I'm flying from the DR to Chile and......

Conchman

Conchman

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would like to know answers to the following questions:

1) Will my Claro cell phone work in Chile? It works in the US.

2) Will my Lap top plug into the wall to charge? If not, can I buy an adaptor in Panama (layover) or in Chile?

3) Has anybody ever skiied in Portillo, Chile?

Thanks!
 
Hillbilly

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Conchman In about an hour I will give you answers. My Chilean colleague at the university doesn't get home until then...

HB
 
Conchman

Conchman

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Ask him what the most efficient way is to get from Santiago to Portillo, as the tour operator wants like $150 per person and there must be a bus or some other cheaper form of transport for the 2hour drive.

thanks
 
C

Chip

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Don't use Claro outside of the country. I was hit up for a US230 bill for using my cell phone in Haiti for like a half hour. Ladrones.
 
Conchman

Conchman

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I use my cell phone in the US, its expensive but convenient for me on short trips.

Does anybody know if there are any casinos more specifically any Texas Hold'em rooms in Santiago (Chile)?
 
E

Expat-in-Cabarete

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Chile's electricity is 220v 50hz. Your charger will work but you'll need an adaptor from flat pins to round pins. You should be able to get one easily there. Where are you? I have a couple of those; if you're in Cabarete or close, I can lend you one.
 
A

Adrian Bye

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if you have an unlocked phone its usually easier to buy a sim and charge it with some local money. thats what i've done visiting approx 20 countries outside the DR
 
E

Expat-in-Cabarete

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There's Claro service in Chile as well as many other countries in Latin America. It should work but you may need to have International Roaming enabled before you go. Calls will be expensive but your family/friends can contact you.
 
H

heliace

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Movistar or Entel will get better coverage out in the country side.I tried a Claro chip in my phone last winter and it did not work well unless I was in Santiago or other large towns. Sim cards are very in-expensive as long as your phone is unlocked(many places will unlock your phone for less than 2000 pesos Chileno or about 3 dollars).
The plug adapters are available everywhere, just make sure your electronics will run on 220 volt.
Bus service is the best and most economical I have ever seen. There is a bus service from the airport to the main terminal in Santiago (Turbus) that runs about every 20 minutes for 4 or 5 dollars.Taxis will try and charge about 20 to 25 dollars for the same trip.but can be haggled with.
Cost of living is about a third less than the D.R. and about half that of Canada, in my experience.A good understanding of spanish is important, especially in the more rural ares. I have been to Chile about a dozen times and like the country very much.
Have fun.
 
Hillbilly

Hillbilly

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Claro works with roaming. Costly. SIM cards are available.
$150 to Portillo is considered veryexpensive. There has to be a cheaper was.
One suggestion was to ski La Sierra Nevada 1/2 hour from Santiago....
Laptops without adapters will not work. 220 50 cycle...like you were told.
Regarding casinos, There is one huge one 70km from Santiago, like Vegas he said.


Don't know if this contributed anything but it is from a Chilean's mouth to your eyes...
He just got back last month.

HB
 
H

heliace

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Laptops DO work...

Laptops will work with a simple plug adapter that turns the slotted plug into the chilean 220 round one. I have used 3 different north american laptops there over the years.
Two or three hour bus rides(buses travel regularily to every town in Chile), run between 10 and 15 dollars.Air travel within Chile is also relatively inexpensive,https://www.skyairline.cl/default.aspx.
 
Conchman

Conchman

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Portillo shuttle is $110 round trip per person. Since its forecast to be snowing (yeah!) I will take the shuttle, I heard the hotel shuttle is sometimes the only way in during snowy weather. Thanks for the advice!
 
F

faer

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portillo

hi, don't know if you already travelled down here....
As inquiries about electricity and cell coverage have been sorted out, i'll talk about skiing.
Portillo is great, has the best snow allyear round. The problem is that is too far from santiago for a day trip, in comparison to Valle Nevado, that's just 1 hour away. check Valle Nevado Ski Resort Chile - for more details. We have 3 mayor ski resorts in Santiago, La Parva, mainly a upper class mountain town, visited mainly by chileans, El Colorado, a fully developed ski complex, also lots of chileans and people tha ski just 1 day. Valle Nevado has 3 hotels, chileans go for the day, lots of brazilians, some argentinian people. Also, and like Portillo, they receive european ski teams during this season, and get exclusive slopes where to train for the winter in the north hemisphere.
The roundtrip to portillo for 110 is cheap. You will pay nearly the same to valle nevado, maybe a little bit less.
As per the weather, it has been snowing since friday night, some mudslides on the road to Valle Nevado, 2 killed and 2 missing. The road reopened today....

send me a PM if you need more info...
 
Conchman

Conchman

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Greetings from Portillo! We arrived at 6am Friday morning in Santiago (Ch) via Copa (things always go smooth with Copa, at least in my experience of flying them like 6 times). At noon, the hotel in Portillo called me and said due to the incoming snowstorm, we should take the shuttle today (Friday) instead of Saturday. So off we went at 3pm after a nice lunch in the city of Santiago.

I got in 1hour of skiing Saturday morning before all lifts closed due to blizzard conditions. They didn't open up until this (Monday) morning. After 3 feet of snow, the skiing was great, especially with my powder skiis. I love the hotel here, the food is good, they have lots of activities when you're not skiing, and the service is top notch.

Got my laptop working via an adaptor I found in my house, and my Claro cell phone receives calls but I havent figured out yet how to make outgoing calls. I have tried 1-809....01-809....011-809 but it does not matter much since I'm using Skype now.

After skiing at Portillo, we will do a Santiago city tour and probably head to Vina del Mar until we fly back Wednesday night.

I got some great pictures but I don't know how to post them here. Maybe I can email them to someone who knows what they're doing? Can I use my facebook photo album in the thread?

Thanks for the all advice.
 
C

Chip

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Conchman said:
I dont know how to post them
Click to expand...

Upload them on tinypic one at a time and it will give you a url that you can paste in your message. The url will start out
 
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