Violence in Santiago

[TeeRick]

On 1/7/2020 at 8:17 AM, roscoe39 said:

Hi TeeRick, thanks for your post, I'm booked there at the end of February so interested in updated reports about the riots around the hotel. Did you find the area around the hotel safe and that there was plenty to do within walking distance? also interested if you found any good restaurants around within an easy distance...thanks..hope you had a great cruise...Roscoe

Honestly most of the people on our roll call stayed outside the immediate downtown central area and had great experiences.  Our hotel (Plaza San Francisco) was in an area that was not far from the protests and everything was boarded up around there with graffiti on everything.  So not very appealing.  My opinion would be to avoid this part of Santiago.  The hotel was nice inside and the restaurant was very good but we did not venture out in the evening.

[HMR74]

2 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Honestly most of the people on our roll call stayed outside the immediate downtown central area and had great experiences.  Our hotel (Plaza San Francisco) was in an area that was not far from the protests and everything was boarded up around there with graffiti on everything.  So not very appealing.  My opinion would be to avoid this part of Santiago.  The hotel was nice inside and the restaurant was very good but we did not venture out in the evening.

 

In early Dec, We stayed at a place 3-4 blocks away from Hotel San Fran and north of O' Higgins.

 

We felt safe right there, just "watchful" elsewhere,  but nothing bad happened.

 

One metric of safety was watching the younger kids--the 20 and 30 somethings. They were like early warning systems. They would drink and laugh at street side cafes, and if they abandoned ship so to speak, you followed them out. That only happened once  and for them, they left the outside part of restaurant and went inside (some stayed out) and as it turned out, the perceived problem did not materialize.

 

Bottom line, it's a toss up --wrong place wrong time can be tough, but if you pay attention you should be ok. That said , things could worsen at any time.

[roscoe39]

12 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Honestly most of the people on our roll call stayed outside the immediate downtown central area and had great experiences.  Our hotel (Plaza San Francisco) was in an area that was not far from the protests and everything was boarded up around there with graffiti on everything.  So not very appealing.  My opinion would be to avoid this part of Santiago.  The hotel was nice inside and the restaurant was very good but we did not venture out in the evening.

thanks for that, I will keep with the Hotel and just be aware that the surrounding area is not as pretty as it could be....forewarned is forearmed etc. Getting a recent opinion was great. much appreciated

[roscoe39]

10 hours ago, HMR74 said:

 

In early Dec, We stayed at a place 3-4 blocks away from Hotel San Fran and north of O' Higgins.

 

We felt safe right there, just "watchful" elsewhere,  but nothing bad happened.

 

One metric of safety was watching the younger kids--the 20 and 30 somethings. They were like early warning systems. They would drink and laugh at street side cafes, and if they abandoned ship so to speak, you followed them out. That only happened once  and for them, they left the outside part of restaurant and went inside (some stayed out) and as it turned out, the perceived problem did not materialize.

 

Bottom line, it's a toss up --wrong place wrong time can be tough, but if you pay attention you should be ok. That said , things could worsen at any time.

thanks, Ill keep my eye out for the younger folk....

[HMR74]

add on: Yesterday spoke with a friend whose son was in Santiago the week before we were there, and the freind told us the son saw no problems.

 

I find that seeing no problems is a little hard to believe, and more like the son tryiing to assure the parents there are no problems and not worry.

 

However, I found the concerns about the problems were far worse than the reality of problems.

 

How would you like to be in the mid east right now?  Everything is relative. I do not want to live in a bubble, but I do assess risks.

Edited January 9, 2020 by HMR74

[roscoe39]

11 hours ago, HMR74 said:

add on: Yesterday spoke with a friend whose son was in Santiago the week before we were there, and the freind told us the son saw no problems.

 

I find that seeing no problems is a little hard to believe, and more like the son tryiing to assure the parents there are no problems and not worry.

 

However, I found the concerns about the problems were far worse than the reality of problems.

 

How would you like to be in the mid east right now?  Everything is relative. I do not want to live in a bubble, but I do assess risks.

the middle east?? how would you like to be living in the Palace at the moment, boy that Meghan and Harry have started world war three!