Here are a few lessons/thoughts from landing earlier today in Santiago (yeah, I arrived here a bit early). Hopefully this will be helpful to some of you:
Several international flights seem to arrive around the same time in the morning. So, if you are arriving in the morning, be prepared for what can be best described as a «super bordel». It would be best if you don’t have a check in baggage. Against my better judgment, I checked in my carry-on bag but had to wait about an hour for the bag to appear on the baggage belt.
Change some money (~$20) from one of the cambio counters. They will give you a terrible rate, but it will be better than taking money out of the cash machine, as I will explain in a moment. There is a bank of cash machines once you exit the customs area, but the machines are iffy, at best. Here is what happened to me:
After three tries I discovered that I had to press the button called “Foreign Clients”
Trying to take out money failed. I assumed it might be because the machine may not give out large amounts of money so I kept on decreasing the desired amount, but no luck.
I tried another machine, and with a smaller amount. This time it worked. But I got a $5.000 charge, which I agreed to because by this time I was really frustrated. That works out to about 7.50 USD. If I had simply gone to the cambio counter and exchanged money there, even with their relatively bad rate, I would have come out ahead (for small sums). You can always exchange more money or take out cash from a machine when in town.
Confusingly, not only the $ symbol is used for CLP, that ‘.’, that seems to be used randomly. For example, in the ‘$5.000’ that ‘.’ is a substitute for ‘,’ so that is indeed 5000 CLP. However, on gas stations the per liter price of gas is 735.0 which is obviously not 7350 CLP but 735 CLP (~1.13 USD)
When you get out of Gate 4 or 5, the stand for the two buses that can schlepp you to town is right in front. There is the green Turbus and the blue Centropuerto. I took the latter to Los Heroes for 1700 CLP and then walked from there to my accommodation. For me it was a 20 mins walk. For those of you staying at Andes Hostel, it will be a 30 mins walk from Los Heroes, or you can take a taxi for a relatively small amount.
You can also take more expensive ways to get to the city. A taxi would be probably 15000 CLP (~23 USD), and a shared shuttle about half that. Though I should say here that the Centropuerto was absolutely lovely. No fuss, no excitement, just got the job done (except for that one time when it almost hit another truck).
That’s it for now. After a brutally long flight, I’ve taken a nap, and shopped for groceries at a regular Santiago supermarket (which seems to carry a bunch of Tesco-labeled goods, for some reason). Nothing else to report.
Oh, and it is delightfully warm. I am experiencing temps in high 20s for the first time in almost five months. None of the cold, grey, drizzly bullshit.
Buen viajo
update: changing money in the city center (lots of cambio around Plaza de Armas) is quick and easy, and the rate you get is the best you can hope for. But note one important thing—they are very particular about the quality of the notes. If the note is even slightly grubby, torn, inked, or marked in any way, they will either reject it or offer a highly discounted rate (like up to 40% less). So, bring nice, crisp bills with you. Also, the cambio seem to want to change only USD, EUR and GBP (and a host of other South American currencies). I gave them a CHF note and they said, ¡ “No” !
Thanks, super helpful. I’ve called and emailed trying to get a room at the hotel but still having trouble. I might book a hotel nearby just so I know I have a place to stay.
I am staying right next to Barrio Brasil. Just came back from a walk around the neighborhood and saw several hostels and hotels. Don’t know how they are (though they all looked pretty reasonable from outside), but might be worth investigating. Also, the neighborhood is really nice, artsy but not hipster.
Hi Tara (and anyone having trouble with hostel booking)
There are still plenty of places at the hostel - make sure you mention GOSH 2017 at the very start of the email and be patient with a response but there are definitely loads of beds and rooms left. We’re in contact with the hostel owner and just got an updated rooming list to make sure.
Apologies for people who had a long wait for confirmations - February is vacation month in Chile but things seem to be moving now!
An update on the update, to underscore what you are going to face re changing money.
The ATM charge in the city is even worse than the ATM charge at the airport (~9 USD in the city as compared to ~7 USD at the airport). Note that this charge doesn’t even show up as an ATM charge. It is basically added to the amount you withdraw. So, if you withdraw 100 USD, it will show up having withdrawn 109 USD. Any other conversion charges will be on top of that.
The best rate is at the various exchange shops, however, I need to reiterate this: the condition of your notes has to be perfect or better. Even the most microscopic tear or ink mark will be cause for rejection, or a deep discount on the exchange rate (60% of the value). I have almost 300 USD perfectly fine bills (not perfect bills) with me that no one here wants to exchange. If you can, get brand new bills from your bank, and then you will be fine.
Perhaps the best strategy may be to share the ATM withdrawal with someone, that is, take out 200 USD (you will actually end up taking out 209 USD) and then split that with someone else, thereby sharing the burden of the withdrawal charge.
Hi, any idea how to buy a SIM from the airport? And which one preferable and how much does it cost. And thanks Punkish for the valuable information and the money exchange issues.
I have absolutely no idea as I’ve never done this. Perhaps there are shops in town where you might be able to do so. Keep in mind, in some countries a lot of paperwork is required to be able to purchase a SIM. Chile may or may not be such a country.
For anyone who may have more questions about money:
So far, I’ve been able to use VISA cards (both debit and credit) with both ATMs that I’ve tried: Santander and IBC. The Santander ATM is at the airport, far right once you get through the customs baggage scanners / right before you exit the airport, and the max withdrawal is 150.000 Chilean pesos. I used IBC in the city, the fee was slightly lower, and the max withdrawal was 200.000 Chilean pesos. I haven’t used any of my cash (USD), and in hindsight would’ve been better off leaving most of it in my account. Several businesses also accept many forms of credit/debit cards, which have worked with my VISAs.
If you’re using a credit card, don’t forget to call and request a PIN so that you can use it at ATMs.
Putting this here as it seems like the likely place.
If you are staying in the hostel and you want a padlock to secure your stuff, you can buy one from me. There is also a small shop on Merced and San Antonio called ‘3 Claveles’ price I paid for my padlock is 3600. Text me on WhatsApp 7188771255[quote=“punkish, post:1, topic:176, full:true”]
Here are a few lessons/thoughts from landing earlier today in Santiago (yeah, I arrived here a bit early). Hopefully this will be helpful to some of you:
Several international flights seem to arrive around the same time in the morning. So, if you are arriving in the morning, be prepared for what can be best described as a «super bordel». It would be best if you don’t have a check in baggage. Against my better judgment, I checked in my carry-on bag but had to wait about an hour for the bag to appear on the baggage belt.
Change some money (~$20) from one of the cambio counters. They will give you a terrible rate, but it will be better than taking money out of the cash machine, as I will explain in a moment. There is a bank of cash machines once you exit the customs area, but the machines are iffy, at best. Here is what happened to me:
After three tries I discovered that I had to press the button called “Foreign Clients”
Trying to take out money failed. I assumed it might be because the machine may not give out large amounts of money so I kept on decreasing the desired amount, but no luck.
I tried another machine, and with a smaller amount. This time it worked. But I got a $5.000 charge, which I agreed to because by this time I was really frustrated. That works out to about 7.50 USD. If I had simply gone to the cambio counter and exchanged money there, even with their relatively bad rate, I would have come out ahead (for small sums). You can always exchange more money or take out cash from a machine when in town.
Confusingly, not only the $ symbol is used for CLP, that ‘.’, that seems to be used randomly. For example, in the ‘$5.000’ that ‘.’ is a substitute for ‘,’ so that is indeed 5000 CLP. However, on gas stations the per liter price of gas is 735.0 which is obviously not 7350 CLP but 735 CLP (~1.13 USD)
When you get out of Gate 4 or 5, the stand for the two buses that can schlepp you to town is right in front. There is the green Turbus and the blue Centropuerto. I took the latter to Los Heroes for 1700 CLP and then walked from there to my accommodation. For me it was a 20 mins walk. For those of you staying at Andes Hostel, it will be a 30 mins walk from Los Heroes, or you can take a taxi for a relatively small amount.
You can also take more expensive ways to get to the city. A taxi would be probably 15000 CLP (~23 USD), and a shared shuttle about half that. Though I should say here that the Centropuerto was absolutely lovely. No fuss, no excitement, just got the job done (except for that one time when it almost hit another truck).
That’s it for now. After a brutally long flight, I’ve taken a nap, and shopped for groceries at a regular Santiago supermarket (which seems to carry a bunch of Tesco-labeled goods, for some reason). Nothing else to report.
Oh, and it is delightfully warm. I am experiencing temps in high 20s for the first time in almost five months. None of the cold, grey, drizzly bullshit.
Buen viajo
update: changing money in the city center (lots of cambio around Plaza de Armas) is quick and easy, and the rate you get is the best you can hope for. But note one important thing—they are very particular about the quality of the notes. If the note is even slightly grubby, torn, inked, or marked in any way, they will either reject it or offer a highly discounted rate (like up to 40% less). So, bring nice, crisp bills with you. Also, the cambio seem to want to change only USD, EUR and GBP (and a host of other South American currencies). I gave them a CHF note and they said, ¡ “No” !
[/quote]
Hey,
Just got a sim card today. There are several shops around the hostel area.
There was no paper work whatsoever.
As far as I understand there are 3 major operators in Chile. I got a prepaid plan from “Claro”. I forked over 4000 pesos for the card itself and 2500 for a package with 140 minutes, 800Mb data and 1GB for “social network” which means (if I understood correctly) that if I send data over twitter, instagram, whatsapp, facebook it comes from the 1GB, leaving 800Mb for all other data (maps, email and what not)
The lady in the shop was really helpful and went through the hoops with the call center to activate the chip…