“I F’king Hate Santiago Chile”

Hi Y'all. Well, you can tell by the title that adventures have happened right out of the gate. Our trip here was fantastic... security and the lounge in Dallas were a breeze, the flight and food were good. We breezed through customs in Santiago and then all of a sudden we were swarmed by scam artists "taxi" drivers like we were in Cancun. We have been to or thru Cancun many times and we have it down, who to talk to at the airport, who to ignore and how to get out of there. But today being our first time in Santiago Chile, I'm sure we had deer in the headlights white American tourists written all over us.

This super nice man with a badge on comes to our rescue and says I speak English let me help you. Do you need a taxi to your hotel? We said yes and gave him the hotel name. He said is $30 ok? And we agreed. He said let me walk you over to a driver and I will make sure you are safe. He walked us away from the madness and talked to a young guy. He told him our hotel and $30 and the guy agreed. He told Chris be sure to use a credit card amigo, it is safer.

The driver walked us to a parking garage and we saw the car. Right then we should have run. It was awful and nasty. But we were trying to not be too judgmental. THERE ARE RED FLAGS ALL OVER THIS. But we get in and the driver takes off. He asked for the address and I handed him my phone to look at it. He seemed very confused and was holding on to my phone way too long . 🚩

Then he pulls into a parking lot and another guy comes to the car with a credit card machine. He was with the " taxi company" and was there to process the $30 payment. 🚩 Chris gave him our card and the man asked if we wanted a receipt and we said yes. He fiddles with it and then says it's not working do you have another card? About that same time Chris gets a text message from Capital One that says did you authorize a charge for $4382.25 for Fast Market Spa? Chris yells they are robbing us!!! I will let Chris take over from here.

Rhonda is right, the red flags were everywhere and we knew it and we kept walking into the trap. I guess we have just been in too many sketchey cabs and questionable neighborhoods in our travels and it has always worked out so we just figured this is Chile and I guess this is the way it is.

I started getting really uncomfortable about it all when the driver asked for Rhonda's phone and wouldn't give it back. Rhonda is the one, when we travel, who always saves the names and addresses etc knowing that it may come in handy if there is a language barrier to just be able to hand her phone to the driver. She has always been able to tap the driver on the shoulder and say, give me my phone, I have another route or name or whatever. Today before the actual money scam I had to yell at the guy, give her her phone, give it back ! 🚩

So, by the time I got the Capital One text we were on high alert. As Rhonda said, as soon as he tried to run the 4300 dollar spa charge I got the text and the guy just bolted, he was gone. I'm screaming, where is he, take me to him. I'm yelling at the driver to chase him which of course he is not, Rhonda is telling me to calm down, which of course I am not, and the driver keeps saying no English no English like he has no idea what is happening. He just starts driving with us in the car with me screaming at him, "Mother Fucker, you just robbed us, where are you taking us ? Stop this fucking car, let us out" but by now we are afraid to just get out because we are afraid that part of the plan is to steal our bags or one of Rhonda's kidneys. We just don't know.

So now I decide the best thing is to get back to the airport, lots of people, lots of security. I start forcefully saying, take us to the airport, no English he says, aeropuerrto Mother Fucker, I know you know that, that's where you got us, AEROPUERTO !!

At this point I am so enraged I reach up and start slapping and punching at him as best as I can reach yelling aeropuerto aeropuerto !!

Rhonda is trying to calm me down and tells me she is comparing the map on his phone to to the one on hers and she thinks he's actually taking us to our hotel. What ? They are going to harvest our organs at a hotel we paid for ? On the way we were seeing nothing but plight. It's bad. Everything is shot up, graffiti ruined, trashed , and homeless people living in tent cities. Rhonda turned to me and said, " I f'king hate Santiago Chile".

But unbelievably he did take us to our hotel! Rhonda calmly told me, Chris just don't say a word. Lock up your phone in the backpack and let's get our luggage. Then we can deal with him. So that's what we did. The driver pulled over in a no parking zone and let us out. We got our luggage and then ( the fool) starts trying to shake us down for cash!! Rhonda and I both told him f... no! Luckily other cars were honking at him so he had to jump back in his car and leave. We took off into the hotel just shaking with rage.

This is Rhonda again. In order to avoid this being book length I will summarize the next couple of hours. I got us checked in to the hotel while Chris was on the phone with an 'English is not her first language customer service rep' at Capital One who decided that it wasn't fraud but merely a difference in opinion about the price. Once we had time to think, he called the fraud department back and the new person agreed with us that a $4300 charge to a spa by a cab driver is definitely fraud. They cancelled Chris' card but mine still works and they refunded the money. Thank god. And .... we got a free cab to the hotel!

After all that we rested then took a preplanned tour of the city. The first full 30 minutes was how dangerous this city is. ( No shit). That's reassuring! But, we did have a fantastic lunch at the fish market and our guide was great. We cut it a little short because of exhaustion but I am glad we did it.

Our next two days are tours out of Santiago and down to the coast tomorrow and up in the mountains on Thursday. So far, my opinion has not changed about this city but we will see how it goes. Bottom line, we are ok, we are safe, but a little embarrassed to be so dumb, and a LOT less trusting tonight. BUT we didn't lose the money!

Awwwww Mucho love!