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Thursday 29 November 2012

Santiago November 2012




Wednesday 28 November 2012

After the sad goodbye to Kurt I started to get myself organised to go to the airport to meet up with Wayne for the flight to Santiago.

The departure from the Motel on the airport shuttle went like clockwork and I arrived at a very hectic airport with long lines everywhere. I went up to a Qantas information lady to ask her the best way to check-in. She took me to the no lines Business Class check-in. Wow I was on my way to immigration and breezed through security in only a few minutes.

I was starving and had some brekkie while I waited for Wayne.

I finally met up with Wayne at the boarding lounge and after a few delays we at last boarded the aircraft 40 mins late.

The flight over was not too bad in fact it was a very pleasant one.  The arrival process was a bit out of date as we had to line up to pay an entry visa fee of $95.00, but we were on our way into the city within an hour of getting off the aircraft.

We had to wait until 3pm to check in to our unit so we found a nice German eating place to have lunch and a pint of beer.



 It was funny as we don't speak Spanish and the staff didn't speak English. The city is beaut so far and offices closed between 1 pm and 3.30 pm for siesta. The footpaths and eating places were crowded between those times.




After lunch we went to a little convenience store to buy some supplies for the unit. I went to pay by card and their machine broke down. As I had not got any local money as yet, I had to leave the store without the purchases.

Our unit is fantastic up on the 13th floor so we have great views. It is a very modern 2 bedroom 2 bathroom unit and even better than how it looked on the internet. After we settled in we set off to try again to buy our supplies. This time we went to a nearby bigger shop and had success with using the card to pay for our purchases. The lack of our ability to even speak even simple Spanish leads to some very funny and embarrassing situations for us.

As we had a big lunch we settled for a sandwich for the evening feed combined with a few sips of our duty free liquor.  We managed to stay up until about 8.30 pm before calling it a night. It is 32 hours since I got up in Sydney, so the body and the eyes are telling me it is time for a nanna nap.

So at the end of the first day I am impressed with Santiago with what I have seen and experienced so far.


 Thur 29 Nov 2012

I first awoke at 2 am after 5 hours sleep so I got up and did emails etc until 5.30am and then went back to bed for another 4 hours sleep. (The body clock is a tad confused at the moment.)
It dawned a bit overcast and a little rainy however it cleared up a bit by lunch time when we went out to lunch and buy some more supplies. Wayne saw a watch for $20 that he couldn’t resist. (His first watch purchased on this trip.)






We went to a rooftop revolving restaurant for lunch. What great service and the wine and meal was excellent. The views were fantastic. We seem to be handling our lack of Spanish  a lot better today and not making as bigger fools of ourselves as Yesterday.

I have caught up with my washing for the past 6 days as the unit has laundry facilities in a hallway cupboard.

Tonight my friend Bernard (from a previous cruise through Egypt and on to Singapore this year) picked us up and took us out to dinner. On the way we picked up his wife and then met up with other couples from the previous cruise. What a great time we had and the company was excellent. Wayne learnt some more Spanish and our hosts spoke to us in English. I had a grilled fish and salad meal. They then drove us back to the unit just after midnight. 


Fri 30 Nov 2012





We had a relaxing day after the late night out with Bernardo & Tauba and their friends.  We did up bacon and eggs in the unit for brekkie. We sat around chatting and then had a morning nanna nap.

Early afternoon we set out on foot to do some exploring and check out some of the places Bernardo had suggested. We did some shopping for food supplies. 

The prices are much the same as Australia. We visited the newest and largest shopping centre in Santiago. The supermarket was huge and very well stocked. We bought a six pack of local beer to try for about $5.

In the evening we had savoury snacks with our drinks and just a light evening meal. As it is not dark here until about 9 pm we don’t seem to eat at night until late so it was about 1 am by the time I got to bed.




Sat 1 Dec 2012

We slept in and had a late brekkie and were on our way to catch the hop on hop off Red Bus at 11 am.






 Boy oh boy was this is a beaut way to see this fantastic city. It reminds me of cities in southern Spain and in Portugal.  So clean and tidy and it was a brilliant sunny day.

Late afternoon we had lunch at the big Maccas over the road from our condo. Then we walked off our late lunch taking in the sights of our surroundings. Our condo is in the Providencia district of Santiago so we are very central to all the facilities.








Wayne cooked up a pizza for our late dinner and we had a bottle of red to wash it down. I had an early night for a change and was in bed shortly after midnight.



Sunday 2 Dec 1012

Another sleep in and late brekkie, I did a load of washing before we went out exploring about 11 am. Our main goal today was to get some transport from Santiago for the 2 hour trip down to Valparaiso the port city where we board the ship.

The bus service required us to take a taxi to the bus terminal and likewise from the Valparaiso end to the ship. There was also a change of bus along the way so with all our luggage it became all to hard. We phoned Holland America in Seattle to see if we could catch there transfer coach from the airport to the ship but it was already full.

Today we walked down to the Radisson to see if their concierge could help us. Well the delightful young bloke who spoke very good English moved mountains for us. He has organised a car to pick us up outside our condo building at 9 am and drive us direct to the ship. He told us he had only come back from a 12 month working holiday in Australia and he loved Oz and wanted to go back again. The cost of the transfer will cost $80 each so that is not too bad for door to door service.

The city on Sundays is very quiet and virtually no traffic on the roads. A complete contrast to what it is like on the week days.
 On the way back from the Radisson we called in to a church and a bishop  (he had the red skull cap on) was giving his sermon in Spanish so we didn’t stay for the rest of the Mass.




We called into the supermarket and bought a BBQ chook and some salad to have for a late lunch back at the unit. It is very warm today, but a perfect clear day. The traffic is still very quiet.

Our unit is in a fantastic position with so many restaurants and food outlets nearby as well as the Metro and the bus services. The unit is well fitted out with all mod cons and full cooking and washing facilities I would certainly recommend it to anyone wanting this type of accommodation.  The website for the unit is http://www.flipkey.com/santiago-condo-rentals/p251519/  for your information.

Well it is a relief to have the transfer to the ship organised we just had a bit of a walk around then a few drinks before packing and an early night.

Santiago is a wonderful friendly ‘young’ vibrant go ahead city. There didn’t seem to be many old folks around. We have really enjoyed our 5 days here.

 Our only regret was that we could not speak a little Spanish.




Oh Well, tomorrow it is goodbye Santiago.


Tuesday 27 November 2012

The Blue Mountains Holiday with Kurt Nov 2012




Sat 24 November 2012

The 3.30 am alarm awoke me from a very deep sleep and after that it was all go to get ready for the cab I had ordered to take me to the airport.  The check-in process went very smoothly, and then at the security check point a young over zealous security bloke gave me the full attention. He called his supervisor and the next thing I knew the 3 of us were going into the ‘private’ examination room. Anyway all went well and the supervisor thanked me for my co operation, but I do think young ‘junior’ was very disappointed for not making a big drug bust of the year.

The 2 hour flight to Brisbane was uneventful.

 Kurt was waiting for me at the arrival gate with a sign when I got off the plane. We then went to the departure lounge for our flight to Sydney. (Note there is no mention of the Qantas club anymore as I don’t fly that much any more so I have let my membership lapse.)





On arrival in Sydney we picked up our brand new Ford Falcon hire car and set of for the 100Km trip west to the Blue Mountains.

We arrived at the small town of Springwood just after 2 pm and we visited my cousin Alan and his wife Jenny who run a coffee shop.

 I hadn't seen Alan for about 12 years or met his wife before so it was a good catch-up on what we have both been up to. Jenny served us up Coffee and a great BLT sandwich. After a couple enjoyable hours Kurt and I left to continue our trip to Katoomba.


Wow, the place was packed out and we could only get into a  1 Star overpriced dump of a motel for the night as it was take it or leave it. Fortunately we were able to book into a much better and cheaper Motel for the next 2 nights.

We spent the remainder the day having a look at the ‘3 Sisters’ and taking in the Mountain views. 
We went to the RSL club for dinner and had an all you could eat Chinese yummy meal. We both had small wins at the pokies after the meal.

Sunday 25 Nov 2012.

After a good night’s sleep we headed off to find some brekkie. We found a great art Deco Greek cafĂ© and enjoyed a full brekkie of bacon and eggs and coffee. 

Back at the motel we packed up and then set off to visit Scenic World to take in some of the high lights of this beautiful area.






 We did the cable car across the gorge and the train down to the bottom of the gorge. The forests, the views and the waterfalls were specular.

After a 4 hour visit we went for a drive to explore the area and take in more of the views.

We went for a walk around the town in the evening and then got some pizzas to take back to our new motel. 


We enjoyed the pizzas with a bottle of red wine out on our balcony. We had a bit of a late evening.


Monday 26 November 2012

The full Brekkie at the motel was great and filled us up for the day for our trip to the Jenolan Caves about 75 km from Katoomba on very winding mountainous roads.




We choose the Orient Cave to visit on the 3 hour guided tour.










On the return trip we called in to the historic town of Hartley and just had a drive around as the rain had started.






We went back to take some more photos of the 3 sisters on our return to Katoomba.

 We had fish 7 chips back in the motel for dinner and had an early night after a long day.

Tuesday 27 November 2012.

We had another big brekkie at the motel then packed and headed off to drive back to Sydney.

 On the way we called into the little town of Blaxland to have a look at the historic bridge built for the Cobb & Co stage coaches 130 years ago.

After returning the hire car at the airport we then took a cab to our nearby motel. We freshened up and then walked to the nearby train station of Wooli Creek to go into the city. What a bargain I got a $2.50 pass for the day which included ferries and buses.




On arrival at Circular Quay we took the ferry to Manly which is an excellent way of doing a harbour cruise. It was a pity the day was overcast, however it was not raining. The city skyline, the Opera House and the Bridge always look spectacular.




We had a great lunch at a pub overlooking the beach and the surf and the sun broke through the clouds. After lunch we wandered around then caught the ferry and the train back to the motel.

The Rowing Club about 200 mtrs away from the motel provided us with an excellent venue for dinner. We sat out on a deck overlooking the lake and also could see the aircraft landing at the airport. A big storm blew up just about the time we wanted to leave so the kind man on the front desk lent us an umbrella for the dash back to the motel.

As Kurt had a shuttle transfer booked for the airport 4.55 am we had an early night. My shuttle is booked for 8.55 am to take me to the Sydney International Airport.

The last 4 days have been great and with Kurt’s excellent company the time went far too quickly. It was Kurt’s first visit to the Blue Mtns and it had been over 40 years since my last visit.  Also it was beaut to catch up with my cousin Alan after many years.

Wednesday 28 November 2012

After the sad goodbye to Kurt I started to get myself organised to go to the airport to meet up with Wayne for the flight to Santiago.