March
2, 2010
Dear
Friends:
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We would
like to thank all the persons who have written to express their
support to our offices and the Chilean people in this time of
tragedy. We are happy to report that everyone on the Santiago
Adventures’ team, our guides and drivers, family and friends
are fortunately doing fine after Saturday’s devastating
earthquake. Our offices are undamaged and we are currently operating
and assisting those travelers in Chile trying to get home.
We share in the tremendous grief felt by the people of Chile for
their country and those who lost loved ones. In support of rescue
and recovery efforts we will donate 1% of our sales over the next
3 months to earthquake relief efforts.
Damage in Santiago and efficient government response.
The Santiago area, while impacted by the quake, experienced relatively
minor damage compared to the areas near the epicenter. Things
are quickly returning to normal in Santiago. Power was restored
within 5 hours of the earthquake in the main business and tourist
district, telecommunications were restored soon after. Supermarkets,
gas stations, restaurants and shopping malls began opening on
Monday. All Metro lines are running and the airport has begun
operating on a 24 hour basis and is predicted to return to normal
schedule by next Monday. Below are some
of important Santiago sites taken on Sunday, February 28 approximately
36 hours after the earthquake.
The
response of the government has been efficient and well coordinated
and they have dedicated unlimited resources to their efforts.
Aid from foreign countries also began arriving today. Given its
strong economy and fiscal discipline Chile has a tremendous revenue
surplus to provide needed assistance. Chile is a strong, well
developed country and outside of the Concepcion and Maule regions
the damage was much less severe. The situation here is much different
than what happened in Haiti. Chile, with a history of many strong
earthquakes, has very strict building codes and Santiago, a city
of 6 million, withstood any catastrophic damage. Sadly, many older
homes and those which did not comply with the building codes,
in the poorer parts of the city, were damaged. Chile will hopefully
recover quickly from this tragedy but will mourn the loss of their
loved ones always.
We
hope for better reporting in the presentation of Chile’s
current situation. As expected, the international media
has focused only on the most severely damaged areas. They have
done this without clear indications of the geography of a country
that is 2,800 miles long. This has led to confusion and much unnecessary
worry regarding the 6 million people in Santiago where very few
people were injured. The major damages are 3 to 5 hours south
of Santiago where, sadly, there were many deaths and there are
many people still missing or trapped in buildings.
It is also unfortunate that the US government has recommended
not traveling to Chile for tourism. Approximately 5% of the Chilean
economy is based on tourism. The best way to help the people of
Chile is to make sure that the world is correctly informed that
Chile is open for business despite the country’s current
effort to restore the areas affected by the earthquake. The main
tourist destinations San Pedro de Atacama in the north, Patagonia
in the south and Easter Island were unaffected by the earthquake.
People should consider Chile very safe to visit once the Santiago
airport is fully operational in the coming week. With a few minor
inconveniences, we are very confident in our ability to deliver
the same level of service we have always provided to our customers.
How can you help? If you would like to offer
your assistance to Chile earthquake relief, please donate to Un
Techo para Chile ("A Roof for Chile") which is the official
organization for reconstruction efforts and is charged with building
30,000 homes in Chile in 2010 http://www.untechoparamipais.org/english/.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or need
assistance with travelers trying to leave Chile at this time.
Best regards,
Brian Pearson
Founder
Santiago Adventures
Photos taken 36 hours after Chilean Earthquake
of M8.8
Plaza de Armas, Santiago, Chile
Emporia
La Rosa - popular ice cream in Parque Forestal
Iglesia
Merced
Patio
Bellavista Outdoor Dining in Bellavista Neighborhood
Plaza
Banquedano and Telefonica Tower
Testimonials
from the days following the earthquake
Santiago
City Tour (March 1) - Two days after the earthquake I
had a great city tour of Santiago with Victor Hugo from Santiago
Adventures. We drove through neighborhood after neighborhood and
saw not only that life goes on but life goes on completely normally
with no signs the quake was effecting Santiago in any way. Victor's
English was outstanding and his knowledge of the city exceptional.
His choice for lunch was truly inspirational and he showed me
a side of Santiago most tourist never get to experience. Thanks
Santiago Adventures for such a great day and memories that will
last much longer than the sensational news reports about the earthquake.
Dave
Shultz
Patagonia
Sur Nature Reserve (February 19 - March 1) - On the morning
immediately after the earthquake struck I went on a guided flyfishing
tour on the Palena River and caught a good half-dozen trout including
a five-pound brown trout. The return flight to Puerto Montt departed
as scheduled. I then spent a couple of days in Santiago were damage
was barely visible and life was very much back to normal. I boarded
my return flight to the US as originally scheduled. Thomas
S
(We are still planning
our scheduled trip with
Patagonia Sur on March 22)
Chile
Wine Tour (February 25 - March 2) - My husband and I
and 2 other couples (average age 70) traveled with Santiago Adventures
from 25 Feb until our departure at 2AM on 3 March. Since we were
in Santa Cruz for the earthquake our hotel did sustain damage
but all of the people got out safely. It was just 10 years old,
4 stories high and easy to evacuate once the earthquake stopped.
We were able to retrieve all of our belongings within 6 hours
of the event. The town did suffer major damage mostly because
of the adobe construction of the buildings. Besides being obviously
"shaken" - pardon the expression - the only inconvenience
we had was that our trip from Santa Cruz to Santiago took 6 hours
instead of the normal 2 hours because of traffic and road conditions.
Our guide & driver were wonderful throughout!!
On Sunday
Feb 28, after spending a night in our Santiago hotel, we were
able to take our city tour as planned and had lunch in the Mercado
Central which was fully functioning and we visited the Vega Central
fruit and vegetable market as well. All of the buildings in downtown
appeared to be normal with very little exception to some facades.
We, too, commented on the media coverage with CNN especially
only showing devastation. We felt it was an injustice not to show
the downtown areas.
On Monday
March 1, our tour to Valparaiso & Vina del Mar included a
winery in the Casablanca region. It was not the one on our itinerary
because they had not reopened, but it was a very nice winery -
Kingston - with a beautiful patio area for tastings. Their Sauvignon
Blanc was terrific! They had no damage. We could not see any problems
in either Valparaiso or Vina del Mar.
On Tuesday
March 2, our tour to the Aconcagua valley was great. We visited
Vina San Esteban winery and fruit packaging plant and all was
operational. Lunch at their restaurant was excellent! The tour
was complete with access to the vineyards and there was no damage.
We departed
Santiago early in the morning on March 3 instead of that night
because of Lan Airlines scheduling. We had completed our itinerary
with the exception of Saturday's wineries. (I need to mention
that our guide actually tried to get us into Clos Apalta but there
was a guard outside saying they were assessing the damage - this
was to be expected!).Chile is a beautiful country and one that
will recover quickly. As a matter of fact, road crews had already
started to repair damage on Monday. We understand that the harvest
will still take place in a few weeks and we wish them all the
best with this endeavor. JoAnn Speicher
Casablanca
and Maipo Wine Tour (March 7) - Brian. We just got into
Atlanta and are waiting for our next flight home. Thank you for
planning another wonderful day for us. Javier and Madeline are
so interesting and the Kingston winery was great. Your driver
got us to and through the airport smoothly. Peggy
Boyles
Colchagua
and Tumunan Fly Fishing (March 3-6) - Brian: Thought
I’d send along my thanks for the efforts you expended on
our behalf immediately following the earthquake. As you know,
our stay in Santiago was extended due to the damage at the airport
however, we were amazed at how easily we were able to clear security
and get to our return flight on March 7th. Even more amazing to
us was the limited extent of damage to Santiago and the response
of the Chilean citizens. By Monday, two days after the quake,
we found Santiago to be operating as if nothing had happened.
While houses in Santiago sustained some damage and some of the
houses that were older were severely damaged, we saw no indication
of any business interruption and no indication of any consequential
damage to any business or tourism establishment. Our hotel operated
very comfortably on Sunday after the quake and continued to provide
excellent service throughout our stay.
During
our visit to Santa Cruz on the Wednesday following the quake,
we were able to observe firsthand the extent of damage to older
adobe construction but again, we were amazed at the resilience
of the vast majority of the Chilean citizens. Our stay at the
Hotel Vendemia was very comfortable and relaxing.
I think
it is unfortunate and a disservice to the people of Chile for
the U.S. to advise against tourism to Chile. To the contrary,
I noticed nothing in our trip beyond the airport in Santiago,
that would in any way affect my decision to visit the country.
It is my understanding that the airport will soon be repaired
and operating as normal. With all of the work we observed during
our visit, I have no doubt Chile, outside the immediate area of
Conception, will be back to normal.Thanks
again for all your efforts.
Ken
Czoer
Santiago
City Tour and Volunteer Experience (March 3 & 5)
- Santiago Adventures was quick to respond after the earthquake.
Our group of four travelers did a Santiago City Tour five days
after the quake. Downtown Santiago was up and running normally
within several days of the quake and we were treated to an interesting
city tour by Carolina. After expressing an interest in doing a
volunteer project, Santiago Adventures arranged for a memorable
visit to , which serves underprivileged families in Santiago’s
La Granja neighborhood. Our driver Patricio was great and the
visit to the center was very special!
Andrea G
Chile
Wine Tour (Feb 26 - Mar 3) - I just wanted to let you
know how impressed we all were on my tour with your company and
the service you provided to us in the most difficult of circumstances.
My group managed to see some of Chile and experience different
places even though we couldn't carry out any of our itinerary
as planned. Leonardo, Victor and Christian were all superb and
quickly became adopted by the group. I would have no hesitation
in recommending you to other groups and would certainly ask for
you again if we bring out another group next Feb/March as is looking
very likely.Thanks so much again for all your help in Chile.
Cheers and warmest regards
Linda Garson
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