Santiago and Chilean' Patagonia

Murdoughnut

Well sized member
My wife and I had international frequent flyer miles and decided to take them about as far as they would get us - Santiago, Chile. These are some pics from our trip. We flew into Santiago on AA and spent two days there, with a day spent touring the wine country, and another day spent walking the city.

From there we hopped on a LAN Chile flight down to Punta Arenas - the southern most city in the world with a population of 100k+ We spent two days in Punta Arenas, which included 2-hour ferry boat ride to an island inhabited by tens of thousands of Magellan Penguins.

On day two, our resort on Patagonia picked us up for the five hour ride into the Tierra Del Paine - the national forest. On the way we stopped at a sheep ranch for lunch, and got to see some sheep dogs in action.

We stayed at the resort for five days, four nights. It was sort of expensive ($3600 for both of us) but everything was included, including meals, wine, beer, and moderate priced liquors. We took three hikes, and one horseback ride (although two of the hikes involved riding the horses at the beginning and end). The guides were awesome and the excursions were covered under the package.

After leaving the forest, we went back to Punta Arenas for a night, then hopped another LAN flight to Santiago. One more wine tour, and another day in the city, and we were back - for a total of 11 days. It was an amazing trip - and I saw things more beautiful than anything I've ever seen before - honestly!

Pic#1 - Leaving Tampa for our connection in Miami
Pic#2 - Santiago airport after getting off the flight from Miami
Pic#3 - Santiago after some of the smog lifted (nice town, but horrible air pollution)
Pic#4 - Central cathedral in Santiago - dating back to the 1790s
Pic#5 - Yours truly looking as CIA as possible in the town square
Pic#6 - Standing in front of some barrels at one of the wineries we visited
Pic#7 - Vineyard
Pic#8 - Me trying to be all artsy and what not
Pic#9 - Terraced vineyard
Pic#10 - Airport in Punta Arenas (where the wind averages around 30-knots)
 

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Pic#1 - Awesome restaurant in Punta Arenas called La Luna (on a fault line - which surprised me considering how these bottles were stacked!)
Pic#2-4 - Magellan penguins
Pic#5 - This was a puppy training to protect the sheep from pumas at night - very nice, but unfortunately he isn't allowed any human contact
Pic#6 - Silence of the Lambs
Pic#7 - Our resort/cult compound
Pic#8 - Las Tores (the towers)
Pic#9-10 - Hiking in the park
 

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Pic#1 - My wife crossing a cat 4 river over a not so sturdy bridge
Pic#2 - My trusty steed for the first part of one hike
Pic#3 - My wife and I at the base of the towers
Pic#4 - Me on perhaps the worst hike - nay, mountain climb ever. 3,000 feet from bottom to top - straight up. And on lose stone, so for every 3 feet you walked up, you slid back a foot. Did I mention 40 mph winds?
Pic#5 - Does not justice, but we were seriously way the hell up this mountain
Pic#6 - Airport in Punta Natales - 3 flights a day gets you a tower here I guess
Pic#7 - Again, being artsy or something
Pic#8 - Regional flight from Punta Arenas
Pic#9 - Our LAN flight back to Santiago
Pic#10 - Southern Jets leaving it's junk about in Santiago
 

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Last ones ...

Pic#1 - My wife and I found this great Mediteranian restaurant on our last night there - and were the only ones to show up until 10pm
Pic#2 - Sporting the local team's football jersey (Colo Colo)
Pic#3 - My lovely wife at a roadside restaurant that was crazy awesome
Pic#4 - A restaurant near our hotel in Santiago that we ended up eating at twice
Pic#5 - 50 years ago this glacier covered the whole mountain (talking to you global warming opponents)
Pic#6 - Another shot of our resort with roaming horses
Pic#7 - Another scenery/hike shot
 
Forgot the pics ...
 

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Sweet! My family did almost that exact trip in 1997 over my high school's winter break. We did Christmas in a small inn just outside the Torres del Paine park, and spent time in Punta Arenas and Puerto Montt as well. Great photos from an unbelievable place.
 
Sweet! My family did almost that exact trip in 1997 over my high school's winter break. We did Christmas in a small inn just outside the Torres del Paine park, and spent time in Punta Arenas and Puerto Montt as well. Great photos from an unbelievable place.

Awesome! Yeah, a lot of the people we met were doing Argentina and Buenos Aires as well, but we figured there was enough to see in Chile for one trip. Very friendly people in Chile - but the stray dogs all over the place were a big shock for us.
 
that is a trip i have always wanted to do! looks amazing and i am glad you could share the pictures with us.
 
Did I mention that I am jealous?!?!? Sounds like a very nice trip...a visit to chilean patagonia is on my "to see" list next time we visit. Amazing pics...I have a pic similar to yours in the Plaza de Armas. Your pics made my wife, who is chilean, miss home quite a bit. The stray dogs are a bit strange, I guess not really much different then cats here except the cats are a bit more cautious not to be seen. Where did you stay in Santiago? Great to hear that you and your wife had such a good time.
 
Did I mention that I am jealous?!?!? Sounds like a very nice trip...a visit to chilean patagonia is on my "to see" list next time we visit. Amazing pics...I have a pic similar to yours in the Plaza de Armas. Your pics made my wife, who is chilean, miss home quite a bit. The stray dogs are a bit strange, I guess not really much different then cats here except the cats are a bit more cautious not to be seen. Where did you stay in Santiago? Great to hear that you and your wife had such a good time.

We stayed at the Radisson in the financial district - it was connected to the World Trade Center. The really crazy thing is that was my first time out of the country (aside from Vancouver). Fortunately my wife is very fluent in Spanish which helped a ton. It really was a great trip and I highly recommend it.
 
Great pix---although that rickety bridge would have definitely been a "no-go" for me! Glad you had fun!
 
We stayed at the Radisson in the financial district - it was connected to the World Trade Center. The really crazy thing is that was my first time out of the country (aside from Vancouver). Fortunately my wife is very fluent in Spanish which helped a ton. It really was a great trip and I highly recommend it.
is it the same type of spanish that is spoken here in the US?

Great photos!! i would have done that bridge just to say "I did it, now what do i do to get back on your side?" HAHA

Would you recommend Santiago as a 48 hr layover or 72 hr layover?

Thanks for sharing!! you're photos are awesome!
 
is it the same type of spanish that is spoken here in the US?

Great photos!! i would have done that bridge just to say "I did it, now what do i do to get back on your side?" HAHA

Would you recommend Santiago as a 48 hr layover or 72 hr layover?

Thanks for sharing!! you're photos are awesome!


My wife learned Spanish in Spain and said that they speak more eloquently in Chile', much like the Spaniards and unlike Mexicans and those from Caribbean states. For the most part she had no problem communicating with them, except they have some words that aren't used anywhere else - mostly for food. That caused a little confusion, but otherwise she was ok.

I think you could do Santiago in 48-hours - spend a day touring the city, and another day either hitting the wine country, or hopping a bus to the beach (Valparaiso). We didn't get to the lake region, but that's supposed to be really nice as well and not too far.

We used a tour group called "Santiago Adventures" on two of our tours, and I would highly recommend them. I can recommend our driver as well if you decide to go - I still have his business card and he spoke great English.
 
Couldn't help but think of this:


Norm: Really? Where would I have seen your work?
Pat Healy: Well, have you been to, uh well, let me see... Santiago, Chile?
Norm: Twice last year. Which building's yours?
Pat Healy: Are you familiar with the soccer stadium?
Norm: Did you build the Estadio Olimpico?
Pat Healy: No, just down the street the Celinto Catayente Towers. It's quite a fine example, in fact. I recommend that next time you're up that way that you drop in and take a gander at it yourself.

(Sounds like a fun trip!)
 
Couldn't help but think of this:


Norm: Really? Where would I have seen your work?
Pat Healy: Well, have you been to, uh well, let me see... Santiago, Chile?
Norm: Twice last year. Which building's yours?
Pat Healy: Are you familiar with the soccer stadium?
Norm: Did you build the Estadio Olimpico?
Pat Healy: No, just down the street the Celinto Catayente Towers. It's quite a fine example, in fact. I recommend that next time you're up that way that you drop in and take a gander at it yourself.

(Sounds like a fun trip!)

Haha! I can't believe I didn't think of that. There actually was some pretty cool architecture in that town, though. Lots of helicopter pads on the towers. I snapped this photo downtown ...
 

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