sailorskip

I would take a pass on Santiago. It's about 70 miles from Valpo. Not a bad city, but in my mind, not worth the trip.

A walking tour starts in Valpo at 10AM everyday, near the ship. See: http://www.freetourvalparaiso.cl/portada.html

Valparaiso is interesting, but it is a port city, so it can be a little rough around the edges. Just north of Valpo is Vina del Mar, which is the beach resort for Santiago. You can arrange a tour or hire a cab to drive you around.

We recently returned from a canal transit on the Celebrity Infinity, which included a port day in Colon before the transit. We arranged a tour with Roberto Whitaker and Robtad's Tours. In fact, I formed a group of about 24 on the roll call board and everyone raved about how good he was. I recommend him highly. His contact info is: e-mail: robtads2@hotmail.com; phone: (507) 442-2499 office; (507) 6725-7563; mobile.

Roberto was born and raised in the Canal Zone. His first language is English. He does tours on the side; his primary occupation is as an engineer with the canal. He knows his stuff and is incredibly nice.