Hotel

Marilu and her husband Miguel are welcoming hosts in their home. They accept cash (US $ or Chilean Pesos). The home is less than 2 blocks south of Providencia Avenue 3 blocks from the Salvador Metro station. Marilu speaks English and French and is willing to help you find tours, reservations and has a wealth of travel material right adjacent to the kitchen table. She has 6 rooms, ranging in rates from $US20-45/night some singles, some doubles. You are welcome to use her refrigerator and microwave if you wish. Less than a block from the home you will find a convenience store where you can pick up the makins of your picnic lunch or quick supper. It is also an internet site, an ATM machine and coffee shop. Marilu has a web site address: www.bedandbreakfast.cl
  • Member Rating 3 out of 5 by Jeanne Travels on June 1, 2002

Marilu's Bed and Breakfast
246 Rafael Canas,1st/3rd floor Santiago, Chile
(56) 2-235-5302

CalamarBest of IgoUgo

Restaurant

Seafood is the name of the game. Other items are available as well from the menu. This is less than 200 yards from the base of the funicular to the top of the city park. It is on a very popular street for weekend fun and frolic. I had visited during the week and it was quite quiet except for the 20 local senior citizens celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary. It opens at 1:30 pm, so don't plan an early lunch. I enjoyed a large bowl of seafood soup which contained crab, barnacle, shrimp, scallops, squid, mussels and I'm sure others I couldn't identify. Very tasty.
  • Member Rating 3 out of 5 by Jeanne Travels on June 1, 2002

Calamar
Pio Nono 281 Santiago, Chile

La Pizza NapoliBest of IgoUgo

Restaurant

It had been pouring down rain and I was welcomed at the door by a young lady who took my umbrella, shook it out and stored it for me. The meals there (English menu available) are the expected Pizza, lasagna, spagetti, linguini etc. Once you determine the style of pasta, then you get to choose the sauce. Mix and match as it were. The food came quickly and the place was very clean. It is located just outside the entrance to the Pedro de Valdivia metro station. Coke products available and served in cans.
  • Member Rating 3 out of 5 by Jeanne Travels on June 1, 2002

La Pizza Napoli
Avenida 11 de Septiembre 1935 Santiago, Chile
225-6468

Parque MetropolitanoBest of IgoUgo

Attraction

Go to web site www.parquemet.cl or send e-mail to pms@parquemet.cl for information. There were school groups hiking, bikers, runners as well as those who took the cable car or funiculars to the top. You can drive as well for a fee. Taxis are available as well for 3000 pesos per person. At the top there are restuarants and a coffee shop as well as a gift shop for film and post cards.
  • Member Rating 3 out of 5 by Jeanne Travels on June 1, 2002

Parque Metropolitano
Pedro de Valdivia Norte Santiago, Chile
+56 2 7776666

Museo Chileno de Arte PrecolombinoBest of IgoUgo

Attraction | "Museo Chileno de Arte PreColumbino"

The name is slightly misleading, it covers art of other areas of South America which had at one time been parts of Chile. You find a well laid out display of pottery, an excellant display of the textile processes and how the designs were actually made as well as metal objects. It offers a library 10-3 for members scholars, a small shop and cafeteria and rest room. It is located around the corner from the southeast side of Plaza de Armes. Open 10-6 Tue-Sat 2000 Chilean Pesos, Sundays 10-2 but free. Restrooms and elevator available.
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Jeanne Travels on June 1, 2002

Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino
Bandera 361 Santiago, Chile
+56 2 6887348

Mountain excursionBest of IgoUgo

Story/Tip

I went into the Andes Mountains, where they had already had the first of the snows of the season. The sky was pregnant gray and looked like snow was going to come again soon and sure enough the next day they received more than three feet of the white gold. Gold for them because the ski resorts there are a gold mine. The Valle Nevado hotel in the Colorado Mountains alone was $1344-4606 per week, before you eat or ski depending on the season. Too rich for my taste and the altitude is over 10,000 feet, so it is high in both senses of the word. But since the season hadn't started I did wander around, getting a chance to throw snowballs, briefly use the exercise equipment on the 8th floor with a gorgeous view of the mountains. There were only 2 of us passengers in the minivan going up all the switchbacks to the top. Thank God! The ride up the mountain was so curvy, one switchback to another and I was facing the rear. Don't ever, ever, EVER do that going up the mountains. The very first time in my life I've ever gotten car sick. Embarrassed I grabbed a plastic bag, but yuck. Do you know there are large cactus in the mountains of Chile.

Dolminicos Craft MarketBest of IgoUgo

Story/Tip

There is a church of the Dolminicos out on the edge of Santiago which is surrounded by a permanent craft community, from weavers, pottery, jewelry, copper plates with the enamel baked on to a man who has an extraordinary niche in 'sculpture'. He takes spoons and fashions them into pendants, forks are re-formed into stylized crosses with the corpus being the former fork. Pot lids are converted to masks, keys soldered together into Greek style crosses, even the lowly Coca Cola cap has been made into small masks fashioned into pins. There were furniture, baskets and all sorts of things from all over Chile. One man was carving masks from natural wood using the knots in it to make some very interesting faces that I wish I had had room for on my walls or more importantly in my suitcase. You can take the bus from Av Providecia (# 326,327, 344 or 345) for 290 Pesos or a taxi. It is on the Northeast side of the city at the end of Av Apoquindo.

Excursion to Vina del MarBest of IgoUgo

Story/Tip

The Pacific shore a small city by the name of Vina del Mar reminded me a lot of Carmel/Monterey California. The coast there is quite rocky and the sea was really high following the height of a storm that had knocked down some of the wood panels at construction sights, toppled large buckets of flowers and generally strewed around anything that hadn't been secured. You could see the river fighting with the ocean. The river trying to pour into the sea all the runoff of the 3 or so inches of rain the area had had and the ocean pushing back with the wind and tide. Believe me, the ocean won that battle though it was, shall we say, bloodied with the silty runoff for a good kilometer on either side of the river's egress. In Vina del Mar you could see the steep stairs alongside the funiculars. What cannot be carried must be run up on the little cars on the narrow guage tracks alongside. What a beautiful place to live but oh, how inconvenient. The beach is beautiful, though on this blustery, rainy day was unadorned by the bright beach towels and suntanned bodies it is ready for.

Getting around in SantiagoBest of IgoUgo

Story/Tip

An economical way to get to the center of town from the airport is the VIPtransfer,phone 777-7707 this is mini-van shared taxi. They will take you directly to your destination for 3800 pesos and with a 24 hour notice will return you to the airport. The buses are 290 pesos, hand the driver the coins/bills as you enter the front and he will give you change and a small ticket. The Metro system is composed of two intersecting lines that encompass most of what you want to cover in town. Fares are based on time of day and line and can be purchased in the stations. Figure less than $US1 per trip.

Money and Visa FeesBest of IgoUgo

Story/Tip

In the current times, The United States charges Chilean citizens a rather large Visa fee upon entering the United States. The Chilean government in retaliation has increased the fees for US citizens to enter their country. Bring some US cash in order to pay the US$61 Visa charge as you enter the country for the first time. I say first time since you will not be charged again while using the same passport. However once you get a new passport a new fee will be assessed when you return.Once you have landed at the airport, stop at the RED Bank ATM machine, get yourself some Chilean pesos. At this writing (June 2002) there are 660 to a US dollar. You will see prices written $6.000, this will be 6000 pesos or this is around $US 9, occasionally there are both prices listed, don't count on it though. Now when you leave you have another financial surprise.. The Chilean government has each airline collect from all departing passengers a US$28 tax. This can also be in Chilean pesos if you don't have dollars. Use the Red bank ATM to get more pesos for the fee if you've spent all your cash.

About the Writer

Jeanne Travels
Jeanne Travels
Atlanta, Georgia
  • "recently retired, lover of travel, especially Europe though I recently made a trip alone to Bangkok..."
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