Not too Chile for me

Advantages: Excellent hotel, convenient location and fabulous food
Disadvantages: probably price but it was part of a package so not sure

...I mentioned before this is a business hotel and conference centre, the largest in Chile apparently and there are fifteen meeting spaces available of varying sizes. There is internet access at a price throughout the hotel. There is the San Cristobel Tower joined to the main Sheraton Hotel which provides many of the conference meeting rooms. The hotel has been chosen to host important international events as The Summit of the Americas, OEA, IDB, and APEC meetings among others. There are two ballrooms in the hotel and they also caters for weddings too but we didn't see anyone getting married while we were staying. The hotel is about 15 minutes away from the International Airport and within walking distance of the subway station in Providencia. We had no trouble walking into shopping areas or finding our way using the underground to...

catsholiday 15.01.2009 (18.03.2009) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Sheraton Santiago Hotel and Convention Center, Santiago

A Beckoning from the World's Driest Desert

Advantages: Peaceful and Spiritual Experience in an otherwordly Landscape
Disadvantages: None, unless you suffer from altitude Sickness

...The Desert of Atacama, in the extreme north of Chile, is the driest desert in the world. Make sure you always carry a good supply of water with you, you will not need big amounts of food; the scenery will feed your spirit to such an extent that your body will not require the extra energy. You will lose weight and be uplifted, what more can you ask of a place? All right, I might be exaggerating slightly, but there is a lot of truth to it as well. ************************************** The borders of the Atacama Desert are not very precisely outlined; they are1000 to 1100 kilometres long (600 to 700 miles), snaking all the way from Chile's northern border with Peru (in Region I - Chile is divided into 12 regions), down to Antofagasta in Region II (still in the north of Chile really, but further down!). It is bordered by...

Librelola 17.10.2005 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Atacama Desert, Chile

Chile In Winter

Advantages: A relatively gentle introduction to South America.
Disadvantages: For such a big city it lacks a little in visitor attractions.

...Santiago is a little out of sync with the continent in finds itself in. Most South American cities are known for their bustle and ability to scare the living daylights out of freshly arrived travellers, yet Chile's capital has a somewhat restrained and openly friendly atmosphere. Just as well too, because we arrived in the city with barely a word of Spanish and nothing in the way of accommodation booked. Santiago's population of 6 million people is sprawled over a huge geographical area split into 32 districts called comunas. Paradoxically the city centre remains quite accessible by foot and you could easily avoid using the bus system (which is a little hard to fathom anyway) or the metro for your stay in the city. Santiago is dwarfed by the snow capped climes of the Andes (only 25 miles away) making for some spectacular photos...

indiecater 10.01.2003 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Santiago

Adrian Chiles isn't the One for me!

Advantages: Good features, celebrity guests, easy viewing
Disadvantages: Adrian Chiles!

...The One Show is shown on BBC1 Monday to Fridays between 7pm-8pm (recently extended from just a half hour format) and is presented by Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley. It's a 'magazine' style programme, somewhat along the lines of This Morning or Breakfast TV. Each show features different topics and has a celebrity guest interview, with the familiar 'sofa in the studio' set-up. As the programme is only an hour in length, many of the features and interviews seem quite rushed, although this is a little improved from the previous half hour showing. Because of the time constraints, the One Show doesn't seem to have the luxury of creating a seamless transition between different topics. Instead, the programme can jump quite abruptly from a discussion about colonic irrigation, for example, straight into an interview with a celebrity...

jo-1976 01.10.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of BBC1: The One Show

Yaks To Chile

Advantages: Heartwarming reaffirmation of human nature
Disadvantages: Possibly too much native poetry for my liking

...This co-written account of McCarthy and Keenan’s trip to Chile owes its existence to the four years of incarceration that they spent together in the Lebanon. To pass the time, they let their imaginations run riot with all sorts of imponderable projects. One of which was “Would the Yak be a suitable creature to farm in a hostile environment like Patagonia in Chile? – This being despite the fact that they come from China!” Thus the idea of Chile was implanted in them. Using the need to at least see Patagonia for themselves they embarked together on an offbeat and searching tour of Chile. The country is not the only aspect being searched herein. There are frequent and honest accounts of how they each got the other’s nerves. Brian’s snoring and (to John at least) his ability to sleep just about...

BNibbles 03.05.2001 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Between Extremes - Brian Keenan

Perfect Chilean Patagonia...

Advantages: Stunning scenery and enough adventure to last a lifetime
Disadvantages: Huge distances and the developing transport system

...As a volunteer English teacher in the very depths of Patgonia here I managed to explore the region fully, experiencing the culture and seeing the lives that enfolded before me each day. It was only by spending so long in this beautiful region that I fully discovered what Chilean Patagonia, let alone the rest of Chile, was about. As it is such a huge country that I can only begin to describe the beauty of this part of the country and what amazing things there are to do here. I start my review with Coyhaique, the capital of the XI Region, about half way from between Santiago and the end of the world, Tierra del Fuego... Coyhaique: this town, of population 40,000, is a bustling centre of all activities in the XI Region. With easy access from Santiago Airport to Balmaceda Airport (1 hour drive - taxi buses are cheap and easy to find in...

Piers85 15.04.2005 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of General: Chile

from santiago to patagonia

Advantages: stunning scenery and wildlife,unspoilt,great ice cream,chocolate,beef,fish,beer,fruit,and wine (all home produced and cheap by european standards).
Disadvantages: long flying time,still not a cheap destination but good value.

...Chile is one of the best countries i have ever visited aswell and i too am very widely travelled.you must be a lover of the great outdoors and adventure though,to experience chile at its best.i can only speak for the southern part of chile that is santiago down to punta arenas,patagonia.in chile due to the thinness of the country and also due to the glaciation that still is found down south,flying is the best way around the country.one of the national carriers is lanchile (www.lanchile.com surprisingly!) and on their website you can obtain last minute offers or book super apex fares within chile-this is what i did.if i had have booked with lanchile offices in gatwick,surrey or one of the uks travel agencies my flight within chile would have cost about double what it did which is crazy!the reason is,lanchile's website is based...

theothegreek 12.01.2001 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of General: Chile

Sweetcorn soup with cheese and chiles

Advantages: my friends love it
Disadvantages: they keep asking me to make it

...This morning I finally got round to checking Ciao out thoroughly (after being a member for nearly a year, fast work) and when I found this section, I thought I'd add my sweetcorn soup recipe. I have made it several times for friends and always get asked to email them the details so thought I'd share.. here goes. All ingredients are approximate- add as much or as little as you like according to taste- especially true of the chiles! Butter/oil for frying 1 large onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves, chopped 2 tablespoons flour large can sweetcorn or equivalent frozen corn 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped. Chopped jalapeno chiles- fresh or pickled- as much or as little as you like Vegetable stock made with cube or whatever you fancy Grated cheese Sour cream if desired Pinch of cayenne pepper Fry the onion and garlic until they are...

macey99 29.04.2003 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Recipes for Soups

Chile and Mango- Peach Ice Cream

Advantages: more ways to enjoy spicy foods
Disadvantages: boiling the syrup makes horrible smell

...I?ve been meaning to put this up for a while since I read MadeInScotland?s garlic ice cream recipe. It?s an adaptation of a recipe I found in ?Cool Green Leaves and Red Hot Peppers? by Christine McFadden and Michael Michaud. I love chiles and all spicy foods and was delighted to find more ways to eat them. The recipe uses habanero peppers which have a fruity quality to them and combine well with mangoes. If you can?t get them then you could substitute a different variety but I haven?t tried it. You should take care when handling habaneros, they are vicious little things. Many books recommend wearing gloves when chopping and deseeding. This is something I laughed at as being only for softies until I accidentally wiped me eye with a hand that had been deseeding 3 peppers? not something I?d recommend. I tend to use ordinary yoghurt...

macey99 02.06.2003 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Recipes for Desserts

Adrian Chiles scores winner with MOTD2

Advantages: Good, funny punditry, and great football!
Disadvantages: On quite late for younger viewers (from 10:00 to 10:30 start)

...Match of the Day 2 takes a look at Sunday's football fixtures, and witty punditry from Adrian Chiles makes it much the superior to Match of the Day, shown on a Saturday. Sunday usually gets quite important games fixtured from the Premier League, and the fact that there are less games played on a Sunday lets a more detailed look be taken upon the events. There is also a look on all the goals of Saturday, with humurous moments from managers or fans being commentated by Adrian Chiles, which is worth the watch in itself. The punditry is a lot better than that of Match of the Day. Gavin Peacock and Lee Dixon provide intelligent footballing insight, and Adrian Chiles is much better than his counterpart Gary Lineker due to his amusing dry sense of humour, as compared to Lineker's friendly, but obviously cliched, jokes. You can always be...

midpikyrozziy 20.04.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Match of the Day 2