Chapter 1
Santigo and Embarcation
Dec 20 and 21
Detailed map of the Canary Islands
Saturday, December 20: Santiago, Chile
Arrival
With our delayed departure from Atlanta, our flight landed in Santiago about 30 minutes late. I had pre-arranged a private transfer from the airport to the hotel but our apparent bad luck with such transfers reared its ugly head again. We got through immigration and customs and got our luggage fairly quickly, but we could not find our arranged transfer. We looked all over the exit hall and I sent text messages to the number that had texted me earlier, but no response. Another driver heard our problem and tried to assist by calling the phone number I had (no answer) and calling out the driver’s name, all with no success. After about 20 minutes trying to find our ride, this driver said that he would drive us to the hotel for $40, which was about the going rate. We got in his car and drove off. Somewhat long story short… this driver and a partner tried to scam us by using my debit card to get $300 in cash. The first debit card detected/suspected a scam from the way it was used and refused the transaction while my only other debit card is not set up for cash withdrawals and completely refused the transaction. I should have realized what was going on much sooner but was tired from the flight and upset/confused over the no-show of the arranged driver. I suspect the no-show was prearranged with the scammers as a way of directing me to them. After the debit cards refused the transactions and I got warning messages from both banks, the scammer agreed to just take us to the hotel for $40. He did not get a tip.
I had made reservations at the Hyatt Centric hotel in Santiago and we checked in quickly and settled in for a one-night stay. The hotel was nice and only about 2 or 3 blocks from the hotel where we stayed in January. I choose this hotel because a number of the Cruise Critic roll-call people were staying here and the transfer to the port of San Antonio would leave from there the next morning.
A short tour
We had the afternoon free so I had scheduled a half day tour of part of the city, using somewhat different modes of transportation. We had to get to a meeting point for the tour by 1:15 and it was a bit far to walk, especially for Susan’s recently repaired knee joint, so I called up a Uber ride. After our experience with the transfer, I was a little worried about how Uber would work, but this one and another 4 or 5 Uber rides over the rest of the trip worked very well. We met our guide and about 4 other people in our small group and started a walk through one of the older parts of the city toward our first transportation. We soon crossed over the Mapocho river, which flows out of the Andes mountains and through the middle of Santiago. Most of the river has been lined in concrete for flood control (as the photo below), but there is some effort to restore parts of it to a more natural state. As we crossed the river, there was a distinct change in the character of the neighborhood, from very business/commercial, to a much more residential or lightly developed area.
The Mapocho river as it flows through Santiago
In this section of the Santiago, some of the older homes had been renovated and some were turned into museums, art galleries, or shops.
This renovated house was now a museum.
We walked about 30 minutes through several colorful, interesting, and well-maintained neighborhoods until we arrived at the lower station of the “Funicular”, or what we would know as an “Incline Railway”.
Looking up the Funicular tracks at an approaching “rail car”
Don’t worry, you’ll get an opportunity to get a better look at the Funicular a few paragraphs below. We waited for the arriving car to stop moving and unload, then climbed aboard for the ride to the top of the San Cristobal hill/mountain, which rises about 300 meters (almost 1000 ft) above the rest of Santiago. Once we got above the trees and toward the top of the line, we had a beautiful view of the city below us. At the top end of the line, we got out and took a look around. There were the normal souvenir shops and snack bars, and we enjoyed a local drink that included whole oats in some kind of juice. We also took a few minutes to enjoy the view out over the city below us.
With over 6 million people, Santiago is a large city.
In the photo above, you can see a line of trees somewhat horizontal just above the midpoint of the photo: that is the Mapocho river and the greenway parks that line both sides of it for most of its path through the city.
There were several religious structures at the top of the hill, including a small church/sanctuary and a statue of the Virgin Mary at the very top of the hill.
The Virgin Mary at the highest point of the hill
Some of our group walked all the way up to the base of the statue to get the best possible view, but Susan’s knee was not ready for that yet and I didn’t mind taking a pass on it myself. After looking around the sanctuary and the statue, we made our way around the hill to what would be our method of transportation down the hill, the Cable Car.
Susan is about to climb into a cable car: you had to move pretty quick.
These were small cable cars that could hold 6 people each, but they were not very busy so we only had 4 people in ours: Susan and I, the tour guide, and one other woman from our group. It was a fairly long ride down the hill, including going close to some trees and getting several good views of the city. The small photo in the very upper left of this page was taken from the cable car and the tall building is the tallest building in South America. There was one intermediate station where you could get off in a different neighborhood, but we continued to the end where there were some strange Christmas characters wandering around.
I didn’t ask……
Now, if you feel a bit cheated because you didn’t get to see any photos from the Funicular or Cable Car rides, just click on this (somewhat long) video and you will get the full treatment. Oh, there is an error in the video: see if you can find it.
After leaving the Cable Car station, our group walked about 30 minutes back to a different bridge over the river where the tour officially ended. We thanked our guide and crossed to the other (commercial) side of the river where it would be a bit quicker to get a Uber ride for the 15 minute ride to our hotel.
We just had a few minutes to get cleaned up a little and head to a restaurant in the hotel where the Cruise Critic Roll Call group was getting together for a “welcome and get to know each other” dinner. We had a nice meal and met about 15 other people that we would be traveling with for the next three weeks and whom I had been exchanging messages with for several months. It seemed like a good group. After dinner we relaxed and tried to catch up on some of the sleep we missed on the flight.
Sunday, December 21, Embarkation
Sunday morning we had breakfast in the hotel then took a short walk in the neighborhood. One objective of the walk was to test and see if our debit cards were still “alive” after the attempted scam was detected. We found an ATM and gave it a try but the withdrawal was refused. When we reduced the amount to the equivalent of about $50, that did work, but that turned out to be the “last gasp” and further ATM withdrawals were refused and the status was confirmed via an email exchange with our bank the next day. Thankfully we had enough cash, although in US dollars, to get us through the rest of the trip.
After our walk we packed our bags and headed downstairs to the lobby about 9:40. One of the Cruise Critic “planners”, Roberta, had organized a transfer from the hotel to the ship in San Antonio, with a stop at about the half-way point. What had started as a small van transfer for 6 or 8 people had grown into 30 people spread across three mini-busses. One of the vans was also pulling a cargo trailer for luggage. Roberta had everything organized with people assigned to vans and a planned departure time of 10:00.
Roberta (silver hair) made sure everyone was on the right bus.
Checking out of the hotel took much longer than it should have and I think that threw us a few minutes behind schedule for the departure, but I also had the impression that getting all these cruise people to do anything was a bit like herding cats. We were soon on out way out of Santiago and we were enjoying the views of the countryside as it rolled past us.
We had one planned stop on the way to the port of San Antonio to stretch our legs and to allow those people who had too much coffee at breakfast to find a restroom. In the area between Santiago and San Antonio there are some very “rich” clay deposits and the people in the town of Pomaire have taken advantage of this clay to go into the pottery and ceramics production business. After driving about 45 minutes, the three vans pulled off the main road, into Pomaire, and were directed to a side street with room to unload the people. This was on a Sunday morning, about 11:00 when we arrived, and the town was still mostly asleep: store keepers were opening their shops and food was being put on the grills.
One of the few shops that were open as we arrived
We quickly realized that there were two kinds of businesses in Pomaire: pottery/ceramic stores and food stands/restaurants. Most of the food stands had samples of their offerings on display at the front.
A typical sidewalk food stand
The dominant food being offered appeared to be empanadas, especially in rather large sizes. One of these large empanadas would have been more than a meal for most people and, of course, they came with a wide variety of fillings. They reminded me an an Italian Calzone. They looked and smelled good enough that I was tempted to buy one to try: I would have shared it with our new friends… of course, I would have.
A typical pottery store
To get an idea of the prices of the pottery, the then current exchange rate was very close to 1000 Chilean pesos to one dollar, so there were some very attractive prices on some very nice pots and vases. Most of the items in the photo above would have been about $2.00. But, we were about to get on a ship for 20 days and then have to fly about 5000 miles to get home: how in the world would we take something like this with us?
Thery did have some painted items and ceramics in shapes other than basic pottery.
Dogs and puppies of all sizes, and a few cats
One shop (above) had the likenesses of dogs in many sizes and a few cats. In the larger sizes especially, the painting was so well done that they looked absolutely life-like. As soon as Susan and I saw these dogs, we both immediately thought of our friends the Clarkes, who have a couple of dogs with a definite resemblance to these in the store.
After we had wandered around for a while, the town started getting busier: quite a few cars were arriving and even a few large tour busses rolled through the main street. Since it was getting close to noon, I suspect the good stands would be getting busy soon. We still had about 20 minutes until time to meet and load up again, so Susan and I walked the other way on the main street and we found their “shopping mall”.
The Pomaire version of a “Shopping Mall”
This mostly covered area had lots of small spaces for individual vendors to rent, either a single or multiple stalls. I expect that this area got very busy by mid-afternoon, not least because it would offer some protection from the hot afternoon sun. Remember, it was summer in Chile.
At about 12:15 we met back at the vans and loaded up for the rest of the trip to the cruise ship terminal in San Antonio. After fighting some traffic in San Antonio, we got to the cruise terminal shortly after 1:30. Someone, Roberta?, had timed our arrival very well because all the people in a hurry to check-in and board the ship had arrived much earlier and already been processed. The check-in staff were standing around waiting for us! We breezed through the process more quickly than we have ever done for any previous cruise, boarded a shuttle bus, and were delivered to the ship’s gangway in no more than 10 minutes. As we boarded, I asked if our cabin was ready for us, and it was, so the first order of business was to find it and drop off our hand luggage.
The view aft from in front of the door to our cabin. Not that door, the one you cannot see to my immediate right.
We headed toward the Terrace Café for some lunch and then took a quick refamiliarization with the layout of the Marina. First we went to one of the upper decks to check the view around the harbor, but other than a couple of helicopters, one with engine running, making a lot of noise, there was not much to see.
The harbor and port of San Antonio
We also checked out Horizons Lounge (deck 15, forward) but it was very quiet up there. Perhaps there will be more activity later.
About as quiet as I’ve ever seen Horizon Lounge.
We headed back to our cabin and our bags, well, some of them, were being delivered, so we set about unpacking and organizing our cabin for the cruise. I had packed a third roll-aboard size suitcase this time which we used for my extra camera gear and some “emergency” clothes and that bag had not been delivered. When I mentioned this to our cabin attendants, they suggested checking at the registration desk as that is where all the “lost bags” were stored. When I described the missing bag to the staff at the registration desk, they immediately pulled it out from storage. Apparently, the tag with name and cabin information had been torn off in handling so they were not sure where it was to go.
This evening, we ate in the Grand Dining Room (GDR from now on) at a table for just the two of us. There were no major entertainments this evening, just a movie in the main lounge, both bands taking turns in the Horizon Lounge, and the Piano player, Eddu, in Martinis bar. After dinner we just headed to Martinis for some cognac and listened to Eddu for a while before calling it a night.
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