Chile Anyone?

[martha]

I may have a chance to go to Santiago, Chile on business and would like to take my husband (T3 paraplegic). Has anyone been there and does anyone know of accessible hotels, etc. Or a site that might have such information? Thanks!

martha

[Maggie C]

You might try www.expedia.com (http://www.expedia.com). They have numerous listings
for Santiago. Some are wheelchair accessible. Good luck.

[martha]

Thanks for the link! I wasn't aware of it.

martha

[SCI-Nurse]

We were in Santiago only briefly (flew in there and traveled from airport to Valaparaiso for a cruise) but this was the ONLY place in South America where we found good disabled access, including a lift van to take us to the ship. We also found accessible rooms in hotels in the Puerto Montt area, which is much smaller than Santiago.

I can recommend www.southstartours.com (http://www.southstartours.com) as a good company to deal with. While they do not have any special expertise in disability travel, they know South America well, and were able to find us the van above without much trouble.

Be aware that American must pay a $60 (USA)/each person airport tax (cash) upon arrival at the Santiago airport. We were not notified of this ahead of time. The amount varies depending on your nationality.

(KLD)

[martha]

..

[This message was edited by martha on May 19, 2002 at 11:18 PM.]

[Iddo]

Hi!!
I'm a t-5,6 parapleg, and I also want to trave in Chile\Argentina
for 2 monthes, I want to hire a car and travel around - I don't like comfortable, boring hotel trips... And I heard that Argentina and Chile are the most comfortable countries in South America to travel...
Anyway if you got any information, I would be glad to know... and if I'll get some I'll tell you too
Thanks IDDo!!! http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Sue Pendleton]

The quad subscription list had at least one Argentine woman as a member when I was on it. She was a member of their paralympic team. Might try searching the web for links to the games. She was also a university student. I think there is a link in the Links Forum on how to join the Quadlist.

I also recommend searching for any government sponsored tourism web sites or contacting their embassy in Washington (or other national capitol) for information on travel. I have gotten wonderful information from the embassy based tourism offices because travel is a major part of many countries' economic life. Canada just gave me 800 numbers to the provinces I was going to visit back when I was an AB and within a few weeks I had huge envelopes arriving from NB, NS and PEI. Traveling to Newfoundland as a DA, I had great information from their office on economic development for what was accessible, partially accesible and forget it for now. I was really impressed with the help I received from that office and the city of Corner Brook, NF, Canada! Can't wait to hear of more curb cuts as they replace concreate sidewalks with non-buckling cobblestone style pavers. Very nice looking, easy on the butt and with their winters, probably much cheaper than continually repairing cracked cement. They also have lift equipped paratransit buses for use when cruise ships arrive.


If you both go to South America please report back in great detail! I've never been south of the Equator.