HOW TO PLAN A TRIP TO CHILE: INTRO

 

We have recently returned from a great vacation in Chile Dec 10-28. Here are a few pics in the sequence of our visit

Santiago... colorful metro stations

The Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts (Spanish: Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes or MNBA)

Plaza de Armas

TORRES DEL PAINE: Rio Serrano lookout near our hotel Konkashken

Salto Chico trail...boardwalk with amazing views

Lago Pehoe

Bridge near Hosteria Pehoe...

Salto Grande... and the Horns [Cuernos del Paine or 'Paine horns]

Wind speed at 65 km/hr on the Salto Grande trail.... pretty gusty

Salto Grande

bridge over Lago Pehoe

Lupines...

Lago Grey from the hotel

Lago Grey after the hike... so basically, one can just spare themselves hiking if only interested in the end view 

Laguna Largo

vicuña 

Cascada del Paine

herds of vicuña 

Laguna Azul

horses at nearby ranch

Puerto Natales

SANTIAGO AGAIN, SKY COSTANEERA

ATACAMA... El Tatio geyser park

flamingo lagoon

Andean flamingo.... with black tail. Chilean flamingos have pink tail. The juveniles are white, the pinker the flamingo, the older it is. The color is from the shrimp they eat.

Laguna Tabinquiche.... with mirror reflection when there is no wind.

Garganta del Diablo.... stunning in person , not translated to pictures.

Santiago Domingo Church

Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral

Pieta

Soul stirring Xmas mass at the Cathedral

Los Dominicos, Santiago... amazing craft shops , some hundred plus of them in one lovely setting

Valparaiso.. stunning street art.... colorful murals adorn every nook and cranny in this neighborhood

The famous piano stairs

Aaah, the Pope

Cerro Santa Lucia, Santiago

CHILE TRIP PROTOCOLS

MOBILITY PASS:

Chile needs all potential visitors to upload their vaccine cert on mevacuno.gob.cl. and they'll issue a validation for a mobility pass. This validation carries our passport number with which we can check our current status . When the visitor with the provisional pass lands in Chile, there is a free COVID test at the airport after which the person goes through passport control, bag claim etc and proceeds to his hotel. He stays put till his negative result is communicated and the mobility pass is activated online.This enabled mobility pass is VITAL for movement as tourists

we should carry our vaccination certificate and the mevacuno validation email/QR CODE for boarding the flight.

NEGATIVE PCR:

A 72 hour prior negative PCR test is also mandatory. [72 hours is before the last section of the flight we board... in our case Mexico city to Santiago, not when we board the 1^st leg of our flight from Houston to Santiago]

TRAVEL INSURANCE WITH COVID COVERAGE:

 They want travel insurance for USD 30000 specifying COVID EXPENSES COVERAGE in case the traveler catches the infection during their stay.

HEALTH DECLARATION AFIDAVIT: 

The negative PCR and the insurance have to be uploaded  48 hours before landing in Chile as Health declaration on www.C19.cl 

We get a QR Code once this step is done and the airlines will board us only with all these requirements met.

OUR GLITCHES:

The last 3 were fine for us but un noticed by us, the MeVacuno validation for my son came with a wrong passport number... one digit missing from his correct passport. We were enjoying a terrific 18 day vacation in Turkey when our validation came on Nov 15 and had just been happy with the email. [we had applied on Oct 30 and it was taking 30-45 days at the time for approval. So we went to Turkey for a vacation Nov 11 to 30] We never went on the MeVacuno site after the emails telling us our vaccination validation was successful . With the wrong number, son's site was showing 'no valid application'

BACKGROUND WHY WE MISSED SEEING THE ISSUE: 

We had been planning a vacation in Chile in November. Flight fares were 1100 USD for Houston-Santiago via Mexico city, no visa needed if you have US visa. We were about to book the flights and checked the COVID requirements. . We uploaded our certs on Oct 30, with not much hope of making the Nov 17 flight we wanted to board. We then planned and executed a terrific Turkey vacation from Nov 11 to 30.

We returned from Turkey and wondered if we can go through with our Chile vacation.  [the validation came through on Nov 15 and it said we have 45 days to enter Chile from that date. We were on our Turkey vacation by then and flight prices to Santiago for December had also gone up!! ]

. We decided to go ahead with our Chile vacation, bought flight tickets on Dec 6th for Dec 10-28 on Aeromexico with a short layover in Mexico City. We booked our 3 night accommodation in Santiago, return flights to Punta Arenas and back to Santiago , our stays in PuertoNatales and in TDP. On Dec 7th we noticed the error in son's email validation email PDf and the result that his site was showing 'no valid application'

We stopped further bookings

HOW THE ISSUE WAS RESOLVED:

We talked to the Helpline number through our SKYPE account. International calls cost 1 cent/minute. The lady said it'll take time to fix the error. She advised  to make a new application with a different email. Son made a request on his old application page for error correction. He made a 2nd application with a different email on Dec 8, 

We flew to Santiago on Dec 10. Airline staff at Houston were OK with the email validation message and the other documents. Ministry guy at Santiago airport made son fill up another Health afidavit with the wrong passport number and generate QR code for that. Then he okayed us .

Son's  MeVacuno site was still showing ' no valid application the next day when my mobility pass had already been enabled. It was Saturday and we had an early morning flight at 9.30 am on Monday to Punta Arenas. Son rang up LATAM with his SKYPE account from hotel wifi. They said 72 hour PCR  negative result would suffice in lieu of mobility pass. 

Both our BIONET lab results for airport PCR was not showing. So son took a PCR test at GENOSUR after online booking on Sunday afternoon and we boarded our flight to punta arenas. Staff at Arenas airport were OK with his PCR test. We collected our rental car,  drove to natales, TDP on Dec 13].

He planned to take PCR tests for all flights then onward, surprisingly, his mobility pass was enabled on his 2nd application on Dec 14 and he was informed by email. His 1st application page was cancelled by them.

We went on with our vacation without any further hassle

TRIP LOGISTICS

INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT:

 AEROMEXICO DEC 10-28 Houston to Santiago with a short layover at Mexico City.

Smooth check in at Houston despite the various papers, , no complaints.

 Our one checked bag was checked through to Santiago on the onward trip. At Mexico City, we went through Immigration. We had a pen to fill the forms and so it was relatively fast through the lines. Then it was security  and onward to the boarding gate. The boards with Gate info were so full of advertisements, son had to walk a little further to get to a board with our flight gate number. It was  a tight race to the boarding gate as a lot of time was taken up on these procedures.

When coming back from Santiago, checked bag was only checked through to Mexico City. as is the demand for US flights. 

We had to collect it and recheck on the return journey. Again we did the immigration and security and the immigration slip was collected at the boarding gate . They thoroughly checked  vaccine certs and collected our checked bag before we entered the aircraft.

INTERNAL FLIGHTS

We noticed that the air fares jacked up during weekends. Also, car rentals were closed or worked much less hours on weekends. We were in Chile during Christmas and were aware of holiday closures.

Dec 19, Sunday was the 2^nd stage of Chile's Presidential election and museums etc were closed on that day.

Considering all these we scheduled our TDP trip from Monday to Friday [DEC 13-17], flying into Punta Arenas on Monday Dec 13, 2 days after our arrival and collecting our rental car ..

After our TDP visit, we again had  2 days [Saturday, Sunday]  in Santiago, which included Dec 19, which was a holiday for President election, we scheduled our trip to Atacama again Monday to Friday Dec 21-24

LATAM

Dec 13, 9.30 am LATAM flight Santiago-Punta Arenas.

Mobility pass not asked for. At Punta Arenas, a guy checked mobility pass and okayed son's PCR test in lieu of it 

JETSMART

Return flight was with JETSMART. Mobility pass was checked. By then son's pass had been enabled.

Our flight from Punta Arenas to Santiago was scheduled at 7 pm on Friday Dec 17, but was delayed by 3 Hours. They gave a complimentary pastry, sandwich, soft drink to everyone during the delay at Punta Arenas airport. The flight took off at 10 pm, stopped at Puerto Montt for fuel and landed at Santiago at 2 am. Attendants were polite  bar one  and we shrugged off the delay.

Here are the maps with our places circled in red... you can see the distances involved

BIZARRE STRIKE BY SANITARY WORKERS AT AIRPORT

At the Punta Arenas airport, when we were dropped by taxi by our car rental , I found the washroom blocked . I went up and found the  washrooms there blocked too. Workers inside did not let anyone move the barricade. Our flight was scheduled for 7 pm, it was just 3.30. Son noticed airline staff using a handicapped washroom and informed me. I followed suit.

After check in and getting our boarding pass, going thru security check etc, we were at our gate. The washrooms were still blocked. A kid near us was in tears and her mother was gesturing helplessly. After more than an hour, the barricades were removed. WHEW!!

, 

CAR RENTAL at Punta Arenas Airport: 

EMSA Subsidiary of AVIS…DEC 13, Monday 2 pm to DEC 17 Friday 2 pm.

 manual transmission. Renault symbol. Took full insurance possible , deductible 800 usd. 

Total cost:170000 chilean pesos...  Full tank petrol.

The car was great, rental experience pleasant, collecting and returning. FREE Taxi picked us at airport on Monday when our flight landed and dropped us back when we returned our car... gratis.

PRIOR/LATER BOOKING:

This was the extent of prior booking. With the mevacuno issue on son's passport number, we desisted doing more advance booking . These bookings had been made before we noticed the wrong number on his validation. We did rest of the booking at Puerto Natales as follows:

LATAM flight Santiago to Calama on Monday Dec 20 and return flight Calama-Santiago on Friday Dec 24

Mobility pass not asked for on both the legs. nor at the airport. Flights on time, check in easy

CAR RENTAL AT CALAMA AIRPORT: Chilean rent-a -car Monday Dec 20 to Friday Dec 24. 

Volkswagon Voyager car, manual transmission, 211000 Chilean pesos with full insurance, 3/4 tank petrol. There were horrendous reviews online from one post wonders and glowing praise from other one posters on TRIPADVISOR. We did see a couple of recent reviews from posters with multiple post history. We had no other choice. Talked to the rental on SKYPE, and booked online.

At Calama airport, there was no one at their counter, the guy in next counter stepped out and called the girl.

After that, everything was smooth. The car was fine. We returned it to the airport at 2.30pm on Dec 24th, counter was again unmanned. We dropped the keys and the receipt time stamped with our entry time into the parking in their drop box as instructed by another rental company person. Took pictures of car. petrol gauge etc. for disputes if they arise.

ALL GOOD.

Now I'll summarise the other transport we used....

SANTIAGO AIRPORT TAXI

We took the official taxi prepaying at the airport counter when we first landed in the country; . they take credit cards. It was 22000CLP to our hotel at Providencia a little before midnight. The line was regulated outside. gate 2

We  periodically checked the blue dot on the google map we had downloaded and it showed we had reached our destination. [We use offline maps... important places marked and pinned by us before the trip on the downloaded map can be pulled up.]

. When we reached our hotel, The driver accompanied my son to knock and check with the guard at the complex  while I sat in the car. after confirming, the driver  waited till we wheeled our bags inside beofre driving off.

Same experience on the other 2 occasions when we landed in Santiago airport from Punta Arenas after a 3 hour delay  and got the taxi at 3 am 

Also at 11 pm when we landed from Atacama. All drivers waited till we were safely inside

TAXI TO THE AIRPORT

We used UBER from the hotel wifi to call at 6am for our 9.20 flight to Punta Arenas. Uber drivers kept canceling on us till a taxi guy accepted. Charge 21000CLP. 

For flight to Atacama, again 20000 clp from the TAXI option on UBER.

For our final flight from Santiago-home, our accommodation conceirge arranged his nephew to drop us on his legal taxi. He said the Airport taxi mafia gets UBER fined, his nephew had paid 300000 CLP fine. Only black and yellow taxis are allowed to ply.

Don't know the veracity but we had used only those as UBER had cancelled on us.

All drivers were polite and professional. 

SANTIAGO METRO/BUS:

We were located at  600m/800m walk to metro stations for our 3 stays. We needed cash to buy and top up Santiago BIP cards for the metro. Here's the map. There are 5 lines, 109 stations. There are 3 fares depending on time and the day you travel. Norus apt was 800 m walk to Salvador station, Departmentos was 600 m walk to Santa Ana. I've circled other important stations we used also.

We found youngsters vaulting over the stiles when guards were not around. Also using bags to make the exit gates open and then enter through them. We found huge lines at Plaza de Armas station for recharging. Thankfully, there is a small shop at a side street , official recharging of BIP card is done there and we used it.

VALPARAISO DAY TRIP BY BUS

There are 3 companies TURBUS, PULLMAN, CONDOR plying buses at 15 min frequency. Easy to go to the bus terminal near metro station Pajaitos , Buy your ticket and board. we made the mistake of buying the return ticket also for 7 pm. we were back at the bus station by 6 pm, TURBUS refused to put us on earlier buses.

ATM

There was a fixed sum deducted for all cash withdrawals. We needed cash to buy and top up Santiago BIP cards for the metro.

Our Natales chalet accepted only cash. We knew in advance as we talk to all our hosts on Skype /whatsapp before check in.

  our Atacama hotel demanded cash payment after telling us earlier they accept card payment

LANGUAGE/COMMUNICATION & MAPS:

We have travel Spanish. We have vacationed more than 2 weeks each in Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Spain. We used offline GOOGLE TRANSLATE APP also when we were stuck.. Every one from airport staff to locals were kind and helpful when we asked for directions etc. MeVacuna guy at airport also talked into his app and showed us the translation when we had to fill in another afadavit with the wrong passport number.

As said earlier, we download Google maps on our phone and pin places before our trip. they can be used offline for driving and walking directions.

FOOD

We are vegetarians and self catered. Bought provisions at UNIMARC in Santiago and Punta Arenas and a couple of convenience stores.

We used our BRITA bottle for filtering water. Water at TDP, Natales was GREAT, even Atacama water was fine. Santiago water was terrible for us but the filtering worked out.

All shops were closed on Dec 25, as we had known  earlier. We did not arrive stocked up from Atacama 'cos a small store there cheated. We had a basic meals on the day with stuff we had

26th was a normal day for shops

Temperature was checked at UNIMARC ENTRANCE.

SOUVENIRS:

Bought at Los Dominicos and the craft market, Atacama

ACCOMMODATIONS

We had 2 major requirements.... kitchen availability and late check in facility besides the usual criteria of decent locality, connectivity, car parking, space, hygiene, safety etc.

Apartments were available  but late checkin was a problem.

We booked all our stays through BOOKING.COM as usual. All were great. 

One of them, Departmentos R&m acted unprofessionally and cancelled our prior booking on dec 24th demanding immediate payment and telling lies that our cc did not work. thankfully we were able to find alternate accommodation for that night and booking.com has compensated us the difference.

Here are the details  of all our stays

SANTIAGO: 3 stays ...

3 n at Norus apts, 

3n at Departmentos R&M and

 4 n in Norus apts again

 [in all cases, after a late night flight, landing at 9.30 pm, 2am  after a delay of 3 hours, and  9.40 pm. Add 2 hours for airport formalities and taxi ride to reach hotel]

As explained, we had 3 stints in Santiago all weekends, 3 nights when we landed [actually just 2 full days as it was almost midnight when we checked in], another 3 nights  [2 days as we checked in at 4 am as our flight from Punta Arenas was delayed], the last 4 nights flying in from Calama, Atacama. We had booked only Norus prior to arrival in Chile because of our mevacuno issues.

When we tried to book the same for the 2nd stint, they were not available. So we stayed at Departmentos R &M. We booked them for the last stint as well when we were scheduled  to arrive on Dec 24th night from Atacama. They created a ruckus on 24 th morning when we were in Atacama demanding direct bank transfer for payment before we landed on Dec 24. They lied saying our credit card was declined and cancelled our booking without even informing us. We spoke to BOOKING.COM via SKYPE account on Atacama hotel wifi. They agreed the hotel was wrong, apologized for the inconvenience. We were able to book Norus again and BOOKING.COM has reimbursed the difference in the amount.

PUERTO NATALES: CABANAS ALTO PATAGONIA 2 STAYS OF 1 NIGHT EACH.

Because our 2nd stay was not booked earlier, the big chalet on 2 floors was not available for the 2nd stay. We booked the one on the top floor. Little too tight, though amenities wise it was fine. 

TORRES DEL PAINE: KONKSHKEN at the southern entrance, 2 nights 

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA: 4 nights HOSTAL ATACAMA NORTH

Here are the pictures. Video link is at the end of this post

NORUS APARTMENTS, PROVIDENCIA, SANTIAGO: 3 NIGHTS Dec 10-13

CABANAS ALTO PATAGONIA, PUERTO NATALES: 1 Night, Dec 13-14

KONKASHKEN, TORRES DEL PAINE: 2 nights, Dec 14-16

CABANAS ALTO PATAGONIA, PUERTO NATALES again: 1 Night Dec 16-17

DEPARTMENTOS R&M, SANTIAGO:3 NIGHTS, Dec 17-20

HOSTAL ATACAMA NORTH, San Pedro de Atacama 4 nights, Dec 20-24

NORUS APARTMENTS, PROVIDENCIA, SANTIAGO: 4 NIGHTS, Dec 24-28

OUR ITINERARY

Short summary here. I've posted  detailed daily reports with pics, videos as usual.

DAY 0: DEC 10: FLIGHT, CHECK IN AT SANTIAGO

AEROMEXICO flight at 6:25 AM from IAH Houston, Texas. , landed in Mexico City at 8.50 am. There was Passport control and exit control there also. 

10.15 am, take off from Mexico. landed at Santiago at 9:20 PM [Chile is 3 hours ahead of Houston]. 

Documents check by Ministry staff at airport. The guy acknowledged son's mevacuna site shows 'no valid application' because of the faulty passport number they had given at the time of validation. Son had generated the health afidavit QR  with his correct passport number. The agent asked him to do it once again with the wrong number assigned to him, scanned that QR code and okayed him.

He assured that the mobility pass will come through and we believed him.

We took the PCR test, went through exit control. No lines anywhere and all staff were very pleasant and helpful.

Collected our 1 checked bag. The ATM at the exit had swallowed somebody's card. 

We gave up trying to draw some cash.

Lined up at the official taxi counter, gave our address. Quote was 22000 chilean pesos. We agreed. Taxis come at Gate 2. Blue taxi was already waiting. We let some one jump the queue and take it. We lined up later, got the taxi fast enough and reached our hotel.

ACCOMMODATION

Norus apartments in Providencia, Bellavista area, at the foothill of San Cristobal

DAY 1: DEC 11 SATURDAY SANTIAGO  PLAZA DE ARMAS

DAY 2: DEC 12 SUNDAY SANTIAGO Museum of Fine arts

DAY 3: DEC 13 MONDAY Flight to PUNTA ARENAS at 9.30 LATAM 

. Landed  at 12.53. Mobility pass/or negative PCR test was checked before baggage claim.

EMSA Car rental guy was waiting with a sign, took us to their downtown office in a taxi. After collecting the car, Drove down to the Unimarc near the rental, bought provisions .

Drive to our chalet in Puerto Natales

DAY 4: DEC 14 TUESDAY TDP: Lago Pehoe, Salto Chico, Salto Grande

DAY 5: DEC 15 WEDNESDAY TDP: Lago Grey, Glacier Grey hike, Laguna Amarga, Cascada del Paine, Laguna Azul

DAY 6: DEC 16 THURSDAY TDP, PUERTO NATALES

DAY 7: DEC 17 FRIDAY PUNTA ARENAS, FLIGHT TO SANTIAGO

DAY 8: DEC 18 SATURDAY SANTIAGO DEPARTMENTOS, SKY COSTANERA

DAY 9: DEC 19 SUNDAY CERRO SANTA LUCIA

DAY 10: DEC 20 MONDAY ATACAMA

DAY 11: DEC 21 TUESDAY ATACAMA RUTA 27

DAY 12: DEC 22 WED EL TATIO, LAGONA TABINQUICHE

DAY 13: DEC 23 THURS GARGANTA DEL DIABLO

DAY 14: DEC 24 FRIDAY PLAZA, FLIGHT TO SANTIAGO

DAY 15: DEC 25 SATURDAY  SANTIAGO CHURCHES XMAS

DAY 16: DEC 26 SUNDAY SANTIAGO PRECOLUMBIAN MUSEUM, LOS DOMINICOS

DAY 17: DEC 27 MONDAY VALPARAISO

DAY 18: DEC 28 TUESDAY CERRO SANTA LUCIA, MUSEUM OF NAT HISTORY

This is the google map we used. You can zoom in and read the bubbles.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/3/edit?mid=1n7kc0kteG8NIhCA5gt5blXa9qHgoTvQL&usp=sharing

VIDEO LINKS

CHILE VIDEOS: Public art, Santiago hotels, Xmas mass at Church

https://photos.app.goo.gl/57jvuUrM3KdCvYyM9

CHILE VIDEOS; SANTIAGO Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes / MNBA) & Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pdChhLBxWTJbHke46

CHILE VIDEOS: TORRES DEL PAINE:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XgTycCt4ErsAks1G6

CHILE VIDEOS : Valparaiso, Los Dominico:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4FwbGWcDQr9WDgWH8 :

CHILE VIDEOS: ATACAMA

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Lvt8HSqsKweAcPjE7

Daily reports continue here

https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2022/01/chile-trip-report-day-1-santiago-plaza.html