Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 16 – Santiago can be found here.
When you reach a certain age, you have a preferred method of awakening. A big yawn. A stretch. Browse your phone for a bit. Drink a bit of coffee. Eat some breakfast. Etcetera.
You also have a preferred method of not awakening. Such as by receiving the following e-mail:
“Due to inclement weather in and around the ship’s path on its current voyage, a delayed arrival into Puerto Williams on February 22nd is expected, which will impact the timing of disembarkation for guests currently onboard and potentially your embarkation.
You will still depart on your scheduled charter flight from Santiago that morning. However, there is a potential for a layover in Punta Arenas before the final 45-minute charter flight onward to Puerto Williams to embark on the ship.
As soon as we can better confirm the weather impact on the ship’s arrival into Puerto Williams and the timing for your embarkation, we will promptly share those details and charter flight schedules. Please know our teams have arranged lunch in town and a scenic drive to soak in the charm and landscapes around historic Punta Arenas if needed.“
But we are all experienced hands here, so we know what this means. We are in Expedition Country. And in Expedition Country, plans change. Constantly. And what choice do you have but to accept it? What would you want, were the shoe on the other foot? To charge across the Drake come hell-or-high-swell?
No. You’d want the person at the other end of the pier to be patient, and be willing to accept a nice lunch and a free tour as the price of dealing with Mother Nature. So that’s what we’re going to do – accept it and move on.
(Let’s not mention that it hardly rates as a minor inconvenience when compared to what the crew of the Shackleton Expedition went through so many years ago – and shouldn’t we try to emulate the resilience of that lot, even just a little?)
We shared the news with our children early this morning, and it as met with a fatalistic shrug. I blame (thank) the waffles for this, or perhaps the early hour. It’s 7 am and we need to be out the door at 8 am for our tour of Aguas de Ramon, just outside of Santiago.
The Mandarin Oriental laid out a fantastic breakfast:
Though my end result was perhaps less-than-inspired:
I did eat some strawberries and Kefir after this – promise. Also, why have a yoghurt bar without any yoghurt? The mind boggles
We had to sign a bill for 50,000 Chilean pesos that said that breakfast was included, so that was a little odd – but we’re hopeful that it’ll all get sorted at check-out.
Breakfast went so smoothly that we even had time to pop back up to our room to brush teeth before departure. An unexpected but welcome luxury!
It was only after we returned to the lobby that everything fell apart.
Don’t look up (the view from the Mandarin’s couches)
The rest of the family settled themselves on the Mandarin’s couches while I went out side to look for the guide, and wait.
And wait. And wait.
8 am came and went.
Nothing.
Eventually, I made my way over to the Concierge where I asked whether they had heard anything about our early morning tour. He made a phone call. I don’t speak much Spanish, but I can read tone – and I can tell when a call isn’t going as expected. This was not a “I’ll be there in 5 minutes” phonecall.
He hung up and explained that there had been a mix-up, and that our tour was booked for tomorrow. Which was funny, because we had another tour booked for tomorrow. So it’s almost like they should have realized that wasn’t possible.
Or, you know, because we’d swung by the previous day to confirm that our tour was ready to go – and rather than actually check the details of the reservation, the desk agent simply looked at the reservation on our phone, nodded and said, “It looks good.”
So – we were in limbo.
The Concierge worked for a while on trying to make alternate arrangements, but eventually we just excused ourselves and had the kids finish up some extra homework.
Initially the Mandarin had suggested switching the tours – moving our visit to the Pre-Colombian Art Museum to today so that we could go hiking tomorrow. But we have to pack up to move to the Santiago Ritz-Carleton tomorrow, and we want to get in early to deal with whatever’s waiting in Expedition Country. So switching the excursions was out.
The Concierge then suggested we visit the Aguas de Remon at 7 pm this evening – which seemed late, considering that the sun would be setting at around 8:30 pm. (They later backtracked this suggestion after they realized that last admission would be at 1 pm.)
We eventually settled on having one of the Mandarin’s drivers take us to the park at around 10:15 am, and exploring the park sans-guide.
In recognition of the inconvenience, the Mandarin agreed to transfer our luggage to the Ritz Carleton tomorrow at no cost, and to pay for the outbound driver. (And no charge for the tour that never happened, of course.) It wasn’t a fabulous deal – worth maybe USD$60 at best – but it was reasonable given that they offered to switch the days for the respective excursions.
Off to Aguas de Ramon, which was roughly 20 minutes away. Entrance fees were about USD$6, though the process was lengthy – we needed to provide ID and contact details so they could confirm we left the park at the end of the day.
We opted for the 6.7 km long Sendero Los Peumos route.
It was already warm, as we’d feared – and the shade soon yielded to the blazing sun:
It was incredibly dry, so not surprising that they had a reminder that 99.9% of forest fires are caused by humans:
But wildlife still abounded:
And a lush destination waited for us in the distance:
The kids struggled with the initial climb – roughly 250 metres of gain in elevation within the first 40 minutes.
But the trail soon flattened out:
The first waterfall eventually came into view:
And we once more entered the much-needed shade:
We continued on along the bounciest of bridges:
Until the final waterfall came into view:
And it was time to slip from the shade once more:
Though the desert can be beautiful in its own ways:
Hard to believe all this exists this close to Santiago:
One farewell glance at los cascada:
And we were city-bound once more:
The entire hike took us around 2 hours and 20 minutes – which left us only a short period of time to catch our collective breath before another of the Mandarin’s drivers showed up promptly at 1:15 pm to take us back to the hotel.
Santiago’s architecture continues to impress.
We changed into swimsuits and returned to the pool immediately upon our return:
My wife had the mango and tuna salad for lunch, which is the best salad she’s ever had:
And my daughter had the burger, which she demolished (though my son and I helped her with the fries):
Back to the room for a bit of rest and relaxation.
And to enjoy the view – there‘s just something I like about South American architecture
Then we returned to the Mandarin’s Italian restaurant, Senso, for dinner.
I had a piano di Catania to drink – it had orange, watermelon and pisco in it:
And to eat, my daughter had the beef tenderloin with mashed potatoes:
My wife had the spaghetti carbonera:
I had the marscapone ravioli with shrimp:
And my son had the chicken fingers:
The kids had the same desserts as the previous night but reversed in terms of who had what.
Then it was time to turn in for our final night at the Mandarin Oriental Santiago:
Continue reading Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 18 – Santiago.