Hello from Ecuador!

Day 10: Santiago to Chicago

Today is the day for all you loyal blog readers who have ever asked us if we would like to take a “normal” vacation! You know, like “hang out at the pool” or “go to a sky deck bar for drinks”. Even though we’ll be flying home later today, that’s not until 9:45pm, so let’s see how well we can Santiago-it-up until then.

After sleeping in and enjoying breakfast, we attended to the pool on the rooftop deck. Matt swam while Jo lounged in the sun. The weather was nice and warm and much sunnier than yesterday. We lounged at the pool for as long as possible before checking out at 12:30pm. We gathered our belongings, prepared our day packs, and had the hotel hold the rest of our bags.

We can pool!

But we are still really pale

Refreshing dip

The next destination

There was really only one planned mission for the day… find a particular style of BAMERS shoes that we were introduced to by Matias Guide. Bamers are a Chilean brand of what could best be described as “hardcore crocs,” which are great for camping and hikes. A little internet research and we located a Bamers shoe store a 15-minute walk away in the Costanera Mall, which is at the base of Costanera Tower — the tallest building in Santiago and an iconic part of the skyline. Size-wise, it’s no Mall of America, but certainly qualifies a fun (and perfectly touristy) thing to do.

We quickly found the Bamers store, but quickly realized they do not have the style of shoe we were looking for. Apparently this shoe is a summer style and since it’s getting to be winter here, they are not stocking them in stores or online. Ah well, let’s keep shopping.

We stumbled upon a Hoka store. Perhaps we can get shoes for Jo instead??? Jo’s current pair — which she was wearing — were well worn out. Amid the customers collecting race packets for a Santiago 21k race, we grabbed a salesperson who spoke some English to help us, tried on the updated pair of the same style, and made the purchase. No longer needing the old pair, they were immediately delivered to the trash can in the food court. YOLO!!!

Like a video game upgrade

We continued to shop around, making short stops in the major department stores to see if they happened to sell Bamers (spoiler alert: they don’t), as well as a variety of other fun shops – selling books, yarn, drones, more expensive lapis azul penguins, etc.

Cool bookstore tree decor

Are you inspired?!?

We eventually made our way back through the mall and located the entrance of the “Santiago Experience” at Sky Costanera, which takes you to the top of the Costanera Tower. Shopping and an observation deck! How normal we are!

Not too busy for a Saturday afternoon

There were surprisingly few people out and about, and only a handful of people in line for the elevator, so we figured let’s do it. We bought our tickets, went through the gates, and caught the next elevator to the top. Starting on the basement and going up 300 meters to the 61st floor only takes 40 seconds. We then had as much time as we wanted to wander the first (indoor) observation deck, get a drink at the bar, and take the escalator one more level up to the open air sky deck. We did all three.

Top of Santiago

Open air sky deck

THIS… IS… SANTIAGO!!!

There was a lovely bar/cafe and we found a table by the window. We ordered some fancy drinks (both involving calafate juice, of course) and relaxed. We were able to spot our hotel, our San Cristobal Hill trail, and a variety of other important landmarks (like La Burgesia). When we finished the drinks, we wandered around and used the scopes. We then went upstairs for a slightly higher view of everything.

360 degree views of Santiago

One more penguin friend

We took the elevator back down, which deposits you on the fifth (top) floor of the mall — a real “exit-through-the-gift-shop” situation — but we eventually made our way out (and declined to purchase any new vehicles from the mall auto dealerships along the way, lol).

Last on our to-do list was a sandwich shop called Fuente Alemada — recommended by Explora. We walked to the shop and figured out what/how to order. We found the to-go counter, which was technically a separate storefront around the corner, placed the order, and 15 minutes later were carrying some surprisingly heavy sandwiches back to the hotel.

Sandwiches acquired!

Our timing worked out great — we returned to the Solace lobby, had the exact right time to share one of the sandwiches (technically more like a burger), got our held luggage from the desk, changed into our plane clothes, and called an Uber to the airport. The Uber was already on our street, so it arrived immediately. The driver was playing some good local music we Shazam’d for later.

At the airport, bag check went well and we moved to the next step in leaving Chile – waiting in line for immigration. In true Chilean fashion, there seemed to be two people working. Eventually, they opened up a couple more booths when the line started to snake out of the door (good plan, guys!). Most agents took about 30 seconds per person, but our line’s agent was the sloth from Zootopia. We hopped lines, and to this day, we are not sure if the people behind us ever left Chile.

Once fully through security, we stopped in the duty-free store for a bottle of Pisco. We were going to buy one that came in a black moai bottle, but because we had a connection, we weren’t allowed to take it. Something about an opaque bottle rather than clear… we think? Alas, nobody will mistake us for duty-free experts. We did end up buying the brand Matias recommended which was properly in a clear bottle.

Before taking off, we wanted to eat our other sandwich. Having learned from the first one, we procured a set of bamboo cutlery from an airport cafe, and purchased a Fanta from the Juan Valdez cafe in order to claim some table space. These aren’t your typical lunchbox sandwiches!

Just in time to finish transferring some pictures, it was time to board. At check-in, we were warned that no liquids or gels are allowed on the flight, including anything bought past security. We were prepared, but the lady in front of us was not, and she was not happy about it.

However — in that lady’s defense — these TSA-sponsored, International-to-USA gate security checks for liquids (and whatever else) are really stupid. Matt has dubbed it “Racoon Security.” Some poor agent — wearing those dumb rubber gloves — opens your bags, pulls a few random things out, rummages around for literally a few seconds, and then jams all your stuff back in your bag randomly, before handing it back to you. Scanners would at least make the process worthwhile. But of course not. Once past the completely ineffectual rummaging (like you missed about seven other compartments on my bag), we picked up our bottle of pisco from duty free and found our seats. The flight went well and we were able to sleep for a few hours.

Once we landed in Houston, we went though customs. The aisle of face scanners for Global Entry were out of order, but we still went pretty quickly through a line where there was one working scanner. We picked up our bags (which came out really quickly), stashed the pisco in one of them, and then rechecked our bags before heading back through security. The line was moving slowly, but we weren’t in any rush since we found out our particular flight to Chicago was delayed by an hour. We made the long trek (seriously, it was probably about 25 minutes) to our gate and found a spot to settle in and wait.

Metaphorical, alas

Two hours later, after some pseudo-napping on the floor, we were ready to board. There was weather in the midwest, so the flight was a little bumpy, but not the worst. After taking a few long flights in the past week, the two and a half hour flight went by quick.

Dodging weather to ORD

Our particular flight from Houston was delayed, but there were others that weren’t — and Matt’s checked bag didn’t feel like waiting. Upon arrival in Chicago, we found the area of baggage claim where early-arriving luggages lives. Matt’s bag was safely locked up, we spotted it, and we showed an agent our claim tag to have it released. Probably the most secure our checked bags have ever been. Also… remember to keep those baggage claim tags, people!

This checked bag doesn’t wait!

From there we hopped in cab (no ticket needed!) and were driven home by perhaps the most questionably aggressive cab driver we have ever had. This guy had a death wish. Driving like a lunatic, flipping people off (who were definitely NOT in the wrong), and a pile of empty McDonalds coffee cups in the console. We are lucky to still be alive. But, on the bright side, we DID make it home before the rain storms started.

Death Cab for Cutie

Hey Rich!!! We back!!!!

The entire trip was amazing and we can’t wait to get back to South America.

Day 9: Santiago

With a late night yesterday, we slept in today — but still managed to catch the end of the hotel breakfast buffet from about 10-10:30am. Plenty of (delicious) yogurt, granola, and pastries, but, alas, scrambled eggs were only for the early birds. Hard-boiled for us today. No worries, we had plenty of food and, more importantly, cappuccinos. Matt even figured out how to “hack” the espresso machine to make the perfect mocha latte.

Solid relaxing mode is the day’s plan, but more importantly, it’s blog-catchup time. We rode the elevator up to the rooftop bar/pool/deck area and posted a handful of blogs from the past few days without internet in Tierra del Fuego. Thank you devoted blog readers for your patience. The weather was perfect, the views were pleasant, and we were serenaded with the bar’s pop/dance music selections as a few other trendy people stopped by to eat lunch and have a couple drinks.

Time for some rooftop R&R&B!

Blog today, pool tomorrow

Construction to the east

Once we caught up on the blogs, we decided to go do our favorite Santiago activity – walk up San Cristobal Hill. It’s about three miles (and 300 vertical meters) from the hotel to the top where the giant statue of Mary stands. This is our third time doing this self-guided exploration, and we turned in out thrice-punched frequent visitor card for a magnet to commemorate (there is no card, fyi, but there is now a magnet). Next time, we’re gonna run a 5k up the hill.

We have an afternoon plan

Back at our favorite urban park

We will definitely see cyclists and mote con huesillo

Making good time

Approaching the top

As always, once we made it to the top, we visited Mary and followed with a break to enjoy a mote con huesillo – a cold, sweet drink/snack made of berry husks, cooked peaches, and peach juice. It’s a must-have at the top. The weather was relatively mild and cloudy today, so we didn’t even need to share our drink with the bees. We shared one drink between ourselves because we had big plans for dinner.

“Yo, Listen up, Mary’s talking”

Must get a Mote

We walked back down the hill using the same path we took up, except for a shortcut on a trail (rather than the road) to get to the bottom. Skies were pleasantly overcast (or perhaps overcast = smog), so it wasn’t blazing hot and we didn’t suffer any sun burns.

Nature! Even it probably just a pigeon feather

Shortcut! (Unless Jo is the mole)

Arts in the park

After crossing back thru the sculpture garden park and bridges, we walked a few additional blocks to La Burguesía, a burger place that Roberto recommended to us in 2019. We thoroughly enjoyed this place six years ago. Last year, we tried to go, but they were closed for Easter. This year, we are in luck! We arrived at about 6:15pm, easily beating the dinner rush, and were seated right away.

Hits the spot after that three-hour hike

With Jo’s limited Spanish and Google Translate, we ordered Calafate Ales on draft and a couple of the Special Burgers. Everything arrived quickly — the portions were generous and incredibly delicious. Matt had basically a brat burger – a regular burger patty with sauerkraut, onions, and German mustard. Meanwhile, Jo had a burger with poached pears, caramelized onions, blue cheese sauce, and bacon bits. Both were incredible. 10/10 would come back here again next time.

Both burgers A+

When we couldn’t eat any more, we walked back to the hotel, meandering into any shops that looked interesting. No luck, but we did a couple “Silo-like” malls that basically featured only stores pertaining to comic books, anime, weed, tattoos, and piercings. We passed on all options.

Back at the hotel, we spent the rest of the night catching up on emails and dozing off to sleep. Tomorrow we once again have most of the afternoon to walk around like regular ‘ol tourists before heading to the airport.