Ritz Ball - Santiago 2010

There is a black tie charity ball coming up at the end of the month and having been to many other ones organised by the Australian Embassy, they are a load of fun. Seriously you have a ball! (...and it's not just because I won the return flight to Australia two years running! - Yes, certain diplomats still groan about that - you know who you are!)

Unfortunately I won't be able to go this year since I will be out of Santiago (Clue - Pisco & UFOs) but I have included the details about it below:

Saturday 30 January 2010
Time: 8:00pm
Place: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel (Avda Apoquindo)

Organised by the Australian Embassy

Tickets: $40,000 (Chilean Pesos)
All-inclusive
Pre-dinner cocktails,
Hors d'oeuvres, 3-course meal

Beer, wine & champagne
Cash bar available for other drinks

Live music and DJ

Dress: Black Tie

All proceeds go to charity.
Grand Raffle tickets sold on the night.

Tickets are limited, no door sales.
Ticket and table reservations available from:

Julie Shiels
(Australian Embassy)

Remember... It's for a worthy cause!

Thanksgiving in Santiago

I am not from the States though I thought some of you may be interested in the following:

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thursday November 26 - 7:30 p.m.

Join us for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner (from the USA) – turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy – even pumpkin pie!

The cost is $3.000 for adults and $1.000 for children, plus a contribution of one item (side dish or appetizer).

All are welcome, but there is limited seating, so get your place reserved soon!

Organised by the Santiago Community Church
Holanda 151
Providencia
Santiago
Chile

Does anyone know of any other Thanksgiving events happening in South America?

What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

Christmas Bazaars in Santiago 2009

There are a number of Bazaars organised by the International Expat community coming up in Santiago should you want to do some early Christmas shopping.

BIG Christmas Bazaar

Tuesday 17th of November from 11 am to 3 pm

Prince of Wales Country Club
Las Arañas 1901, La Reina

Handicrafts, Jewellery, Artists, Baked Goods, Express Massage

ENTRANCE: $1000
All funds donated to Charity

And then there is my favourite Bazaar which is organised by the 'Diplomatic Ladies'...

The International Bazaar organized every year by the ADD (Asociación de Damas Diplomáticas) will be on Saturday 28th of November this year. It will be held in the Parque Ines de Suarez, located between Avenida Bilbao and Calle Vasconia in Providencia from 10am to 8pm.

This year there are more than 25 countries participating with crafts, international cuisine and local beverages. In addition, several countries have prepared unique cultural shows.

Please come and join us - along with your friends and families! It will be great fun and your contribution will help alleviate the needs of several disadvantaged people.

Entrance $1500 pesos per person.
Children under 12 free of charge.

My favourite thing about the Damas Diplomáticas fair are the food stands. There is an amazing variety of food from many different countries. Also the products that are on offer have usually been imported by the embassies or expats especially for the occasion.

Hope you enjoy them!

Vitacura Wine Festival 2009

Do you like wine festivals?

Well an event that I have been waiting for is the Vitacura Fiesta de la Vendimia 2009.
Why have I been waiting for it? Not because I’m alcoholic, but because it’s only recently they have given the information of where it will be held and the reason is that they have changed the venue and the name of the event (a tiff between the city council and the previous organizers??)

Over the last years the event was on the exclusive Alonso de Córdova Street and called the DeCopas festival. Now it is called the Fiesta de Vendimia de Vitacura.

Place: Parque Bicentenario (Av. Bicentenario 3800 next to the civic centre)
When: Saturday 18th April 2009 3pm to Midnight and
Sunday 19th April 2009 Noon to 8pm.
Price: Free activities all day though those that want to do some wine tasting will have to buy a special tasting glass. I haven’t found the price of that yet.

Remember it is THIS WEEKEND!!!!

More information here: Vitacura Wine Festival

Free WiFi on buses

Tur Bus and Claro Chile started a free service last week that lets passengers traveling with them between Santiago and different destination in the 5th region (most typically Viña del Mar and Valparaíso) to have access to WiFi (3G network). Only problem is that only 10 users can be connected at any one time but at least it is better than none.

To begin with 90 buses on the Santiago – Casa Blanca – Valparaíso route will have this free service in place and they look to extend it to other parts over the year.

Apparently the same service has already been running for around a year on the two-floor buses of the “Talca, Paris y Londres” bus company based in Talca.

Does anyone else know of any buses with this service either in Chile or other parts of South America?
Has anyone used the Wifi on any of the buses on the Valparaíso route?

Bali Hai Restaurant in Santiago

Ten of our staff went to Bali Hai restaurant at the end of last year and of course we did some serious eating, drinking and general indulging, oh, and we even took some photos while we were there. It was a Monday night, it was packed with photo-trigger-happy tourists that had just been unloaded from tour buses, but we still managed to enjoy the night. Since my eternal To-Do list never stops growing it is only now that I could put up our review and some photos of the place.

You can see our comments about the restaurant here at: Bali Hai
And you may want to see some photos of the traditional Chilean / Polynesian dance show while you are at it.

Basically it comes down to the food was good, the show was very well done though it still doesn’t beat my favourite place for a typical Chilean show at Los Buenos Muchachos. (Yes, I have photos from the many times we’ve been there too but it’s also on the To-Do list).

Has anyone else been to Bali Hai? What did you think of it?

Videos of Cerro San Cristobal

Just showing a couple more videos we took from when we drove up to the top of Cerro San Cristobal hill in Santiago, Chile the other weekend.

The first video is a couple of Gargoyles that overlook Santiago from the Funicular building on Cerro San Cristobal Hill. This video is divided into two parts; the first is taken from below where I zoom in on one of the gargoyles to see the details of it. The second part is from a different angle with a view of the city.



The second video is a panoramic view of Santiago in Summer (without snow on the Andes Mountains) as taken from the top of Cerro San Cristobal Hill. I’ll go up again in the middle of winter (after a day of rain) to capture the Andes Mountains in all their snow-capped glory.



Hope you enjoy them!

Driving Up Cerro San Cristobal Hill

On Sunday we visited Cerro San Cristobal, the iconic hill that overlooks Santiago with the statue of the Virgin Mary on top. We took the video below as we slowly drove up the road that takes you to the top of the hill. The first minute is really shaky though it gets better from there on in. The video is below:



Notice all of the 'healthy' people walking, running and cycling up to the top - not easy in the summer heat. This is quite a common activity on the weekend (we took this on a Sunday) and it can be interesting watching all the different types of people and characters that are going up or coming down the hill. Check out some of the panoramic views of the northern part of Santiago from half way up.

We had to start the video from just after going through the gates at the bottom of the hill so that it would fit into the maximum 10 minutes allowed on YouTube but at least you get an idea of how it is.

In order to take your car up the hill, you have to pay $2.000 Chilean Pesos (February 2009).
The best time to go up Cerro San Cristobal is after a day of rain since the rain clears away the smog and you have an amazing view of the entire city (instead of a haze in the distance). Also when it rains in winter it leaves a lot of snow on the Andes Mountains down to a low level.

Tomorrow I’ll try and put up the panoramic video of Santiago that I took from the top.

Does anyone here regularly run or cycle up this hill on the weekend?

7th Anniversary Indulgence

My wife and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary last night and what better way to do it than staying home and watching TV. No, just joking. We went out to one of our favourite restaurants last night that is in Bellavista call Como Agua Para Chocolate. If you haven’t been there, do so. It isn’t cheap at all though the fantastic ambience and great food make it more than worthwhile.

Last night the restaurant was PACKED!!! We hadn’t made a reservation so we had to wait about half an hour for a table to be free (we weren’t in a hurry and the Pisco Sours were good). Not bad for a Monday night. I was surprised by the amount of Brazilians roaming around the streets of Bellavista last night. We could hear their happy Portuguese dancing through the air at every moment.

We did a review of the restaurant back in July 2008 and took some photos which you can see at Como Agua Para Chocolate. Keep an eye out for the table that is made out of a bed with pillows included. Magical!



We took this photo the first time we went on a week day in winter when lunch had already finished (hence no people). Don't you just love the decoration?

Has anyone else been to this restaurant? What did you think of it?

Driving in Santiago and Chile

This is post number 4 of a series of 21 posts about things you should know before coming to Chile.

4. Driving in Santiago and Chile

I’d love to own an old beat-up car. Why? Just so I could run into all those incompetent drivers that cut in front of you or sit inches away from your back bumper without worrying about what happens to my car. It would save me having to squeal the brakes on very couple of blocks to avoid any scratches and dents.

And it’s not just cars you have to worry about, buses are like tanks that think they own the roads. Since they’re bigger they know that your little car will come off second best in any entanglement (unless you have a two-tonne Volvo). When the Santiago Buses were all painted yellow a couple of years ago, you would see many cars with dents and yellow lines scraped across their side.

If you still want to experience the real-life demolition derby sensation of driving in Chile then you will need some documents.

What do you need to drive in Chile? (…apart from Life insurance)

You can get pulled over at any time by the carabineros (police) and they are likely to ask you for los documentos (the documents). What are these documents? Well they are all the official bits of paper that you need to legally drive. They include:

Licencia de conducir, your driver’s licence (people here seem to have gotten their local driver’s license out of a box of cereal);

Certificado de Registro Nacional de Vehiculos Motorizados or commonly just called the Padrón which is a slip of paper that shows ownership of the car (not 100% obligatory to have but it will save you hassles with the cops who will ask for it anyway);

Permiso de circulación or Circulation Permission which is a yearly payment made to any city council (Municipalidad). Some people get this in a small city council at the beach since the money goes to helping the community and at the same time you may get a local parking sticker which lets you as a ‘local’ park in certain restricted areas.

Seguro obligatorio or obligatory insurance. This is not just your typical travel insurance from home but needs to specifically be a local one for cars.

Revisión Técnica or Warrant of Fitness Certificate to prove the car is in satisfactory condition to drive on the roads.

Certificado de emisión de gases. A certificate showing the toxic levels of gas coming out of your car. This certificate is usually given the same time you get you car checked out for the Revisión Técnica above.

Of course all of these documents need to be current, not expired or Vigente as they say in Spanish.

Tolls in Santiago
There are newish highways than run through and around the city of Santiago but which you will be charged to use. How are you charged? By a little device called a Tag that is normally stuck to the inside of your windscreen near the rearview mirror. They make a beep sound as you go under an archway (with a purple glow) which means you have just been charged for that part of the highway you used. The licence plates of your car will get photographed if you don’t have a Tag and there will be a hefty fine given to the owner of the vehicle.
You can get day passes at some gas/petrol stations in Santiago and just out of the city.

Tolls in the regions
When travelling out of Santiago expect to pay tolls every hour or so. From Santiago to the coast there are two tolls to pay. From Santiago to Talca there are three you have to pay ($1900 each time – January 2009). These tolls are often more expensive on the weekends too.

Horns
Did you know that beeping your horn miraculous changes everything… or so Chileans think. There may be a traffic jam for miles on end and people continually beep as if it would speed it up (do you expect the car in front of you to suddenly sprout wings and fly out of your way?). When the traffic light turns green and you hesitate just a solitary second, you will also get beeped. Sometimes they will just beep because it’s Friday or Monday or any day that finishes in a Y. It drives me crazy how impatient can be and how liberally they use their horn when you know it doesn’t make any difference whatsoever.

How do you feel about driving in Santiago and Chile?

Full Moon over The Andes

It was a pleasant evening tonight and we had a picturesque view of a full moon as it slowly rose from behind the Andes mountains. I have seen it bigger and yellower on other occasions though tonight's performance was still inspiring. I love this time of night!

Of course I took to opportunity to film the moment since it was only this weekend that I finally found a way to make semi-decent videos. The ones that I have taken until now come from my normal digital camera (which is as old as the hills) and with a low quality of image. The boring details of what I did can be found below.



The boring details...
The problem with my normal camera is that you can only record a couple of minutes at any one time before the memory gets filled up. Not the best thing to happen when you are in the middle of nowhere unless you are lugging your laptop around to download them.

So how could I take better videos of the places we visit AND get them on my computer? The solution was actually simple. We have a Sony Handycam DCR-HC48 that has been sitting around for the last year doing nothing much other than taking shots of our kids every now and then. Since it uses a Tape (or MiniDV or whatever they call it), I naturally assumed that you couldn't transfer the videos to the computer. Looking up via google I found there is a special cable that connects to the battery charger of the handycam (not the thing itself) to your computer. It's called a Sony i-link cable and when the handycam is sitting in the charger, you can download the videos to your computer. (The reason I write the this with the boring technical names is to help anyone else that may be in the same predicament.)

Transantiago Price Rises

The Chilean Minister of Transport announced today that the prices to use Transantiago (the bus/metro system) will rise from the current $380 pesos to $400 pesos as of the 12th of February 2009.

This is the first price rise since this much questioned system came into existence two years ago.
The fare for buses will be fixed at $400 whereas the Metro (subway) has a tiered price range:
6.00 - 6.30am - $380
6.30 - 7.00am - $400
7.00 - 9.00am - $440
9.00am – 6.00pm - $400
6.00 - 8.00pm - $440
8.00 - 8.45pm - $400
8.45 – 11.00pm - $380

If you want to know how to take a bus in Santiago, check out the following guide with photos:
Santiago Bus System

What do you think of the Transantiago system?

Patio Bellavista & Earthquakes

I has been a while in the coming but now it's here....
we have started creating new pages for the SouthAmerica website after the major overhaul of the website at the end of last month (Do you like the new design? Much better than before).

Our latest page is:
Patio Bellavista in Santiago, Chile

In the heart of the Bohemian Bellavista district, this beautiful plaza has become a meeting place for tourists and locals alike. Here you will find around 50 shops and restaurants to enjoy as well as frequently cultural events from music to art. It's a great place to spend an evening.

On another note...
What's happening with all the earthquakes and tremors of late?
There have been so many recently with a couple of destructive ones; one in the north of Chile and one close to Santiago on the coast. Last night there were 4 tremors felt in Santiago, one fairly strong and the rest just a tickle. There were another couple of strong ones felt in Santiago on Saturday (I missed the first one when I was on the Metro).
Amanda from Southamerica.cl was in Valparaiso at the time close to where it was centered. She was there gathering information for this website and said it was the strongest she has ever felt.
It will be interesting to see whether the 'big one' eventually comes like it did in 1985. It is already 10 years overdue. Meanwhile back in my home country (New Zealand) there was a major earthquake last night in Gisborne which was felt over a large part of the country. The Earth seems to be a little edgy of late...

Snow in Santiago Chile

It's snowing in Santiago!!!!

A cold front blowing up through Chile coming directly from Antartica has left Santiago blanketed in white. Temperatures dropped to below zero last night and around 9pm the first snowflakes started falling. It gradually got heavier leaving the ground and trees covered in white powder.

The last time it snowed in Santiago was in September 1999 and only very lightly. This time it reached almost every part of Santiago and heavier, causing a lot of problems in the higher suburbs.

Classes at most schools have been suspended today.