My ‘sabatical’ Is coming to an end with a new job starting later in the month. With the new job looming, I don’t expect to be able to travel for the near term so decided to take one last trip.

I did some quick planning and looked at flights that did not cost an arm and a leg. Ended up pulling together a trip to Santiago Chile and La Paz Bolivia.

itinerary:
Outbound
4/12 AA 340 @1:20PM MCI to DFW
4/12 AA 2294 @ 4:55PM DFW to MIA
4/12 AA 923 @ 10:45PM MIA to LPB
4/13 LA 893 @ 11:20AM LPB to SCL

Return
​​​​​​​4/17 LA 892 @ 8:40AM SCL to LPB
​​​​​​​4/19 AA 923 @ 6:40AM LPB to MIA
4/19 AA 4585@ 9:30PM MIA to MCI


​​​​​​​
I will try and post as the trip progresses.
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Hopefully I can provide some good pointers. So far the trip has been good. Snowing in La Paz when we touched down wasn’t very promising though 😳

Headed to Kansas City International via uber, had an amusing conversation with the driver which was a good start to the trip. My flight from MCI to DFW was fairly uneventful. Was sitting in the bulkhead in First class. A Brit was seated next to me and informed me before we took off that he is a bit scared to fly. He solved that problem by downing several drinks and I kept him preoccupied with conversation.

Made it to DFW with no issues. My next flight to MIA was out of D concourse and the Admirals club is closed for conversion to Flagship Lounge. So I headed to the Admirals Club in the C concourse. Hung out there until about an hour before the flight. I ventured over to D for my flight to MIA. By the time I arrived, they had boarded Groups 1 - 4. I jumped in line and my boarding pass didn't work. They had substituted a 773 for the original 772 and had to move most of the plane around. New boarding pass was issued and headed to 3J.

After a few minutes, it became apparent that the seat assignments were messed up since people kept coming around trying to sit in al ready occupied seats. It took AA about 45 minutes to fix all of the seating issues and we ended up leaving about 35 minutes late.

I had enough time to watch a movie on our way to Miami and had dinner.

We arrived in Miami about 30 minutes late and I made my way to the Flagship lounge for a bit.


Headed to my next flight to LPB about 45 minutes before the flight. By the time i arrived, they had boarded most fo the place. I was in seat 4F, first time flight on an international configured 757.

The seat was comfortable and about 20 minutes after take off, I moved the seat to fully flat position where I proceeded to get about 5 hours sleep.

We arrived in La Paz at about 5am. We deplaned and I headed to immigration. I got in line and they sent me to a line where they were issuing visas on arrival. They took my picture, asked me how long I will be in Bolivia and wanted to see my flight plans for home. They did not ask for any other documentation. The fee is $160USD. The gentleman helping me gave me back several $20s and said they were too crumpled. Luckily I had more cash on hand to replace them. Once the visa was completed, we through immigration and customs which didn't take much time.

I headed to the ticket counters to check in for my LATAM flight to Santiago. They were not open yet but a gentleman there informed me they would be open around 8am.

I wandered outside the airport to check out the views. It had been snowing when we landed and the freshly fallen snow on the Andes was quite beautiful.


There were quite a lot of seating areas in the terminal ticketing area plus free wifi (but slow) which allowed me to spend my time waiting getting caught up with happenings at home.

I wandered done to check-in/ticketing around 8am. There was a small line. They did not actually open up until 8:30am. Check-in went smoothly and I made my way through security and immigration.

Once inside security, there is a one lounge called The Lounge VIP which is a priority pass. The lounge is pretty small but had a selection of foods and wifi.



I headed to the gate about 45 minutes before the flight. The flight was a bit delayed from the inbound aircraft arrival.


Boarding was pretty orderly, I was able to used the Preffered line since I am a OneWorld Emerald.


Was seated in 3C in their business section but during the flight, no kind of business service was offered. One round of drink services and a sandwich.


Made it to Santiago basically on time. Immigration and customs was very quick, grabbed some cash from an ATM then headed to the city via taxi.

I booked a room a the Luciano K Hotel which looked stylish and had good reviews. The hotel is central and close to most sights.

The hotel didn't let me down. Its an older hotel but nicely renovated with both vintage and modern touches.

My room was quite nice with a small balcony.








After getting settle in, I took a nap. After my nap decided to check out the rooftop restaurant / bar. I had a couple of glasses of wine and a couple of tapas.

I got a great sleep and got up early to explore the sights in Santiago. First though had breakfast at the hotel which came with the room rate.
They had a nice spread.


I first headed to Bella Vista which is a few blocks from the hotel to check out the neighborhood and street art.

Mapocho River







After Bella Vista, off to Plaza de Armas which is the historical center of the city.


Santiago Cathedral






Interesting statue and pigeon roost


After Plaza de Armas, walked through the city towards the Presidential Palace and admired lots of interesting historic and modern architecture.






Presidential Palace


Then I checked out the Pre Colombian Art museum which was excellent.








Time for lunch, decided to go to Mercado Centrale. Its a large seafood market with a number of restaurants. Its fairly touristy but found a subdued place Too Willy on the edge of the market that was good.









After lunch, checked out the Museum of Contemporary Art which is housed in a building interconnected to the National Museum of Art. They had some good exhibits of Latin American Contemporary artists.






Then headed back to the hotel for a cocktail on the roof deck.

Interesting fountain across the street from my hotel.



Nice sunset views from the rooftop.

I scheduled a wine tour with Uncorked Wine tours to the Casablanca Valley. They were a great tour. The tour guide Andrea was super informative with in depth knowledge of the history of wine making in Chile as well as the different processes used to make wine.

The tour picked me up at my hotel around 8:30am. We ended up with eight people on the tour, mostly Americans.

The trip to Casablanca took about 45 minutes.


First stop of the tour was Bodegas Re which specializes in blends.





Bodegas Re uses a mix of Oak, Concrete and Clay containers for fermentation.




Making fruit and herb infused liquors.


Time for wine.


Vigno is a designation for Chilean wines that I have not heard of before.


Next stop which was about 15 minutes away was Loma Large Vineyards which sits on a hill. This allows many microclimates for their grapes. The vineyards sits in a very beautiful farm with lots of fruit trees.



Loma Largo uses both Stainless steel and french oak for their processes.



Final stop was House vineyards for more wine and lunch.



Ceviche

Beef with Carrot puree


Chocolate with more chocolate


After lunch we headed back to Santiago, we made one pit stop to take some pictures of the Casablanca Valley. The tour was great. All of the vineyards were really knowledgeable and informative.



After a bit of rest at the hotel, I headed to Bocanariz wine bar (not that I needed more wine) in the Lastarria neighborhood. I had gone here the previous day with an acquaintance and it was really nice.

I opted with the wine pairing meal.


Conger eel

Deconstructed cheesecake which was paired with Pisco.....wow thats strong.

I rented a car for my last day in Chile to visit the coast and mainly see Valparaiso. I picked up the car around 10am and headed for the highway. The roads are good and easily manageable. Part of the route was the same as the tour I took the day before so lots of familiar landmarks. The drive took about 1 hour 40 minutes.

Once I got into the city, I sought out a parking garage for the car. There is an ibis hotel on the harbor that has a large garage that fit the bill. Once parked I headed out to explore.


Plaza Sotomayor Square

Chilean Naval Building in the background


Climbed up the hill to Cerro Cordillera which was steep but not too bad. Lots of great street art.








Grabbed lunch at a local seafood restaurant which was pretty good. The empanadas with cheese and oysters were quite tasty.




After lunch headed up to Mirador del Cerro Artillieria and took the lift which was 300 pesos or about $0.55




Naval Museum is on top of the hill







After walking around a bit, I headed down the hill. The climb was steep but lots of interesting buildings and street art.





At the bottom of the hill was a group of food trucks. There was a ice cream vendor that had an unusual process of making ice cream...kind of like a crepe but frozen. Was really delicious.





I decided to head north of the city to see a few sights but first stopped at the Pablo Neruda house La Sebastiana which was closed on Monday.


About 30 minutes south of Valparaiso are the ConCon dunes. There are some apartment buildings next to them where you can park for free to explore.






Then headed back to Santiago, nice shop of the coast near Vin del Mar



The trip back was fairly easy until I hit Santiago's rush hour traffic which about added 45 minutes to the trip. Nice day outing.

I had a morning flight to La Paz from Santiago via LATAM. After I checked out of my hotel, I got an uber to the airport. On the way there, the driver informed me that uber is basically illegal in Chile but he will get me to the airport. We got to the airport fairly quickly. The thing that i didn't understand is that the driver couldn't drop me off at the departure area. We parked at a commuter parking lot and took the bus to the departures. The driver even accompanied me so I didn't get lost. It wasn't too bad and only cost me about ten extra minutes of time.

Once in the airport, I headed for the international departures. Quickly made it through immigration and security. Then headed to the LATAM lounge which is on the 4th floor right past duty free shops.



As i entered the lounge, I noticed LATAM had a priority checkin / immigration /security area that I neglected to utilize.



The lounge is decent and fairly comfortable. The food offerings were fine and the wifi was pretty fast. The bathrooms were nice and clean and they had shower facilities as well.





I headed to my flight about forty five minutes before departure. There was no one in the priority line so I was the first one down the ramp to the plane.



On our way there, we flew over Salar de Uyuni which is the worlds largest salt flats. They were pretty impressive.



Made it a bit early to La Paz, Immigration was a breeze since I already had my visa. I grabbed a cab and headed to my hotel.

I booked ATIX hotel which in the south part of the city, the taxi ride took about 45 minutes. The hotel had a lot of interesting artwork from Bolivian artists.


Scenic indoor pool



Great view from the room.



Once i got settle, i headed back into the city for lunch and sightseeing. That morning there was an article in the NY Times travel section about Bolivia. The writer spotlighted a lunch place in town that serves Bolivian contemporary cuisine at a super reasonable price. The restaurant is called Bolivian Popular Food. Its a couple of blocks away from the San Francisco Church. They open at 12:30pm and i got there around 12:15 and there was already a sizable line.


I sat at the bar which had a nice view of the action in the kitchen.

They do a three course meal for 50 bolivian pesos which is about $9USD.

I started off with the grilled beef heart which was extremely tender.

Then Ispi which is a small fish from lake Titicaca which is fried accompanied with potatoes

And finally a ice cream with a pastry


Everything was delicious. The service was great and friendly.

After lunch, decided to walk around a bit.

Then headed to the Basilica of San Francisco which was founded as a convent in 1549 and the basilica was completed in 1758. The day i went the church was open only for tours. The tours are 20 bolivian pesos or $3USD. I had a nice tour guide named Layla who spoke good English. You are not allowed to take pictures inside the actual sanctuary but there is amazing silver altar.






Great views from the roof and bellower.




I was feeling a bit ill from the high altitude so decided to head back to the hotel and take a nap.

I had reservations that night for Restaurant Gustu (which means flavor). Gustu was started by one of the founders of Noma in Copenhagen to act as a restaurant and cooking school for underprivileged youth. All of the food and drink are raised and developed in Bolivia.


The restaurant has a chefs table and dining room.




I decided to sit at the bar. They offer both ala carte menu as well as a eighteen dish tasting menu with optional drink pairing. I opted for the tasting menu and the drink pairing. The cost is really reasonable and was excellent. The cost was the tasting menu was about $35USD and the drink pairing was $40USD.

I selected a few of the more photogenic dishes. They were quite outstanding and got to taste several Bolivian wines as well.










After the huge meal I stumbled home to my hotel.