Roadtrip Peru, Bolivia & Chili - Part 14
Santiago de Chile - Thursday 28-09-2023
After a delicious breakfast, we leave for Santiago de Chile. We must confess that we are sad to leave Valparaíso, with its hills and all its colour. It is an amazing and colourful city.
Santiago de Chile is the last stage of this amazing journey and this also means the trip is almost over again. What seemed like a long journey has come to an end and flew by. But we have had a fantastic time, met nice people, visited beautiful natural phenomena, had amazing adventures and a wonderful time together.
After a short journey, we arrive at the Brasilia hotel in Santiago de Chile. We leave the car to be washed before returning it. We have a nice lunch in a nearby cafe and take a taxi to Plaza de Armas. The square is cosy and the cathedral is beautiful! We visit the Natural History Museum and walk to the local market hall "Mercado Central". By the way, here you can constantly see the Andean mountain range with its snow-capped peaks.
We end the day in the café close to the hotel, enjoying a beer and a delicious full plankje.
Santiago de Chili - Terrasse Neptune à Santa Lucia hill - Friday 29-09-2023
Returned the car this morning. As in Calama, this rental company also does not have an office at the airport. Triggered by the hassle in Calama, we made timely contact. And so just as well. The office is in hotel Diego de Almagro Aeropuerto. Open only at 10am? Not convenient when we both have to fly before ten o'clock in the morning 😜😜. Fortunately, we decided to return the car a day before our departure. We handed in the car without any problems and, as a service, we were neatly taken back to the centre of Santiago de Chili. We had a lovely stroll through the streets, visiting the National Library and we made our way to Terrasse Neptune à Santa Lucia hill
Teleférico Santiago
As our last stop of the day, we plan to take in the Teleférico Santiago. Located in Santiago de Chile's Parque Metropolitano, the Teleférico Santiago is Chile's largest urban park and one of the largest in the world. Four municipalities share the park together, including Providencia, Vitacura, Recoleta and Huechuraba. This cable car takes us to the top of San Cristóbal. At the top, we find a small church and a huge statue of (how could it be otherwise) San Cristóbal. It is pleasant to stay there and we enjoy the beautiful views.
On the way back we take an Uber taxi to our hotel after a beautiful day in Santiago de Chile, we have a blast in a long tunnel, a rear-end collision. Fortunately, the collision was not too severe and the data exchange is settled fairly quickly!!!
Carlos, our driver takes the incident lightly. Ah, this just happens in Santiago de Chile. He has another car but it is at the repair shop after four damages 🤪🤪. We agree with Carlos that he will pick us up at the hotel tomorrow at 6.30am and take us to the airport.
Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport - Saturday 30-09-2023
The alarm clock rings at half past four. We have a nice shower, pack the suitcase, check out and go to the airport with Carlos. Lara and I are soon separated. We both have to be in Departure 2 but each at one end of the terminal. Lara can check in right away and I have to wait another hour. Meanwhile, Lara has dropped off her suitcase and comes to keep me company. After checking in, our paths separate again as Lara has the checks at an another gate. In the end, we turn out to be in the same long queue again 😜😜. After this exercise, we treat ourselves of a delicious breakfast!!! After an hour we have the moment of trues!!! Once again we are both in different corners of the terminal.
We walked together to Lara’s gate but we really have to say goodbye. Lara's plane leaves 5 minutes earlier than mine. Our paths separate. Still very strange when you've been together for a month. And what a month! A great trip!!! Beautiful countries and locations!!! We met nice people! Every now and then a moment of tension. Had a lot of fun and laughed a lot! Just a great trip!!!!!!!
Lara leaves on schedule and has a prosperous flight to São Paulo. My plane leaves for Buenos Aires at 9.50am. A 1.5-hour flight. Unfortunately, we have to leave the plane in Buenos Aires due to cleaning. Via transfer and another security check back in the queue to be seated in the same seat again 🤪🤪. At 2.35pm, we leave for Amsterdam for a 12.5-hour flight. So I sit back and enjoy a wonderful flight!!!
Marilia & Helmond - Saturday 01-10-2023
Lara is now home. She flew into São Paulo and travelled by bus to Marília. A bus journey of about 7 hours. My flight went smoothly and landed at Schiphol-Amsterdam around 8.20am. This time not at the gate but in the middle of nowhere and were taken by buses to the reception hall.
But “Home sweet home”
