The drive to the hotel lasted about thirty minutes. We were finally able to get a view of the city. Our last visit earlier in the week limited us to a drive to a nearby hotel. Upon our arrival at the hotel, we just napped, showered and went back to the airport. No time for sight seeing. Unfortunately, we hit town at rush hour. An endless sea of cars and busses. We were told that most of the busses were operated by private companies and one could catch a bus on any street corner and be able to travel to almost any country in South America.

We survived the endless lanes of cars and busses and made it to our hotel in one piece. Adjacent to the hotel was the San Franciscan Church. We were told it was the oldest church in the country. We checked in with little difficulty and proceeded to the ninth floor. Our room was nice and overlooked the church. Fortunately, it did not face the street because I have a feeling this is a busy street, 24 hours a day.

While freshening up, we received a call from Jody, one of our fellow travelers, who advised of their plans for the evening (which did not include us) and the quality of the hotel restaurant. We opted to stay in for the evening and headed downstairs to reconnoiter the hotel. We ran into Jody and Jerry in the lounge and had a round of drinks. The popular regional drink is the Pisco Sour. Pisco is an alcohol beverage made from distilled grapes. It is then mixed with lemon/lime to the make the sour part. Much like a margarita. Their local acquaintance arrived and they headed out for dinner. We ventured into the restaurant and checked out the menu. All the food looked tempting. Shashi opted for the crab pudding while I boldly decided to have a local lamb dish. Not being a fan of lamb, I was impressed. We finished our meal and headed upstairs to get some sleep.

Day 7:  We woke at 8:00 a.m. (6:00 Easter Island Time), showered and dressed and headed downstairs for a light breakfast. Shashi had made an appointment to have her nails done while I found the local internet connection. I checked and responded to some of the emails I had sent while on Easter Island. While checking mail, Jody found me while on her way out of the hotel and we made plans for dinner. The arrangements were left in her capable hands. We headed for the door on a mission to find Leather Pants and a Harley-Davidson Shop.

Unfortunately, we found neither. We wandered the streets for several hours with no success. Must have logged about six miles. Hunger got the better of us and we decided on a "Sports Bar" (In name only), had a light meal of empanadas and a pitcher of beer. We finished, paid, got a little lesson in Spanish from our waiter, and headed out the door. We managed to find our hotel, freshened up, met Jody and Jerry and headed out for dinner.

Jody had to make a decision between two restaurants and ended up choosing "Coma Agua Para Chocolate" (Like Water for Chocolate). Yes, just like the movie. It ended up being a great choice. The atmosphere was nice, the staff were friendly and helpful, and the food was excellent. Shashi, Jody and Jerry had the crab baked in pastry and shared a bottle of wine. I had grilled shark and racer clams in hot sauce and stuck to Cerveza. We split the bill, called for our taxi and headed back for the hotel.

Day 8: Woke at 7:45 a.m., showered and headed down for breakfast. The rest of the group started to filter in and were assigned their rooms.  They had the opportunity to get breakfast and we regrouped in the lobby to head out for our city tour.

The tour was fine with the following stops:

Stop One: Palace de Cousin'o. Nice old building from the 19th century. To me, the best part of the stop were the original oil paintings decorating the place and the original furniture displayed.

Stop Two: Presidential Palace-La Moneda. Did not see much. Entered after being searched and went to the courtyard. Got a brief history lesson from our guide.

Stop Three: Cathedral of St Iglesias. Old and neat.

Stop Four:  Cristobal Hill. Too smoggy to get view of the city. Santiago sits in a bowl in the middle of the Andes Mountains. In the winter time, there is no wind so the smog from the automobiles has no way to be dispersed.

Stop Five: Back to the hotel.

We had scheduled to have a group dinner at the hotel restaurant at 7:30. Thirteen out of our fifteen made it. I ended up having the wild boar while Shashi had the grouper. Both were excellent. After dinner, we retired for a good night's sleep. Wake up was to be early since we were due to depart the hotel at 6:00 a.m.

Day 9:  We awoke at about 4:40 a.m. and prepared for the day. We checked out at about 5:50 and stored one of our bags. We arrived at the airport on time but took off about thirty minutes late. We were supposed to stop in Puerto Montt but, due to fog, we were diverted to Balmaceda. We unloaded some passengers who were supposed to get off at Puerto Montt and refueled. We were on the ground for about forty-five minutes while the flight crew charted a new course in hopes of avoiding bad weather. We finally took off and arrived in Punta Arenas only twenty minutes late.

After a long wait, we finally found our duffel bag on the conveyer and headed for the exit. We were greeted by the staff from the Explora Hotel. We had only seen photos of this place on the internet and it is supposed to be the best place to stay in Patagonia. As a matter of fact, we met a trio of North Carolinians while on Easter Island (Tommy, Sandra and Betsy). They also stayed at the Plaza San Francisco in Santiago and while talking with them, Tommy reiterated that if you were going to spend the money to stay at a nice resort, this was the only one. We then found out that they were also going to the Explora.

There were about five vans from the resort and we piled in them. In our van were Pam and George, Bill and Penny, Jody and Jerry (all from San Diego) and Tom from San Francisco. We settled in for the five and a half hour van ride to Torres del Paine National Park.

After a short time on the road, we noticed that the landscape had been dusted with fresh snow. A little further, we observed a recovery vehicle hooking up a Ford Explorer which had been involved in a rollover. Our driver mentioned that there were two other rollovers at the same curve within the past twenty-four hours. Simultaneously, nine seat belts were buckled into place.

After a couple of hours, we stopped at the Hotel Rubens where we dined on chicken/avocado sandwiches, French Fries and Polar Imperial beer. The Explora picked up the check and we were on our way. We drove and drove as the sun began to set. Shashi kept saying, as she looked at the landscape: "I hope it gets better than this". In all honesty, it looked like the terrain of Botswana but about 40 - 50 degrees colder. After about three hours of driving (since departing Hotel Rubens), we saw some lights in the distance. Our driver advised us that that was our hotel. We continued for another twenty minutes and pulled into the place. Not too impressive at night. Not a lot of illumination but new construction was obvious.

We stepped into the reception area/mud room and were met by Anna, the resort manager. We signed the guest register, waivers and were shown to our room. This place was impressive. Designed to look like a luxury liner, the complete interior is made from wood. Wood flooring, wood walls, all done in a light maple finish.

Our room was a corner room with a great view of the Salto Chico Falls (the hotel is actually named Salto Chico-Explora is the name of the company that owns this on and another one in Atacama. Atacama is in the high desert of the Andes in the northern part of Chile).  Even in the darkness, it was fantastic.

We showered and changed and went downstairs for an 8:00 meeting in the lounge area. There, we were given a list of activities from which to select. We opted for horseback riding in the morning and the afternoon. We then had a few cocktails and dinner. After a late night, we hit the sack.

Day 10:  We took advantage of our later departure time and slept in until 8:00. We had a light breakfast and took a stroll around the grounds. The outside temperature was below freezing. This made the boardwalk a little slippery. We soon turned back to catch the van that would take us to the stables.

We met with Marcello, our guide for the morning. We were joined by Sandra, Fernando, John and Annis. The drive to the stables was about ten minutes. Once there, we donned our chaps, were assigned our horses (Facundo for me and Morisco for Shashi) and given a quick briefing. The snow had started to fall and we proceeded on our way. This ride took us through some steep and gentle hills to Laguna Negro. Once we crossed the hills, the terrain opened up to the "pampas". We rode for a couple of more hours and made our way back to the stables. We drank some tea, watched some cat tricks and meandered back to the hotel. We had a light lunch and headed back to the stables. This group was larger than the morning one.

The afternoon ride took us back to the pampas. By now, the sky had cleared and we were able to see the snow covered mountains and rugged peaks. Now we know why people come to the middle of nowhere. This place is beautiful. We rode until the sun started to set and headed back to the stables. We had more tea and departed to the hotel.

We freshened up, had cocktails and met with Rodrigo, another one of the guides. We scheduled the following days activities. Shashi and I decided to hang out at the resort in the morning and take the afternoon walk to the Salto Grande falls and try to get a view of the mountains and the French Glacier. He had a later dinner and spent the evening chatting with  Tom (from San Francisco), Tommy, Betsy and Sandra.

Day 11: We awoke around 7:45 and wandered down for breakfast. Afterwards, we walked down to the pool and sauna and strolled around the resort grounds. We met Sandra for lunch and, afterwards, took a short nap.

At about 3:00, we met with Chuck, Carol, Tommy and Betsy and waited for our guide. Karina showed up and we took a short trek (about 3.75 miles) to the falls and the glacier. The glacier basically looked like the surrounding hills with the exception of the blue hue. While we were taking in the scenery, we heard a crashing sound as some of the glacier separated and fell to the valley below. Very impressive. On our return trip, we heard another piece fall off. We arrived back at the hotel at about 5:45. We freshened up and met downstairs at about 8:00 to plan the next days activities.

There was not a lot to choose from: The hike to Gray Glacier or the barbeque with horseback riding. Shashi had her heart set on seeing the glacier and icebergs but had developed a bad chest cold and the lengthy hike was out of the question for her. The hike was to end at the glacier at which time, the hikers would be rafted to a boat for the return trip. We inquired about catching the boat to the glacier and found it was possible. We made arrangements to be driven to the neighboring hotel (about 45 minutes away) and catching the boat there. We were due to leave at 1:15 in the afternoon. We finished the evening with dinner and drinks and headed to bed.

Day 12: We awoke at 8:30---Late nights--- for our last full day here. We made it to breakfast by 9:30. We verified our departure time and were advised to have an early lunch. We strolled the grounds and I went downstairs to check email. Their internet connection is by satellite and the clouds really obscure the reception. While trying to get a connection, I was asked by Pam and George about the boat to the glacier. They also wanted to see the glacier but did not feel like taking the hike. They said the would see if seats were available.

I returned to he room as Shashi was finishing the packing of the duffel bag. We went downstairs and had a light lunch. We proceeded to the reception area where we met George, Pam and Tommy (from Germany). We took a van ride to the neighboring hotel, purchased our tickets and were driven about a mile and a half to the beach. We then had to walk about a mile to catch the launch that would take us to the boat. We got on the boat, donned life jackets and proceeded to the glacier. Along the way, we encountered several icebergs. All in different sizes and shapes. As we neared the glacier, the temperature dropped several degrees.

The glacier was spectacular. The colors were fantastic. Deep blues and light blues. We really got close to the thing. As we approached the glacier, the raft departed and picked up the hikers. They joined us on the boat and cocktails were served. We motored around the glacier for about thirty more minutes and started on the journey back to the beach.

We arrived at the beach and the sun had set. It was pretty dark. Fortunately, I always carry my flashlight so it was helpful. We arrived at the hotel, had an early dinner (for a change) and got the bed at a decent hour. Our next day was to begin at 4:30.

Day 13: Up at 4:15 and a light breakfast. We loaded into the vans and began the long journey to the airport. The temperature was below freezing and the roads were terrible. We were unable to nap in the van during the early portion of the ride since the roads were dirt and very rough. When we made it to the smooth, hardball, we were able to nap a bit but were occasionally awakened when the van would hit patches of ice. We made it to the Hotel Rubens where Shashi and I bypassed a meal and chose to warm ourselves by the wood burning stove.

We made it to the airport on time and departed right on schedule. Our arrival in Santiago was on time and we returned to the Plaza San Francisco. We got our rooms and met Annis and Russ for drinks in the lounge. We parted ways and met with Sandra and Tommy (North Carolina) for a drink and then dined together. We made the promise of visiting them in North Carolina on our next trip there and said our farewells.

We headed up to bed for a sleepless night. Our room was street front and, as I feared, was extremely noisy.

Day 14: We rose at 3:45 and met the others downstairs. We left for the airport at about 5:00. The lines for check-in were extremely long. The supervisors finally noticed the size of the lines and filled the vacant counters. We checked in and headed for the gates. The line at immigrations was again a lengthy one. Most of the delay was due to individuals who had misplaced their immigration form provided when we entered the country. They had to fill out new ones.