Monday, April 1, 2013

EZE to SCE LanPeru J Class


We were up very early for our morning flight to Santiago.  Although akin to flying Vancouver to Calgary, it`s an international flight and they are apparently strict on check-in; not strict on fluids, of which it was easy to pass through with, or ID, which they only checked once, just particular on early check-in....  Our cab picked us up at 6:15.  You would think at that hour the city would be just waking up.  In Palermo, it was just shutting down.  Clubs go to, apparently, 5:30, and there were kids teeming through the neighbourhood, piling two, three, four to a tiny cab.  Club kids on the street, on the sidewalk, everywhere.  It was a madhouse.  Once we cleared Palermo, and the throngs, the cab decided to avoid one of the two tolls en route.  Since it´s a flat rate I guess it was his prerogative, but let me tell you: The detour he took, the side streets, dingy poorly lit avenues and questionable turns, were a little unnerving.  But check-in went smoothly, we hit the LAN lounge, which was beautifully designed with Macs and docking stations and both had a Nespresso.

I had tried for months to get this flight on points, in economy, and failing that had one day on a whim tried business, and scored.  So we were taking a two hour flight up front.  It seemed like a bit of a waste but I was hungry for the breakfast and, being especially bumpy over the Andes, grateful for the lie flat bed.  I watched the Modern Family where Mitch builds himself into Lily`s princess castle and can`t get out while Phil outfits the old stations wagon for a family picnic at which the car goes down a cliff (best line is when Claire gets angry, then apologizes, and Phil says lovingly “Don´t apologize, I love it when you`re human.”)  In Santiago, for the privilege of entering the country, Canadians pay $132.  Americans pay $160.  Mexicans pay $15.  Albanians also pay.  Go figure.  We paid.

By speaking English loudly and pretending to understand Spanish we picked up our rental car.  I had reserved a VW Golf and got a Mazda 2—and you know how we both feel about Mazda!  Anyway, despite the language barrier, which is huge in Chile, and the “driving” we successfully navigated our way to Vina del Mar.  We have four nights on points at the Sheraton, which sits out on a promontory, a half circle, with rooms having expansive harbour views which arc around the bay.




Valparaiso and Vina del Mar are sister towns on the Pacific, NW of Santiago, sitting on a huge harbour which at night in twinkling lights resembles Vancouver in many ways.  I knew that Valparaiso, a very old port town, and current seat of government, was going to be large and with an industrial feel.  That was correct.  But I thought Vina del Mar would be its smaller sister, sort of like Fort Langley is to Langley, and it´s not.  It´s big.  Sure, it has the feel of a resort town, but the relationship is more like New York boroughs than Monterey and Carmen.
 
The pics below are the view from our terrace, left is Valparaiso, right towards Vina del Mar (which you can´t see!) 


We were exhausted after our travel day, but still took an hour walk into town.  Being Easter Sunday there were a lot of families and holiday stuff including giant sand castles and pony rides.  Back at the hotel I took a sauna (they have a great spa here, dry sauna, steam room, whirlpool, gym, indoor pool, outdoor pool), so I made use of the facilities and then we had a decent dinner in the hotel with a view across the harbor to both towns. 

We both needed to sleep but Game of Thrones was premiering on HBO so SS stayed up but I crashed.

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