Farewell and hello to BA, oh and hello to Chile – 15 April

Transfer to airport due at 8am, so breaky (quite nice at this is hotel) and into our bus to the nearby Domestic Airport for our international flight to Santiago, Chile.

We rocked up to check in (as we’d once again had trouble with Aerolineas Argentina site) only to learn that our flight number didn’t exist and had been changed from 11:10am to 7:45pm and our apps or agents hadn’t notified us!!!

So we considered our options and arranged a transfer back to hotel and our man Guido – who happily agreed to store our luggage and helped ro arrange a cab to return at 5pm. He also offered the facilities of the hotel – very kind.

We headed off to Mula for a well deserved coffee before filling our day.

We rearranged ourselves for a walk to Ricoleta Cemetery which we’d walked alongside but not seen. The Cemetery is on a hill and the graves are above ground with elaborate crypts and the headstones. The crypts are in all states of disrepair. Some are perfectly looked after and others unkempt with broken glass and falling apart coffins. It’s quite macabre that you can look in the door and see coffins falling apart. Some of the crypts have many coffins and also wooden boxes which I assume contain ashes. Many many family members interred in layers of shelves. Most of the crypts have stairs down a long way. It’s fascinating and gruesome all at the same time.

Eva Peron (Evita) is one of the most notable ‘residents’. Her remains are buried 5 metres down.

Then we walked along an arts/crafts market we’d seen being set up last night and on to have a look at a Toyota showroom, Phil was hoping for a Fortuner pamphlet in Spanish but no luck.

We found a place for drinks and lunch while Mary and I revisited the Market. By this stage it was time to head back around the corner to hotel to collect luggage and try again for flight to Chile.

We had more luck this time, checked in and then we had a fair wait in a hot and stuffy gate lounge.

Unfortunately we couldn’t see the Andes as it was dark and we didn’t have window seats either.

Now to adapt to Chile – new money – Chilean Peso.

Fortunately the itinerary for today had a free day in Santiago so there wasn’t the pressure of onward plans being stuffed up by the flight delay. Mary contacted the transfer company via What’s App who promptly responded that they would meet our night flight not our mid day one.

We were met at the airport by Carolina, she was lovely. Took us to the bus in the carpark where Juvenal, our driver, was waiting.

Carolina gave us a running commentary travelling into our hotel in the CBD. First transfer we’ve had with a driver AND a guide.

The sight of terribly graffitied city centre was quite distressing and didn’t leave us feeling ‘safe’.

Our hotel – Hotel Fundador was a bit dated having had a partial cheap makeover. Now Mary,Phil and I are triple sharing so it was a Queen and single. Comfy enough but rather ‘tired.’ It was quite late and to my surprise Carolina told us she was meeting us at 9.30 for our Santiago City Tour tomorrow it’s nice to have some continuity in our guide. Poor woman she had a long train trip home and would need to be up early to get back to us in the morning.

We took a bit of time getting ourselves organised, downloaded some photos and into to bed after another full day.