Sunday, 13 January 2008

I had to wait around for hours for the plane to Santiago, Chile. Once I found the location it wasn’t too bad. I met some of the people on the trip and they seem nice down to earth people. The majority are not exactly young. My room mate whom I finally met is traveling with her daughter, grandson, son and daughter-in-law. She must have anywhere between ten and fifteen years on me, but she’s very pleasant.

Th flight to Santiago was a bit bumpy, but w got here. When I picked up my suitcase, one of the wheels was missing. LAN gave me $30 compensation.

We’re staying at the Santiago Grand Hyatt Hotel, which is very nice . I reminds me a little of a hotel that I stayed in in Atlanta, Ga when I worked for IBM. It is built around a central core with the rooms overlooking the empty center. The sides of the elevators are glass, so you have an excellent view.

Right now I’m sitting around the pool, which is surrounded by foliage on one side and the hotel on the other. At 3:00pm, there is a tour of the city which should give me plenty of opportunities to use my camera. I have a lunch reservation for 12:30.

We were told that the visa fee would be $100. It turned out to be $131. Oh well, they have to make a living too.

I had lunch with Becky and Harry Porter, which turned into a pleasant social event. I returned to my room to rest before the city tour. Santiago is a nice city, but I didn’t see that much to differentiate it from other cities. We went to the Pre-Columbian museum. There was nothing in the gift shop suitable for Muffin.

After we got back to the hotel , I rested before the cocktail party scheduled for 7:00PM. I tried a Piso sour and after half a glass, my head was spinning. This is when someone pushed a pina colada on me. The dinner which followed turned into another pleasant social event. As I walked into the room, Georgia who lives in Mained invited me to join her group.

After dinner I waited on a long line to pay my bill. Then pack my bag and put it in the hall, where it was transported to the airport the next morning.

I can’t believe that only 38 hours have passed since I left home. I did take some pictures on the city tour. I also attempted to use the voice memo feature on my camera. I wonder what will happen when I down load to my computer. I still have not had internet access.