December 15, 2007 - San Pedro de Atacama
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I was ready by 7:30 AM and finished breakfast by 8. The shuttle arrived promptly at 8:30 AM. I was the first passenger to be picked up. After picking up a dozen more passengers, it headed to Calama Airport (75 mins away). One of the pickup stops was Hosteria San Pedro. Looked like an excellent (and very expensive) place. If you have the money to burn, might be a good place to do it.
I took a final look at the Atacama desert landscape as we rode to Calama. We reached the airport by 10 AM. In addition to the shuttle fare of CLP 7000 (US$15), I tipped the driver CLP 1000 (I was compensating for not tipping on the way in to San Pedro - Yes, it was the same driver)
After waiting in line for 15 mins and reaching the LAN airlines counter, I was told to do a electronic check-in and print my boarding passes before they would check my luggage! Wish they would tell this in advance so people don´t stand in line for 15 mins and then crowd up the electronic check-in machine afterwards! I was not charged any excess baggage fee. Saved myself some $.
I called Hotel Rio Amazonas (in Santiago) from Calama airport to confirm my booking. It was all set and they even told me the shuttle company to take from the airport to the hotel door. The cost of the shuttle would be CLP 4500 (US$10 approx.)
The flight to Santiago from Calama was quite packed. I ran into the French couple who had accompanied me on a few excursions at San Pedro de Atacama. They were heading to Puntas Arenas (which I would reach a few weeks later).
LAN in-flight announcements are in Spanish and English even on domestic flights.
Road across Chile are quite good. GOOD black topped roads exist even in remote places. There is a company called TUR-BUS that apparently has executive class seats (yes in a bus) that can recline 180 degree. Must be great for travelling long distances (overnight trips) as long as it does not cost as much as an AIRLINE BUSINESS Class ticket!
December 15, 2007 - Santiago, Chile
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On reaching Santiago, I found that there was no one manning the TRANSVIP shuttle desk. An adjacent shuttle company offered similar a shuttle service to my hotel for CLP 4800 (an additional 300 pesos - 70 cents). I took it. We had about 5 passengers on our shuttle. We dropped a few off at their respective destinations before I was dropped at my hotel. I observed on the way that the Estacion Central (Central Station) is a gorgeous building (reminding one of the train station of the early 20th century).
The hostel is located on a nice boulevard next to the Argentine Embassy. Too bad that I don´t need a visa! The folks at the front desk are quite helpful. They insisted on speaking to me in English even when I was willing to speak to them in Spanish. Maybe they want to improve their English, whereas I want to improve my Spanish. (or better yet, they do not want to see me butcher their language and are therefore willing to take the extra effort to converse with me in Ingles!)
There was a Laundromat close by. A small load costs CLP 4200 (US$9 approx). This includes a wash and fold by the folks at the laundry. If you want to sit there for 2 hours and do the wash and fold yourself, you can save yourself around $600 pesos or so (approx US$ 1.50 or so). I preferred that they do the wash and fold as it gives me time to run some other errands.
The hostel was Ok with my leaving a small bag behind for a week. After spending a week in Easter Island, I will overnight in Santiago (at the same hostel) before heading to Argentina. I plan to leave all my Winter Wear (taken for the purposes of spending time in Patagonia and Antarctica) along with some other clothes behind for a week. Hopefully that will reduce the weight of my check-in bag significantly.
I went in search of a small bag! I took a metro to Plaza Armas (2 stops away). Like the New York System, the metro levies a flat fee for travel. It does not matter whether you travel for 2 stops or 20. The fare is the same (CLP 380 - US$ 0.75 approx.). It is a nice metro system. Despite the fact that Cell phone work underground, I did not see a single person gab on the phone while travelling underground.
The area around Plaza Armas is a big shopping mall. Being close to Christmas, festivities abound. Folks dressed in Red & White greet visitors to stores. The food court has live performances of Christmas songs (yes, Feliz Navidad is among those sung). There was a big police presence here with the policemen and policewomen wearing bullet-proof vests and some handling sniffer dogs.
Many of the fancy stores were selling bags for CLP 12000 ($25) or more. For a bag that I may not use again, I did not want to spend that much. I found a smaller store selling a gym bag equivalent for CLP 6000 (US$ 13). I bargained it down to CLP 5500 (US$ 12) and was quite thrilled! (Am never good at bargaining anyways. If they had insisted that they would not reduce the price, I would have bought it anyways as the other stores were selling bags for twice as much!)
The Christmas tree at the Plaza Armas was lit up with Coco-Cola signs. Perhaps the next generation will associate Christmas more with COKE than with J.C.! A pharmacy was selling ´Todos Medicamentos´for 10% less. Now, there is an incentive to fall sick!
I got back to the hotel. Picked up my laundry. They had done a good job of washing and folding my clothes. The laundry also offers an Ironing service. I did not avail myself of that (I know that those who know me well, would be shocked by such a cavalier attitude!) I packed all my unwanted stuff into the smaller bag.
The girl at the front office recommended an Indian restaurant. I took a metro to Santa Ana. As I turned the corner of Santo Domingo and San Martin streets, the overpowering smell of Curry enveloped me! The Hotel Majestic is a BEST WESTERN hotel. The restaurant within the hotel (Restaurant Majestic) serves Indian Cuisine. The restaurant had a good ambience. But for the elephants on the Wallpaper, this place could easily be mistaken for a middle eastern restaurant. The hostess was quite surly though.
Good food. I ordered a spicy Veg Kolhapuri. It went extremely well with a GRAN TARAPACA Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 2006 which was light yellow in colour, with a light (citrus) nose, light bodied and had a refreshing medium finish. I finished my dinner with a Kulfi Alamendros (Kulfi with Almonds). The first $30+ dinner. With the exception of the surly hostess, all was OK.
To think that I would have to survive on BLAND Italian food for another 2 months at least before I may have an opportunity to taste Indian food either in Rio / Sao Paolo or Buenos Aires.
I cannot for the life of me fathom how people can live without SPICY food.
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