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 | Santiago Tourist Traps | Tips 1 - 10 of 22 |  |
Popular Tourist Traps | Miscellaneous Tourist Traps Tips | All Tips (22)
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When we arrived at the airport in Santiago, a first priority was to get some Chilean pesos. Shortly after exiting the plane and before going through customs, there is a money exchange booth. I had been forwarned about the horrible exchange rates, so I did not exchange many dollars. The rates were the worst that we encountered in almost 6 weeks of travel. At that time (Nov 2003), the rate given was 600 per dollar. After that there was a commission of 1% deducted. Net rate to me was a paltry 594 pesos to the dollar. Read on as this might not be as bad as it sounds. At an ATM (there are several) in the airport on the same day the rate was 608. This is better until you factor in the charge by my bank of $3 per transaction. This reduced the rate down to 597 pesos to the dollar. If my math is correct, the 3 peso difference between the airport money exchange and the ATM is only about 1/2 of one penny per dollar. Not much until you factor in that the maximum ATM withdrawal was 100,000 pesos. In our case, this worked out to anywhere from about $160 to $165 per ATM transaction (before the $3 bank fee). So the bottom line is IF your bank charges a fee for each withdrawal and you always withdraw the maximum, you save about $0.80 per transaction depending on the exchange rate at an ATM over the airport rate. If $0.80 is real important to you, don't change money at the airport cambio. Go to one of the airport ATMs or wait until you get downtown. Whew!! TIP: The ATM exchange rate will vary a dollar or two from one day to the next. Don't sweat the small stuff. Another Tip: We discovered that (at least with our ATM card) we could only get one maximum withdrawal per day of 100,000 pesos. If you will need extra money for big purchases or are going to towns with no ATM (like San Pedro de Atacama), you better figure on lots of trips to the ol' RedBank. Also, dont forget to check the box on the bottom left side stating that you are a foreigner (ATM wont work otherwise with your card).
There are ATMs all over town. Getting money is not hard. Outside of Santiago, it is not so easy sometimes. Leave a Comment
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| | | | "Paper" vendors | Tip Rating:  | | | | |
Tourists are the prime target for "paper vendors" in Santiago: they're young kids selling small photocopies of poems or whatever, for a small tip (which is never less than $ 100...). They're not a threat or danger, and are far from being as pesterous as, say, the vendors at Giza pyramids in Egypt, but it can be bothersome to get rid of them, mostly if they show you their saddest face and claim that they're trying to make money to pay for their studies (a strange thing, as I see them at their hunting places all the day round). Those places are mainly the open explanade in front of the Cathedral and the Correo Central (Central Post Office, see photo), which is a highly tourist-transited place, and the small shady square on the W side of Cerro Santa Lucia, in front of Biblioteca Nacional (National Library).
A "No, thanks" is enough to get rid of them without being (or feeling) rude; waving your finger in a "no" while they approach you, also works (unless you actually want to buy what they offer...) BTW, the picture shows not only one of their favourite hunting places, but it's also the picture most tourists stop to take: the Cathedral opposed to the modern mirror-walled building next to it. (Nikon F4s, Nikkor 20 mm., f.16, 1/60, POL filter, Kodak Ekrachrome Elite 100 film) Leave a Comment
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| | | | How the ·$% do I get to the city from the airport? | Tip Rating: | | | | |
As is normal in most of the world´s airports, you get off the plane, do immigration, get your bags, pass customs, and OH MY LORD!, how do I get into the city? Taxi touts, shared van stands, bus info booth? First, get your bearings. It´s pretty easy as this is one of the smallest international airports, no triple digit gates, terminals separated by a mile. Easier said than done because some drivers will follow you forever. Unless you sprint to the loo. That´ll lose them. Do you know where you are going? If you do, and you have the address handy, check into www.mapcity.cl and insert the street name where it says calle. number where it says numero. and behold the magic of internet. The city is divided into Comunas, sort of like neigbourhoods or arrondisements (I know, that´s not how you spell it), and downtown is Santiago (centro), uptowns are Providencia, Vitacura and Las Condes. Some other ones are La Reina and Lo Barnechea. The cost of the ride depends on the distance. Bus to a metro station downtown is about 2.25 dollars. Taxi same distance comes to about u$19 ( Diez mil pesos, 10000). Providencia is about 12,000, Las Condes or Vitacura around 15,000. The shared van is about u$ 10. and probably the slowest, unless you get off first. If you do take a cab, Murphy´s law will kick into effect: the first driver will say it will cost 20,000 pesos to downtown, the second, 15,000, the third ... until you reach the magic number. Now, what to do if you have no idea where you are going? Now´s the time to investigate. Best of luck and enjoy!
Have a laugh, the drivers are trying to make a living, not make your life impossible. Wear them out
Smile and the whole world will smile with you
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