Santiago

Greetings from Santiago,

We are here and what an adventure! After about 2 hours sleep, we jetted to the airport on Tuesday morning for a 6:00am flight to Miami. So far, so good! Of course, the flight was full. We managed to snag two seats in coach and we slept our way to sunny Florida, arriving about 9:35am. At baggage claim we discovered that Jack's bag was missing! The AA baggage people were useless in helping us, claiming that the airplane had been cleared and all baggage was out. We got a Day Room at the Miami International Hotel in the terminal, and while I slept, Jack spent the day going back and forth between AA baggage claim and the room. We had to be out of the room by 6pm and still no bag! We checked in for the Santiago flight, and still no bag! The flight was full, but we managed to get two seats together on the two-seat side of the plane and the flight was really not too bad! After 9 hours we felt like we had become a genuine part of the seat!

Arriving in Santiago, we were greeted with lots of smog and damaged buildings. Our plane was taxied to a terminal where we had to exit and climb down the metal rolling stairs (shades of the 60's). We were sorted as we got to the bottom of the stairs, and foreigners were sent to a building where we were put into a zig/zag line for immigration. There must have been a flight of people in front of us and then the AA flight from Dallas was behind us, plus at least two more flights after that(lots of people). There were many windows open and the line moved much faster than we thought it would. From there we went to baggage claim. Three of our bags were there, but Jack's bag was missing! Next we got on the line for customs, ha ha, what a joke, hundreds of people in two huge snake lines. They were really very good at keeping everything controlled, especially since everyone was so tired from such long flights. They had dogs sniffing bags and then they marked bags that had good scents! These bags were opened and searched by the officials. They also went around and pulled all the families with small children and moved them to the front of the lines (no screaming and crying children!) Jack stayed on the snake line and I attended to the Baggage Claim people. They were very nice and very sympathetic, but no bag! They gave us their phone numbers and said to call tomorrow!

We were through Customs! Because there were so many people, the Chilean Government did not collect the $131.00 per person entrance fee. So, good! We saved $262.00! Next we had to walked quite a long was through the building and across the parking area until we got to some make-shift tents. Here the tents were jammed with people holding signs...a sea of signs...We finally spotted our name and Dennis was there to help us with our stuff!

Dennis and Caroline are the owners of the B&B where we are staying. Caroline is Chilean and Dennis is Dutch. The B&B is an old restored villa, considered a National Monument, located in a protected historical neighborhood of Santiago. It is quite interesting here! At first look, the neighborhood is very shabby, but it is a block from the University...lots of students around. There is even a McDonalds on the corner, but it is boarded up because of too much damage. Casa Bonita stands out on the street, as it is the only building not covered with graffiti and political posters. Dennis says that we are guarded by the "Graffiti Mafia" !?@#$? Anyway, it is a very wonderful B&B, fully restored and very sleek and minimal. There is damage to the upper part of the facade of the building. But inside...oh oh! Cracks and large pieces of plaster missing everywhere. Our room...every corner is cracked from floor to ceiling. The molding around the ceiling is all cracked and large pieces of plaster missing. When the walls shake, the old dust from between the walls sprays down the walls, leaving dust trails all along the walls. We are on the second floor...only two floors in the building and we are right on the corner of the building. We settled into our room and decided to go to the mall for some things for Jack. We were at the computer in our room when the rumble started! It built and built and then the whole building began to shake. The doors and windows groaned and rattled and the floor was waving! We dropped everything and ran down the stairs for the front entrance, where we were told to go for safety. Dennis was just starting to holler for us! After a while it stopped, so we went back up and it started again, but less intense. We waited and then went back up again, and you guessed it...again. Scary!!!

We took a taxi (about $12 round trip) because Dennis said that this would be the safest place to go. We got so frustrated and we were so tired that we just ate in the food court and taxied back. Very few people speak English here, and my high school Spanish is long gone! We dove into the bed and slept like logs! Wednesday morning we woke rested. After a hearty breakfast and numerous calls to AAL, we headed to the mall again. This time we were determined to get Jack something clean to wear and we did. However, it is going into fall here and everything in the stores is winter wear! We could find no shorts, no short sleeved shirts, etc! Finally we did find some things, but at Nautica, Columbia, etc..all very expensive! It is so hard to shop when you can't communicate with anyone! Exhausted, we ate at TGI Fridays and got a taxi back. There had been some tremors during the day, but very small and we didn't notice them.

This morning we were up early to eat and be ready for our Wine Tour. Our driver picked us up about 9:45 and we were off the day tasting wines. There was only one other couple, from South Africa (but German) and we had a nice day. There was some tremors today, also, but we didn't feel them as we were in the van a lot. When we returned to the B&B about 5:30 we checked and found out that Jack's bag was left on our Miami flight and ended up in St Kitts! They say that it will be on the flight to Santiago tonight....ha ha... and it will be delivered tomorrow! In the morning we are booked on a ½ day city tour at 9:00am. Now...do we believe them and take the clothes back (over $500.00) or do we wait and maybe end up with nothing?? We only have tomorrow afternoon because our transfer ride to Valparaiso on Sunday morning is at 9:00am. Okay, the ceiling lamp is shaking a little...just a little...it stopped! Anyway, decisions, decisions!!!

Jack fell asleep now, so I will wake him to see if he has some pictures to add!

Until next time.....