2019 Dec. Santiago. Chile.

This was a long anticipated trip to South America to trek in Patagonia, which required many months of advance planning and coordination. I was referred to an UK travel agent Swoop and decided to give them a try, instead of using my previous US travel agent Latin America for Less. On hindsight, I was not too impressed with Swoop‘s attention to details nor service partners, compared to LAFL who did a wonderful job for my previous trip to Peru back in 2013. For this trip, I ended up booking all the flights myself, both international and domestic, as the domestic flights quote from the UK agent came at a substantial premium, when I googled online for the same flights. Travel time to Santiago in Chile via Sydney was only 24 hours surprisingly, but return trip from Argentina via Abu Dhabi took 36 hours.

My trip did not start well and I went through the WORST travel nightmare during my first day in Santiago. After putting down luggages in the hotel, we headed out for a walk in downtown, mindful of the hours to avoid certain areas due to ongoing civil protests that vandalised many city infrastructure.

We chanced upon a group of locals gathering by the roadside and got curious what was going on. Despite the language barrier as I don’t speak any Spanish, they shared with us in limited English that they were neighbours gathering for a meal to spread positive vibes amidst these troubled times and civil unrest in the city, and warmly invited us to join in the party to share the food. I politely declined but was moved by their resilience and positive spirit, especially seeing many defaced buildings vandalised with graffiti and slogans.

 

We walked around the weekend market, and headed towards the main square Plaza de Armas in downtown.

       

Shortly after, SHIT happened to me, mere hours after arrival in Santiago on my first day. As I was walking along the busy road, I fell victim to a scam that involved bird shit, a ‘helpful’ lady offering to clean me and my friend with water, and then had my backpack snatched and gone in a blink without even seeing who took it. ‘Helpful’ passersby pointed at a random direction, I panicked and ran around like a mad man trying to find my backpack, but had no luck. I felt so stupid and helpless for letting my guard down, fallen prey to a con job disguised as kind people and friendly help. It was the worst travel nightmare, losing my passport, credit cards and all my cash in a foreign country where I don’t speak the language.

Police report, fraudulent credit card charges, numerous calls to local agent, banks and airlines followed and drained me completely quickly. Harsh reality sank in, my entire travel plan was ruined the day I arrived after flying for 24 hours. After the police report and searching in the vicinity, I gave up hope and was resigned to go to the Consulate after the weekend to get a temporary document to fly home as advised by foreign affairs. The immense panic of losing my passport and valuables, and the disappointment of ruining a long anticipated trip, plus implicating my travel companion made me so apologetic for letting down my guard and causing such a mess.

Not able to do anything more wandering on the streets, I went back to hotel to make more phone calls to local travel agent to cancel my onward flights. I was so distraught and sad… felt so frustrated with myself and helpless… It was a horrible feeling and I fell asleep, praying inside that the unreal nightmare would go away.

Then miracle happened few hours later when the hotel room phone rang. The hotel reception said someone working in El Galeon Restaurant near Central Market had found my passport disposed on the street and called the hotel. I could not believe the great news, and rushed out to take a cab to the restaurant immediately. This was the guy who found my passport, though I could not understand how he found it as we don’t speak each others’ language.

     

El Galeon was not a fancy restaurant, we decided to stay for dinner, order the most expensive wine and tipped the staff extra generously, to thank him for returning my passport. To be honest, I had zero appetite throughout, having gone through the nightmare. While the skeptic in me did wonder whether this was actually part 2 of an orchestrated scam, I chose consciously to brush off that thought and just be thankful that I got back my passport.

All I hoped for was that I could continue with my itinerary as planned, as making a police report may have voided my passport. I was worried if I would be allowed on the flight to Easter Island the next morning, but luckily it went smoothly and I had a wonderful 3 days 2 nights on the remote and mystical Easter Island. As it turned out eventually, efficiency was not in their DNA, the police number provided remained uncontactable despite multiple attempts, and no action was taken by local police, so I managed to continue my many domestic flights and cross border travel without any hiccup.

I spent another 2 nights in Santiago after Easter Island, though it was difficult for me to want to venture out to see more of this city that I already do not like. Nevertheless I liked Bidasoa Hotel which we stayed at and its helpful staff. The travel agent had changed our booking before our arrival, due to ongoing unrest and protests in downtown for several months near the original hotel we had asked for.

         

Sightseeing in Santiago. We took a cab to Castillo Hidalgo and walked around.

         

We walked down the hill slope to National Museum of Fine Arts and the park nearby, honestly, not impressed.

             

We then walked to Central Market and ate empanadas at a famous local joint Emporio Zunino. Good stuff, with a huge local following.

   

And then to fresh food market Mercado la Vega.

       

Was told Barrio Bellavista is a trendy neighbourhood with restaurants and street art, and went to check it out. Not a lot of activities happening during the day.

         

Had dinner at Liguria, a popular choice found from internet. Food and ambience was decent.

     

That’s all for Santiago. Can’t bring myself to say I liked the city. The bad incident had scarred me, for a long time I would think, and I could not wait to get away. I only wanted to visit remote nature areas in Patagonia. I really don’t see any need nor interest to visit Santiago again, until I get over my trauma eventually, at least. 🙂

 

*** Post Script ***

Took me more than a year to finally put an end to my disputed credit card fraud charges arising from the birdshit scam I fell prey to in Santiago. The bank was a real pain to deal with and acted high-handedly in very bad faith with horrible service standards and threats throughout. I decided to fight all the way to Fidrec as I wanted justice. Outcome was not a full victory but a small one. The adjudication hearing coldly ruled based on credit card agreement that I am liable for about 1/3 of the amount without empathy of the situation I was in, which I find reasonable based on the circumstantial facts. I am happy at least the bank did not get its way forcing down my throat to pay for the amount they deem fit as their ‘goodwill offer’. I just don’t like to be bullied. Happy to exchange notes if anyone needs to fight a similar battle. Btw, the local bank acting as an a**hole has a _CB_ in the middle of its name aptly. Peace.