Friday Night - Mar. 26
Memories of two carts worth of suitcases and trashing the Maple Leaf Lounge while waiting to board our flight to Santiago. Determined not to drug my children, I reluctantly purchased children's gravol after helpful friends and colleagues insisted that I "go prepared". My last client meeting on Friday ended in a debate on which was more effective - Benedril or Gravol :) Gravol was the winner, but to our surprise, Jackson turned out to be part of the 20% group that gets hyper on Children's Gravol, which made the night that much more interesting.
Favorite quote from Friday night:
"I'm having such a nice flight!" William, age 3.5 years
Saturday Mar. 27
Our airplane's first stop was Santiago, after which it moved on to Beunos Aires, Argentina. Not many people got off at Santiago. When we arrived at the airport, the only signs of damage were wide swaths of missing ceiling tiles (presumably removed after the quake due to damage). After paying the hefty visa fees, going through some paper stamping (immigration), we collected our bags and proceeded through long pathways to the "receiving tents", where the public gathered to meet arrivals as the receiving area's ceilings were quite damaged.
We proceeded to the lovely Sheraton (about 16 km from the airport), located on the hillside of San Cristobal. The afternoon was spent relaxing and eating lunch at the pool / playground and recovering from the flight with an enormous nap for all. The boys insisted on sleeping together (naps and otherwise, since arriving) in the crib... which is adorable and working out surprisingly well.
Incidentally the Sheraton executive suite floor has a lounge with wonderful snacks and open bar, for about 4 hours each evening. The boys re-energized while we enjoyed some Chilean wine and beautiful views of the city, with the Andes in the background.
In the evening, we explored the neighborhood - Providencia -which is beautiful and reminded me of cities like Washington, with mostly low-rise shops and restaurants, with little court yards interspersed every few blocks. We settled on dinner at a pub, where Jeremy and I enjoyed a few mohitos and pisco sours... while we all snacked on traditional Chilean fare (including Civiche, which is essentially a delicious, cold seafood salad, with fish, shrimp, squid, etc.). By the time we got back to the hotel it was about 10:30-11 PM... Jeremy fell asleep during stories (before the boys).
Sunday Mar. 28
By the time we all woke up it was about 9:30 AM... so we headed to the lounge on our floor for a beautiful Sunday brunch of berries, buns, smoked salmon, etc. Afterwards we walked along the river that cuts through Santiago (surrounded by park) to the funicular (half elevator, half train) at San Cristobal. The train started in a lovely castle and went up the mountain. There was a musician playing a guitar and flute-like instrument while people boarded the funicular. The boys were so excited about everything!
(You could also take a road to the top, so many people had their bikes or had run to the top)
We walked up the stairs to a small chapel and past an open-air Palm Sunday mass, just below the massive statue of Jesus, which overlooks the city (and reminded us of Rio de Janiero). On the way down to the bottom we stopped at a wonderful zoo. Jeremy initially positioned the zoo like the zoo at High Park, but it turned out to be much better than that - with lots of lions, giraffes, elephants, monkeys, flamingos, etc. and viewing pavilions where you could come within a few meters of the animals.
By this time the kids were getting pretty hungry and cranky, so we grabbed a few "Italian hot dogs" which were anemic-like hot dogs covered in goodies like guacamole, which the boys loved (but were definitely really messy). After this, we walked back to the hotel for naps, which turned out to be sub-par stroller naps and some pool time under the hot Santiago sun... followed by dinner of Patagonian style lamb, fish and more Civiche, plus pisco sour and white Chilean wine.
In the night, we felt a small tremor - Jeremy woke up, then woke me up - but I wouldn't have felt it unless he pointed it out, as it was very minor.
Memories of two carts worth of suitcases and trashing the Maple Leaf Lounge while waiting to board our flight to Santiago. Determined not to drug my children, I reluctantly purchased children's gravol after helpful friends and colleagues insisted that I "go prepared". My last client meeting on Friday ended in a debate on which was more effective - Benedril or Gravol :) Gravol was the winner, but to our surprise, Jackson turned out to be part of the 20% group that gets hyper on Children's Gravol, which made the night that much more interesting.
Favorite quote from Friday night:
"I'm having such a nice flight!" William, age 3.5 years
Saturday Mar. 27
Our airplane's first stop was Santiago, after which it moved on to Beunos Aires, Argentina. Not many people got off at Santiago. When we arrived at the airport, the only signs of damage were wide swaths of missing ceiling tiles (presumably removed after the quake due to damage). After paying the hefty visa fees, going through some paper stamping (immigration), we collected our bags and proceeded through long pathways to the "receiving tents", where the public gathered to meet arrivals as the receiving area's ceilings were quite damaged.
We proceeded to the lovely Sheraton (about 16 km from the airport), located on the hillside of San Cristobal. The afternoon was spent relaxing and eating lunch at the pool / playground and recovering from the flight with an enormous nap for all. The boys insisted on sleeping together (naps and otherwise, since arriving) in the crib... which is adorable and working out surprisingly well.
Incidentally the Sheraton executive suite floor has a lounge with wonderful snacks and open bar, for about 4 hours each evening. The boys re-energized while we enjoyed some Chilean wine and beautiful views of the city, with the Andes in the background.
In the evening, we explored the neighborhood - Providencia -which is beautiful and reminded me of cities like Washington, with mostly low-rise shops and restaurants, with little court yards interspersed every few blocks. We settled on dinner at a pub, where Jeremy and I enjoyed a few mohitos and pisco sours... while we all snacked on traditional Chilean fare (including Civiche, which is essentially a delicious, cold seafood salad, with fish, shrimp, squid, etc.). By the time we got back to the hotel it was about 10:30-11 PM... Jeremy fell asleep during stories (before the boys).
Sunday Mar. 28
By the time we all woke up it was about 9:30 AM... so we headed to the lounge on our floor for a beautiful Sunday brunch of berries, buns, smoked salmon, etc. Afterwards we walked along the river that cuts through Santiago (surrounded by park) to the funicular (half elevator, half train) at San Cristobal. The train started in a lovely castle and went up the mountain. There was a musician playing a guitar and flute-like instrument while people boarded the funicular. The boys were so excited about everything!
(You could also take a road to the top, so many people had their bikes or had run to the top)
We walked up the stairs to a small chapel and past an open-air Palm Sunday mass, just below the massive statue of Jesus, which overlooks the city (and reminded us of Rio de Janiero). On the way down to the bottom we stopped at a wonderful zoo. Jeremy initially positioned the zoo like the zoo at High Park, but it turned out to be much better than that - with lots of lions, giraffes, elephants, monkeys, flamingos, etc. and viewing pavilions where you could come within a few meters of the animals.
By this time the kids were getting pretty hungry and cranky, so we grabbed a few "Italian hot dogs" which were anemic-like hot dogs covered in goodies like guacamole, which the boys loved (but were definitely really messy). After this, we walked back to the hotel for naps, which turned out to be sub-par stroller naps and some pool time under the hot Santiago sun... followed by dinner of Patagonian style lamb, fish and more Civiche, plus pisco sour and white Chilean wine.
In the night, we felt a small tremor - Jeremy woke up, then woke me up - but I wouldn't have felt it unless he pointed it out, as it was very minor.
Sounds so divine! PICTURES?!? Post some pictures!!!
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