Santiago, Chile

Monday, 9 Jan 2012 – This morning the deadline for breakfast was earlier than yesterday (9:00 A.M.) at the DaVinci Hotel, so we arrived to eat about 8:30.  While there, we talked with two men from Venezuela who had also arrived in Valparaiso on the Princess Star.  One of them spoke English, obviously, said his parents had spoken German; and he said that the hotel owner (who is from Italy and has been in Chile for only 3 years) speaks Spanish with an Italian accent. 

After that, we packed up, not that we had actually unpacked very much.  While we were in the lobby, the hotel owner told us that that the hotel is 110 years old and was originally the home of two families, one upstairs and one downstairs.  He apologized for the outside street being torn up; and although he had no control over that, he gave us a sizable discount.  He and an older man helped haul our luggage to the end of the street to the taxi, and then gave us warm goodbyes (which were kisses on the cheek for Sally).

At about 12:30, a taxi van arrived to pick us up; and then we went to Joyce’s hotel to pick her up.  The young taxi driver had to ask directions about 4 times from other drivers before we finally arrived at her hotel.  We stopped for wine tasting at a vineyard, where we tasted four kinds of wine.  Besides the vineyards, the area between Valparaiso and Santiago is known for olive trees and avocados – and we also saw corn!

When we reached Santiago, the taxi driver first took Joyce to her hotel, and then he delivered us to ours, the Hotel Neruda.  This is a fancy-looking hotel on a busy street in downtown Santiago.  We surveyed the inside, which includes an indoor swim pool (for which a swim cap must be used by both men and women). 

Then we ate at a nearby Chinese restaurant.  (What the heck!  We have already eaten at two very good restaurants with authentic Chilean food!  Anyway, we lost our great Spanish translator – Joyce.  We sincerely miss her!)  We split one meal, which was plenty for two people who have overeaten for the last month!  After coming back to the room and resting for a short time, we went out again and ate hot fudge sundaes at McDonalds!  We wanted ice cream, and that was the only place we saw that offered it.  A little later in our room, we drank some of the liquor that we bought in Venice because we certainly can’t spare the weight it would take in our luggage.  (Joyce said it is prune liquor.  We just hope that it isn’t quite like prune juice because we have a very long airplane flight coming up!)

Then we went to bed feeling really, really inebriated!