Santiago

We had booked a lift from the airport through Booking.com. The driver didn't turn up, so after about an hour waiting and contacting b.c, during which time we had to fend off all sorts of people trying to "help" us, they (b.c) arranged an uber to pick us up. One scam artist pretended to phone our missing driver for us, even handing me his phone. The person on the phone pretending to be our driver told me he couldn't come for three hours. The scam artist had phoned an accomplice.
Next morning, during a wander through central Santiago, we discovered the beautifully restored Banco de Santiago. Pat withdrew some local currency & was so shocked at the fee (aus$15 for a withdrawal of 40,000pesos - aus$60), he walked away leaving his card in the machine. On return 5 mins later it had vanished. After prompting from Pat, the staff advised him to return at 4pm, just in case the card had been 'swallowed' by the ATM. Happily, it proved so!
Santiago has seen better days and we were suffering jetlag, so only had a cursory look. Tim & Jessica arrived after lunch & unfortunately Tim had food poisoning from the flight. Although we all went out to dinner in the evening, everyone was so in recovery mode.Läs mer