March 2 Day 15 Two days and no pictures. Not every aspect of travel is super-exciting.
Transit day! We had breakfast at the hotel and said out last goodbyes. Our taxi was 20 minutes early but had no problem waiting. On the drive to the airport you could see many beach condos being built and the airport itself was right next to a very pleasant looking strip of sand, if you didn't mind planes constantly going over you while you sunbathed.
As we checked in the desk clerk asked for our onward ticket, which we didn't have as we wanted our dates to be flexible. We insisted we didn't need one but found out later in rereading our guide book that he was right. He let us go through anyway and this would be our first violation of Chilean law.
We transferred in Bogota at another nice, new airport. As I looked at our gates number I saw that our tickets were standby, so went to the gate and was told that they were oversold by 10. We had lunch and I exchanged money, then went back to the desk to hear that they had offered bonuses for people giving up their seats and we had one and needed just one more for us to get on.
We were still waiting with a group of others after the plane had fully loaded, fully braced for news that we would have to take a flight the next day and negotiate our compensation with them. Fortunately, he handed us boarding passes and our seats were together! Bonus.
North American airlines could learn so much from the rest of the world when it comes to making passengers happy.. We had entertainment screens and watched a few movies, had two meals and the drinks came around several times with free alcohol, should one desire.
We landed too late to get a bus to the subway (which closes at 11 pm). We tried to get a shuttle but they were very confused and got our information wrong twice. We then paid a bit more and got a taxi who was very confident and so not surprising got lost in our neighbourhood.
Finally we arrived at the Chile Pepper hostel with our host Francisco waiting with a key. It was a bunk bed room but we were used to that and so quickly went to sleep.
March 3 Day 16
Meg needed a recovery day so most of the day was spent at the hostel. They offered to move us to a room with a double bed so we took them up on it. We had only booked two nights and so looked for airbnb alternatives on the advice of a friend who had stayed in Santiago before. Unfortunately, our old account was linked to phone and e-mails that we had cancelled, so I set up a new one. They then required a phone # to verify who we were and we did not have a Chilean sim card yet.
I went through the neighbourhood trying to do some errands but Santiago takes its Sundays seriously. Almost nothing was open and so no laundry or sim card purchasing could be done today. We booked the hostel for another night, it was basic but comfortable and the sprawling layout was interesting and the staff were nice.
We were the only diners at the pizza place we went to for dinner but Meg was happy to have a spinach salad. A French guy helped us translate why our bill payment didn't go through. Apparently you can choose to pay the entire bill in one go or delay it, a strange choice.
Back at the hostel we had a good night's sleep mainly because very few other people were there. Maybe airbnb is cutting into hostel business but if our time there is representative then Chile Pepper Hostel won't be around much longer.
Transit day! We had breakfast at the hotel and said out last goodbyes. Our taxi was 20 minutes early but had no problem waiting. On the drive to the airport you could see many beach condos being built and the airport itself was right next to a very pleasant looking strip of sand, if you didn't mind planes constantly going over you while you sunbathed.
As we checked in the desk clerk asked for our onward ticket, which we didn't have as we wanted our dates to be flexible. We insisted we didn't need one but found out later in rereading our guide book that he was right. He let us go through anyway and this would be our first violation of Chilean law.
We transferred in Bogota at another nice, new airport. As I looked at our gates number I saw that our tickets were standby, so went to the gate and was told that they were oversold by 10. We had lunch and I exchanged money, then went back to the desk to hear that they had offered bonuses for people giving up their seats and we had one and needed just one more for us to get on.
We were still waiting with a group of others after the plane had fully loaded, fully braced for news that we would have to take a flight the next day and negotiate our compensation with them. Fortunately, he handed us boarding passes and our seats were together! Bonus.
North American airlines could learn so much from the rest of the world when it comes to making passengers happy.. We had entertainment screens and watched a few movies, had two meals and the drinks came around several times with free alcohol, should one desire.
We landed too late to get a bus to the subway (which closes at 11 pm). We tried to get a shuttle but they were very confused and got our information wrong twice. We then paid a bit more and got a taxi who was very confident and so not surprising got lost in our neighbourhood.
Finally we arrived at the Chile Pepper hostel with our host Francisco waiting with a key. It was a bunk bed room but we were used to that and so quickly went to sleep.
March 3 Day 16
Meg needed a recovery day so most of the day was spent at the hostel. They offered to move us to a room with a double bed so we took them up on it. We had only booked two nights and so looked for airbnb alternatives on the advice of a friend who had stayed in Santiago before. Unfortunately, our old account was linked to phone and e-mails that we had cancelled, so I set up a new one. They then required a phone # to verify who we were and we did not have a Chilean sim card yet.
I went through the neighbourhood trying to do some errands but Santiago takes its Sundays seriously. Almost nothing was open and so no laundry or sim card purchasing could be done today. We booked the hostel for another night, it was basic but comfortable and the sprawling layout was interesting and the staff were nice.
We were the only diners at the pizza place we went to for dinner but Meg was happy to have a spinach salad. A French guy helped us translate why our bill payment didn't go through. Apparently you can choose to pay the entire bill in one go or delay it, a strange choice.
Back at the hostel we had a good night's sleep mainly because very few other people were there. Maybe airbnb is cutting into hostel business but if our time there is representative then Chile Pepper Hostel won't be around much longer.
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