Chile: Getting to Know Santiago

A LITTLE SANTIAGO We arrived here on a Sunday after a very long day of travel. Four hours in a van to the Punta Arenas airport (leaving before dawn at 4:30 am), the usual long line for LATAM check-in, followed by a somewhat shorter security line, and then the 3 hours plus flight to Santiago. …

Chile: Patagonia Adventure

TORRES DEL PAINE When we last left off, we were waiting for our van at our hotel in Punta Arenas to take us to the Tierra property on the edge of the national park, Torres del Paine. Torres means “towers” and there are three granite peaks that give the park its name of “Towers of …

Chile: On to Patagonia

PUNTA ARENAS This morning we flew south from Puerto Varas to Punta Arenas.  This city is located on a peninsula just north of the Straits of Magellan and is part of Chilean Patagonia. This puts us at one of the southern most points in Chile as the Straits separate Chile from Tierra del Fuego.  Going …

CHILE: LAKE DISTRICT

ARRIVING IN PUERTO VARAS Yesterday we left Santiago, endured the agony of lines in that airport, and flew to Puerto Montt.  Puerto Montt is south of Santiago and is the capital of this state in the Lake District. We were met and driven a short distance to the neighboring town of Puerto Varas (population 44,000) …