Chile – Santiago, Puerto Montt and Castro

Our South American adventure begins in Santiago, Chile. We spent three days exploring the city prior to boarding the cruise ship. We stayed in a hotel in downtown near the Santa Isabel Metro stop. We used the metro for our main mode of transportation throughout the city. Santiago is an interesting city and different from most others we have visited. There is a mix of cultures (mostly Chilean, Argentinean and European). The people are very friendly and willing to help you with any request you may have. While their national language is Spanish, many people speak some English making it easy for us to communicate.

The city has a few sites that are of interest to tourists. We visited some of them.

We found it quite interesting that in many areas throughout the city, more than 50% of the storefronts are closed down permanently. However, there are tents and booths set up along all the streets selling anything you can imagine. The locals now purchase most of their household food and goods from these booths rather than going into a store. We were told it was because the prices are less and it allows people to make a living selling what they can grow, craft or acquire.

Coffee bars are a part of many Chilean’s daily routine. Which I’m sure you are thinking, of course, that’s common in South American cultures. The difference with Chile is that coffee bars are staffed by scantily clad women in heels. This is a tradition here. We had to see what this was all about. The coffee bar we went to was Café Haiti. The ladies were dressed in tiny Santa dresses and the place was packed. The coffee was strong as we expected. It was a cool experience to have while wondering the city of Santiago.

On our last day in Santiago, we decided to spend the day visiting Chilean vineyards. Reservations are required, which we did the day before. As tourists with no car, transportation to those very near the city is easy because the metro stop, Quilin is very near several vineyards. We took the metro and at the exit hired a taxi to take us to our first stop of Vina Aquitania. The taxi ride was approximately $5.00. This is a small boutique winery. We received a full tour, including tasting wine directly from the tank, unfiltered. Then as luck would have it they were filtering one that morning so we were able to taste the same wine just after filtering and then the aged one from the tank just before bottling. It was a wonderful experience.
At the conclusion of our visit at Vina Aquitania, we walked the 1.4 miles to the other vineyard. We received a tour and tour wine tasting at Cuscino-Macul. This vineyard is the oldest in Chile and has quite a large operation which is much different than our first stop. The most interesting part of the tour was the historical cellars, wine “library” and original oak barrels from over 100 years ago.

The price for the tour and tasting at both vineyards are great for our budget as well. They both offered two types of tours, the standard and reserve. We chose to do the standard at 14,000 Chilean pesos per person. We were lucky to try to reserve wines at Cuscino-Macul because there were out of the standard ones. Both vineyards are worth a visit should you find yourself in Santiago.

The next morning, I woke up so excited that the day to start our cruise was finally here. The port we were to leave from was switched from Valparaiso to San Antonio, Chile. Both port cities are approximately a 90-minute drive from Santiago. We had done a lot of research on how to get to the port prior to leaving the USA but it wasn’t until we got to Santiago that we discovered an easy and much cheaper way to get there. We took a taxi from our hotel for approximately 3,500 Chilean pesos ($5.50). Then bought a ticket on a Pullman bus direct to San Antonio at a cost of approximately 3,500 per person one-way. The bus ride is across the Andes Mountains and takes 1 hour and 40 minutes. Upon our arrival at the San Antonio bus terminal, we were offered a ride on the complimentary port authority bus which took us directly to the cruise terminal. It worked out great. The total transportation to the port cost around $16.00 while taking a taxi is a minimum of $120.00. We were very happy with our route.

We sailed off on the Holland American Zaandam at 6:00pm. The ship is older but in very good condition. The layout is the best of any cruise we have taken. We have an inside room and were delighted to find that our room is larger than other cabins we have had. I’m happy with its location on the first passenger floor in the middle of the ship. This is the best place to be if you are concerned with sea sickness throughout the cruise. Hopefully we will be blessed with calm seas but are prepared as Cape Horn is said to be some of the roughest in the world.

Our first stop was Puerto Montt, Chile. We opted to explore the city by foot on our own. The weather was beautiful with sunny skies, low winds and a high of 66 degrees. We went ashore via tender boat and walked through the terminal through many “tour operators” trying to sell last minute excursions. We turned left and walked 700 meters up the rode to the craft market. Some of the stalls were open while others were closed because it was Sunday and also Presidential Election Day. We continued walking and arrived at the Fish Market. It was alive with shoppers and the smell of fish. Salmon is their main catch. My favorite part of the day was that outside the fish market along the shore were sea lions. They have chosen this spot because once the fisherman have prepared their fresh catch for sale, they take the “leftovers” and throw them out to the sea lions. We watched the feeding frenzy. This was our first chance to see the large wildlife on our South American trip.

Our next stop was Castro, on the Island of Chiloe, Chile. This port was reached via tender as well. We were lucky to have beautiful weather that day as well, very similar to Puerto Montt. Castro is built on a hill with the Igelsia de San Francisco being the focal point of the village. The church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is completely constructed of wood, including the floors, walls, ceiling and altars.

After visiting the Igelsia de San Francisco, we walked through the village to the other side of the island to find the stilted houses. These houses were built along the water edge on high stilts to sustain the rising and lowering of the tides.

We continued our walk along the water and went back to the port to catch a tender to our ship.

As we sail into Patagonia, the suspense of seeing penguins continues…