15/02: A Hiking We Will Go
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
After a lot of pondering and Ed deciding that some exercise would be good for us we booked Cajon del Maipo 8km Hiking Day Tour in the Andes. At 7am a mini bus arrived at our hotel to pick us up. After a couple off stops to pick up more people, we had a full bus and we were off to the Andes mountains. After an hour we stopped at a small restaurant where we picked up water, sandwiches and fruit, then after another hour we arrived at the start of the hike. It turned out that there were two tour groups in the bus --- our group and another group that was only hiking 4 kim then going to a hot springs. The two groups hiked the first 2 km together. After a break our group of 7 people continued hiking while the other group of 7 people hiked back to the mini bus. When we finished our hike and returned to the road the mini bus was just returning from the hot springs Now that was great timing or was it great communications? The two guides had radios!
The white stuff on the mountain is a glacier plus some fresh snow from Monday's storm. It can snow all year long in the Andes Mountains. Near the bottom left corner you can see a building. A controversial project has been underway for over 10 years. A Spanish company is harnessing all of the water coming from the local glaciers so it can be run through a hydro electric plant to produce electricity for a Spanish mining company in Northern Chile. A lot of people are upset about this but so far they haven't been able to stop it.
Proof we did the hike.
A goat herder with a few of his flock heading into the mountains for lunch.
Which way did everyone go?
Rufous-collared Sparrow
One of the glacial rivers running through the area.
On Monday there was a rain/snow storm that affected this park. Our guide figured that more than a foot of mud came down from the slopes coating rocks and the ground. In this spot the mud has dried and the top surface is "peeling" off.
Camping is permitted in the park. It's interesting how the tent and tie straps are secured.
There weren't a lot of flowers but there were some.
On the drive back to Santiago we stopped at the restaurant where we picked up supplies and enjoyed and appreciated some wine, fruit juice and snacks. It was 7:10pm when we were dropped off at our hotel ….. no wonder I’m tired.
Tomorrow morning we leave Santiago and take a taxi two hours to San Antonio where we will board the Norwegian Sun cruise ship. I’m not sure how internet will work while we are on the ship so it might be 2 weeks before I can update the blog.
The white stuff on the mountain is a glacier plus some fresh snow from Monday's storm. It can snow all year long in the Andes Mountains. Near the bottom left corner you can see a building. A controversial project has been underway for over 10 years. A Spanish company is harnessing all of the water coming from the local glaciers so it can be run through a hydro electric plant to produce electricity for a Spanish mining company in Northern Chile. A lot of people are upset about this but so far they haven't been able to stop it.
Proof we did the hike.
A goat herder with a few of his flock heading into the mountains for lunch.
Which way did everyone go?
Rufous-collared Sparrow
One of the glacial rivers running through the area.
On Monday there was a rain/snow storm that affected this park. Our guide figured that more than a foot of mud came down from the slopes coating rocks and the ground. In this spot the mud has dried and the top surface is "peeling" off.
Camping is permitted in the park. It's interesting how the tent and tie straps are secured.
There weren't a lot of flowers but there were some.
On the drive back to Santiago we stopped at the restaurant where we picked up supplies and enjoyed and appreciated some wine, fruit juice and snacks. It was 7:10pm when we were dropped off at our hotel ….. no wonder I’m tired.
Tomorrow morning we leave Santiago and take a taxi two hours to San Antonio where we will board the Norwegian Sun cruise ship. I’m not sure how internet will work while we are on the ship so it might be 2 weeks before I can update the blog.