11-19-16. Ismael 312 Hotel Santiago Chile
Yesterday was a travel day. Today was a fun, leisurely day for us. We spent the AM walking around our neighborhood, then over to the Bellavista area. We took the funicular to the top of a hill that afforded us amazing views of the city. Santiago is huge, about 6 million people. It is a very hustling, bustling kind of place. There are also lots of stray dogs here as well. After our visit to Bellavista we took the hop on hop off bus and spent the rest of the touring about the highlights of the city. Our hotel fronts a huge beautiful park, with hills in the background. We walked through the park which was full of people, music and vendors for some type of festival. We walked back over the Bellavista for dinner and took in some of the nightlife. I have discovered Mango pisco sours. Delish ! Tomorrow we are on tour to the coast.
Yesterday was a travel day. Today was a fun, leisurely day for us. We spent the AM walking around our neighborhood, then over to the Bellavista area. We took the funicular to the top of a hill that afforded us amazing views of the city. Santiago is huge, about 6 million people. It is a very hustling, bustling kind of place. There are also lots of stray dogs here as well. After our visit to Bellavista we took the hop on hop off bus and spent the rest of the touring about the highlights of the city. Our hotel fronts a huge beautiful park, with hills in the background. We walked through the park which was full of people, music and vendors for some type of festival. We walked back over the Bellavista for dinner and took in some of the nightlife. I have discovered Mango pisco sours. Delish ! Tomorrow we are on tour to the coast.
11-20-16. Santiago
We were picked up this AM by a husband and wife team Gabriel and Alexandra, then joined by one other couple, Nick and Arlene from Australia. It was a ten hour tour through valleys, with s stop and wine tasting at a great winery, then on to the coast to a huge Bay Area that is Vina del mar on one side, and Valparaiso on the other side. These are big port cities and a major resort area for South Americans. Luckily it's still spring here so not full of beach goers yet. Valparaiso is 1000s of homes built on top of each other up steep hill sides. There are dogs and graffiti everywhere. The graffiti ranges from vandalism to beautiful art work. We are having an early night tonight because we have a 4:30 AM pick up for our flight to Buenos Aires. Once in BA we are being met by a guide who will pick us up at the airport, then bring us into the city for touring. He will then drive us back out to airport hotel tomorrow evening. It will be a looooong day !
11-20-16. Santiago
We were picked up this AM by a husband and wife team Gabriel and Alexandra, then joined by one other couple, Nick and Arlene from Australia. It was a ten hour tour through valleys, with s stop and wine tasting at a great winery, then on to the coast to a huge Bay Area that is Vina del mar on one side, and Valparaiso on the other side. These are big port cities and a major resort area for South Americans. Luckily it's still spring here so not full of beach goers yet. Valparaiso is 1000s of homes built on top of each other up steep hill sides. There are dogs and graffiti everywhere. The graffiti ranges from vandalism to beautiful art work. We are having an early night tonight because we have a 4:30 AM pick up for our flight to Buenos Aires. Once in BA we are being met by a guide who will pick us up at the airport, then bring us into the city for touring. He will then drive us back out to airport hotel tomorrow evening. It will be a looooong day !
11-21-16 Eze Inn Buenos Aires Argentina
We arrived into BA on were on our way with our guide by10:30 AM. Our guide was Tomas with a Capitol " T" for trouble. He was 35 year old, absolute hoot ! Once we got together, we quickly decided to ditch the city tour idea once we learned Tomas had a boat. We drove through the city, and Tomas pointed out some highlights while listening to Led Zeppelin and AC/ DC two of Jon's favorite bands ;) We then drove north to the outskirts of BA to an area known as Tigre. Here we boarded the boat and set out for about five hours. We cruised on the main river, then ducked off onto to smaller rivers that we bordered by small cottages only accessible by boat. We ate lunch at a wonderful restaurant, the Gato Blanco, again only accessible by water no roads. After lunch we continued cruising on different rivers, and passed through beautiful scenic areas. It felt quite surreal and not what we expected from our day in BA. I have always said when you are on the water, you feel like you could be anywhere in the world. After cruising we toured around some fabulous neighborhoods in is lido, then stopped around 5:30 PM for beverages and dessert at the edge of the river. Our final stop was further down on the rivers edge where we got a great view of the distant BA center. We got back to our hotel around 8:30 PM. We regrouped for our flight tomorrow , finally heading to Ushuaia where we will meet Jim and Danette. We will be retuning to BA for a day and a half on our way back home, and then will explore the city. Today was one of our favorite days so far !
We arrived into BA on were on our way with our guide by10:30 AM. Our guide was Tomas with a Capitol " T" for trouble. He was 35 year old, absolute hoot ! Once we got together, we quickly decided to ditch the city tour idea once we learned Tomas had a boat. We drove through the city, and Tomas pointed out some highlights while listening to Led Zeppelin and AC/ DC two of Jon's favorite bands ;) We then drove north to the outskirts of BA to an area known as Tigre. Here we boarded the boat and set out for about five hours. We cruised on the main river, then ducked off onto to smaller rivers that we bordered by small cottages only accessible by boat. We ate lunch at a wonderful restaurant, the Gato Blanco, again only accessible by water no roads. After lunch we continued cruising on different rivers, and passed through beautiful scenic areas. It felt quite surreal and not what we expected from our day in BA. I have always said when you are on the water, you feel like you could be anywhere in the world. After cruising we toured around some fabulous neighborhoods in is lido, then stopped around 5:30 PM for beverages and dessert at the edge of the river. Our final stop was further down on the rivers edge where we got a great view of the distant BA center. We got back to our hotel around 8:30 PM. We regrouped for our flight tomorrow , finally heading to Ushuaia where we will meet Jim and Danette. We will be retuning to BA for a day and a half on our way back home, and then will explore the city. Today was one of our favorite days so far !
