Eastbay1K
Jan 2, 03, 10:14 pm
Chile 2002 – Part II
Woke up at 430am. My original driver from SCL arranged to pick me up (you save money this way because the airport-arranged drivers are more expensive). Traffic was nonexistent for my 530 hotel departure to SCL. Checkout efficient. I’d stay a the Sheraton again in a minute. Arrived SCL by 6, when little was open – 45 minutes prior to flight time would have been sufficient at that hour.
22 Dec – SCL/IQQ (Iquique) 715am. Although LA’s A320s have 2 cabins, for national flights, only Y is available for sale. Occasionally, preferred pax receive the J seats (with Y service). No carry-on issues. A marginal (but better than US carriers) breakfast served for a flight of approx. 1:50. Baggage quick in IQQ. There are 2 choices to get into town, a Colectivo (CH$2.500) or a private cab (CH$8.000) I splurged for the private car, as it was about US$11 for about 35km.
Hotel Terrado Club. Very large room on 18th floor overlooking ocean. As is similar to most hotels outside of Santiago, things like Kleenex, hairdryers, clocks, and such don’t exist in the room. Kitchenette. Modest pool area. Beach a short walk. Hotel breakfast was marginal, but better than most on the trip. Staff accommodating, and had my room ready early per my request. I then realized that the room had no A/C. Lo and behold, with the windows open, it was absolutely not necessary, and the evenings were cool.
IQQ – General Comments. Geographically, desert on the beach. Picture Cabo San Lucas (sort of) without American megaresorts and the “have” tourists and “have not” locals. Also, the mountain backdrop is somewhat dramatic. The downtown, currently being restored in parts, reminded me a lot of Old Sacramento. There is also a tax-free shopping zone called the ZOFRI – people come from all over to shop. 15 minutes was plenty for me. Chinese and Indian immigrants seem to control a lot of this business market, which explained why (as earlier I didn’t understand) there was an Indian and a Chinese TV station in IQQ. Traditional taxis are almost nonexistent in IQQ. You have to order one. Otherwise, its all Colectivos, and you just take your chances, and really, nothing will go wrong. Just tell the driver where you want to go, and you get a yea or nay. The only “ripoff” of the trip was that you may not get change from the colectivo driver, so I ended up overpaying nearly US$1. Tragic!!!
24 Dec – IQQ-LSC (La Serena) 450pm (1 stop ANF) – the dreaded LA 737-200. I had no issues checking in, but when I went to board the plane, was told I couldn’t bring the carry on – as I said its an odd shape but I was sure it would fit. My discussions with the ticket-taker was not going well, at which point she said “no pase” and I just gave that sad panic look (as the line was piling up) and did the blue eyes thing… (mine seem to be popular in Chile), and finally just walked on board despite her objection. Lo and behold, the overhead bins are tiny, extremely tiny, and the underseat space is not generous. They wanted to pull it from me onboard, but I managed to shove it somehow partially under the seat, which still wasn’t good enough for them. Then I placed it under the middle seat (empty) and me and the windowseat passenger just kept our newspapers open. I knew there was no way I’d bring this on another LA 737 again, and was really annoyed at this bag, which the box guaranteed blah de blah (its going back to Costco this week, bent up as it may now be). Inflight service adequate for 2 short hops. A small “once” (like afternoon tea) was served on one segment. The beverage cart is all comp, with limited alcohol selections (wine, pisco sour, scotch).
LSC baggage – quick. Cab into town, cheap.
Hotel Canto del Agua – on the beach, about $2 cabride into the town center, about ½ hour walk. Room – marginal, but clean. Price, supercheap. Breakfast, very marginal. Staff, supernice.
LSC – General Impressions – I felt like I was on the central coast of California, perhaps between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. Weather – the same – cool / cloudy / foggy nights and mornings. The town square (Plaza de Armas – every town has one) reminded me of Sonoma. Christmas eve I went into the Cathedral to see part of what a mass might be like, but mostly to watch the people come in and maybe hear a choir sing. Nope, a marginal vocalist. Oh well… I bought a small backpack for CH$3.900 as my new carryon.
I decided that on the 26th, I wanted to drive through the Valle de Elqui – so I wanted to rent a car late on the 25th and just drive directly to the airport. Hertz (airport desk) – no one answered. Econorent – no one answered. The hotel front desk was trying to help. He found a local place to rent me a car within the hour for only CH$30.000 (car rentals are fairly expensive as compared to other things in Chile). A fairly new Hyundai in decent shape. Perfect (almost…….)
Drove down the coast a bit on the eve of the 25th - lovely. As it was just after solstice, sunset was fairly late. Woke up, marginal breakfast again, and then the drive. Valle de Elqui is a don’t miss. Picture Sonoma Valley (Highway 12) as the low-level terrain with dramatic tall desert-type mountains (with some vegetation) all around. Towns to stop in along the way –such as Vicuña, where I had lunch.
The Pisco factory in Pisco Elqui (the end of the paved road) was closed when I got there… Boo. I didn’t’ have time to wait for it to reopen for the afternoon.
Ended up back at LSC a bit earlier than anticipated, and so tried to get on an earlier flight. As the car guy told me I could return it to the airport, I figured he had a desk there. No, he was just going to meet me at the agreed time. So there was no one to give the car. The Hertz lady called him for me and he came down to the airport. Both Hertz and Econorent told me that when a flight isn’t coming in, they leave the desk which is why no one answered the phone. More issues with the car return… he didn’t have his credit card machine, etc… After some argument, I ended up just giving him cash and he ripped up the credit card slip that he had filled out for a “deposit” amount.
26 Dec. LSC/SCL – Another LA 737-200. More hassles. As I now had 2 pieces to check, I went over the 20kg domestic Y weight limit. The LA agent put me on the earlier flight, but now wanted to charge me for the excess baggage. I tried to explain that I was an Int’l F passenger, that I bought yet another carryon for the 737, that the second piece was essentially now empty, and on and on. After several minutes of this, she finally relented “because the bag was empty”. Flight uneventful and only about 45 minutes. I think a little something was served.
Hotel Diego de Almagro Aeropuerto. The only hotel near SCL, and there is nothing else around. It is a nice place to sleep if you need a place to sleep. Dining room food is ample and not expensive at all for the food quality. After traveling around Chile for awhile, your perception of prices changes dramatically, so things were “expensive” here compared to my previous two stops, but really, it was reasonable. Hotel breakfast was marginal, but better than most to date on the trip. Hotel had an internet terminal with dialup service and ample cable channels to pass the time, as well as an unheated pool, tennis courts, and a marginal gym. The hotel uses one of the airport van services for the ride – you go to the counter and they fill out a receipt (which I assume they use to bill the hotel) – there is no charge.
On to the south, in Part III.
Woke up at 430am. My original driver from SCL arranged to pick me up (you save money this way because the airport-arranged drivers are more expensive). Traffic was nonexistent for my 530 hotel departure to SCL. Checkout efficient. I’d stay a the Sheraton again in a minute. Arrived SCL by 6, when little was open – 45 minutes prior to flight time would have been sufficient at that hour.
22 Dec – SCL/IQQ (Iquique) 715am. Although LA’s A320s have 2 cabins, for national flights, only Y is available for sale. Occasionally, preferred pax receive the J seats (with Y service). No carry-on issues. A marginal (but better than US carriers) breakfast served for a flight of approx. 1:50. Baggage quick in IQQ. There are 2 choices to get into town, a Colectivo (CH$2.500) or a private cab (CH$8.000) I splurged for the private car, as it was about US$11 for about 35km.
Hotel Terrado Club. Very large room on 18th floor overlooking ocean. As is similar to most hotels outside of Santiago, things like Kleenex, hairdryers, clocks, and such don’t exist in the room. Kitchenette. Modest pool area. Beach a short walk. Hotel breakfast was marginal, but better than most on the trip. Staff accommodating, and had my room ready early per my request. I then realized that the room had no A/C. Lo and behold, with the windows open, it was absolutely not necessary, and the evenings were cool.
IQQ – General Comments. Geographically, desert on the beach. Picture Cabo San Lucas (sort of) without American megaresorts and the “have” tourists and “have not” locals. Also, the mountain backdrop is somewhat dramatic. The downtown, currently being restored in parts, reminded me a lot of Old Sacramento. There is also a tax-free shopping zone called the ZOFRI – people come from all over to shop. 15 minutes was plenty for me. Chinese and Indian immigrants seem to control a lot of this business market, which explained why (as earlier I didn’t understand) there was an Indian and a Chinese TV station in IQQ. Traditional taxis are almost nonexistent in IQQ. You have to order one. Otherwise, its all Colectivos, and you just take your chances, and really, nothing will go wrong. Just tell the driver where you want to go, and you get a yea or nay. The only “ripoff” of the trip was that you may not get change from the colectivo driver, so I ended up overpaying nearly US$1. Tragic!!!
24 Dec – IQQ-LSC (La Serena) 450pm (1 stop ANF) – the dreaded LA 737-200. I had no issues checking in, but when I went to board the plane, was told I couldn’t bring the carry on – as I said its an odd shape but I was sure it would fit. My discussions with the ticket-taker was not going well, at which point she said “no pase” and I just gave that sad panic look (as the line was piling up) and did the blue eyes thing… (mine seem to be popular in Chile), and finally just walked on board despite her objection. Lo and behold, the overhead bins are tiny, extremely tiny, and the underseat space is not generous. They wanted to pull it from me onboard, but I managed to shove it somehow partially under the seat, which still wasn’t good enough for them. Then I placed it under the middle seat (empty) and me and the windowseat passenger just kept our newspapers open. I knew there was no way I’d bring this on another LA 737 again, and was really annoyed at this bag, which the box guaranteed blah de blah (its going back to Costco this week, bent up as it may now be). Inflight service adequate for 2 short hops. A small “once” (like afternoon tea) was served on one segment. The beverage cart is all comp, with limited alcohol selections (wine, pisco sour, scotch).
LSC baggage – quick. Cab into town, cheap.
Hotel Canto del Agua – on the beach, about $2 cabride into the town center, about ½ hour walk. Room – marginal, but clean. Price, supercheap. Breakfast, very marginal. Staff, supernice.
LSC – General Impressions – I felt like I was on the central coast of California, perhaps between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. Weather – the same – cool / cloudy / foggy nights and mornings. The town square (Plaza de Armas – every town has one) reminded me of Sonoma. Christmas eve I went into the Cathedral to see part of what a mass might be like, but mostly to watch the people come in and maybe hear a choir sing. Nope, a marginal vocalist. Oh well… I bought a small backpack for CH$3.900 as my new carryon.
I decided that on the 26th, I wanted to drive through the Valle de Elqui – so I wanted to rent a car late on the 25th and just drive directly to the airport. Hertz (airport desk) – no one answered. Econorent – no one answered. The hotel front desk was trying to help. He found a local place to rent me a car within the hour for only CH$30.000 (car rentals are fairly expensive as compared to other things in Chile). A fairly new Hyundai in decent shape. Perfect (almost…….)
Drove down the coast a bit on the eve of the 25th - lovely. As it was just after solstice, sunset was fairly late. Woke up, marginal breakfast again, and then the drive. Valle de Elqui is a don’t miss. Picture Sonoma Valley (Highway 12) as the low-level terrain with dramatic tall desert-type mountains (with some vegetation) all around. Towns to stop in along the way –such as Vicuña, where I had lunch.
The Pisco factory in Pisco Elqui (the end of the paved road) was closed when I got there… Boo. I didn’t’ have time to wait for it to reopen for the afternoon.
Ended up back at LSC a bit earlier than anticipated, and so tried to get on an earlier flight. As the car guy told me I could return it to the airport, I figured he had a desk there. No, he was just going to meet me at the agreed time. So there was no one to give the car. The Hertz lady called him for me and he came down to the airport. Both Hertz and Econorent told me that when a flight isn’t coming in, they leave the desk which is why no one answered the phone. More issues with the car return… he didn’t have his credit card machine, etc… After some argument, I ended up just giving him cash and he ripped up the credit card slip that he had filled out for a “deposit” amount.
26 Dec. LSC/SCL – Another LA 737-200. More hassles. As I now had 2 pieces to check, I went over the 20kg domestic Y weight limit. The LA agent put me on the earlier flight, but now wanted to charge me for the excess baggage. I tried to explain that I was an Int’l F passenger, that I bought yet another carryon for the 737, that the second piece was essentially now empty, and on and on. After several minutes of this, she finally relented “because the bag was empty”. Flight uneventful and only about 45 minutes. I think a little something was served.
Hotel Diego de Almagro Aeropuerto. The only hotel near SCL, and there is nothing else around. It is a nice place to sleep if you need a place to sleep. Dining room food is ample and not expensive at all for the food quality. After traveling around Chile for awhile, your perception of prices changes dramatically, so things were “expensive” here compared to my previous two stops, but really, it was reasonable. Hotel breakfast was marginal, but better than most to date on the trip. Hotel had an internet terminal with dialup service and ample cable channels to pass the time, as well as an unheated pool, tennis courts, and a marginal gym. The hotel uses one of the airport van services for the ride – you go to the counter and they fill out a receipt (which I assume they use to bill the hotel) – there is no charge.
On to the south, in Part III.