Chile Part 4 (Cajón del Maipo)

Today’s adventure took us off the interstate and through several little towns like Puente Alto, above. Trev and I were happy to get out of the city and see more rural Chile.

Cajón del Maipo is about two and a half hours from our apartment. Carol’s sister recommended this place and we were super excited. (Thank you Carol and your sister). We had pesos but this road didn’t have tolls. The pesos were for the destination.

Now if you’re an adventure person and the Patagonia region of Chile is too far south for you, like it was for us on this trip, this area might work for you. There are campgrounds galore, with pools and covered picnic areas. It’s tent camping mind you, and it was way to hot to consider that option. There’s whitewater rafting and tons of cyclists. If we had to do it all over again, we would have spent a night here and went rafting. It was neat as the town signs all listed their altitudes. We just kept climbing.

This is the wood fired empanada place “The Google” lead us to. It looked like an abandoned structure and it was locked up. We actually thought it was permanently closed but when we were heading home we saw people there. So anyway, we drove a little further to another little roadside place for wood fired empanadas. Just a little note, these have olives in them and, just like in Brazil, the olives aren’t pitted. I will never understand that.

These are made with beef, onions, olives, and egg. Pretty common filling down here. I took a couple bites to try it (I thought it was good) but mainly just ate a little bread to be on the safe side (remember I’m still recovering from yesterday) and I had a few sips of Dr. Pepper. I couldn’t resist.

This is apparently a popular locals spot to play in the river. That water was so beautiful and blue. Like glacier blue. People had their lawn chairs, music, and picnics. Fun. Just FYI, the bathrooms here cost, even if you purchased items.

The drive was great. There were several signs reminding us not to drive off the cliff into the water and after driving this road I understand why; some curves were pretty sharp. There were also goats everywhere and plenty of people selling goat cheese.

The pictures don’t give you the majestic scale of these mountains. It was amazing. Here was our first water crossing. Depending on the time of year some of these roads are impassable due to the water runoff.

He’s kind of blurry because he was running but we saw a fox run across the road in front of us. Look at these cool housing options. And then you hit the mining operation and the pavement ends.

It kind of felt like out West driving through parts of Utah.

As we’re climbing the mountains we decided to let the car cool down for a bit. Between the car not being too powerful, the heat, the a/c, and the climb, she was running a little hot so we decided to get out and stretch our legs a bit. We had already passed another car that had overheated and there is NOTHING around.

It’s hard to really know what I was trying to capture in the bottom left picture, so let me just tell you. That part of the mountain jutted out so far that our car barely fit on the road and the curve around it was so sharp you couldn’t tell if another car was coming from the other direction and the drop off on the other side was straight down to the valley. It was a little stressful for the five seconds it took us to see around. The bottom right picture was our final destination.

Las Termas de Valle de Colina, or The Hot Springs of Colina Valley, is only about 65-80 miles north of Santiago but it was a tote to get here. The thermal pools are terraced by the calcium carbonate deposits, like a chalky limestone, that the water leaves behind. It costs 10,000 pesos (about $10) for adults and Tuck only cost 5,000 pesos, since he was under 13, for four hours, which is more than enough time. You can also pay more and get a 24 hour pass but unless you’re camping there, I can’t imagine staying longer than four hours. We were here about two hours.

The top picture is reality, with people in all the pools except the top two usually, while the bottom pictures are what you’ll see people post on Instagram. You, alone, soaking the hot springs, with the Andes Mountains surrounding you or they post just the top two pools that make it look deserted. There were quite a few people there but it wasn’t terribly crowded.

The way the seven or nine pools work (I can’t remember exactly how many but it’s one of those) is the water at the top is the warmest at about 131 degrees. I stuck my whole body in and immediately got my whole body out. The water is super hot, that’s why the upper pools are less crowded and why they are the bluest; less people stirring up the bottom. As the water flows down the hill the water cools with the lowest pool being about 77 degrees and quite pleasant. And, yes, that is me with the stinky gross clay on my face. I do hate water but my love for adventure trumps my hatred of being wet. The waters are highly mineralized coming from the inside of a volcano, and are supposed to have healing properties. It is quite breezy up here so you freeze the minute you get out of the water.

Most people stay in the lowest pool because it is the most comfortable. A few things to note, there is no cell service, only cash is accepted for entry, there are bathrooms, and I will use the word showers loosely as it is just a few spigots along the back wall; no stalls, hardly any water pressure, and, ironically, only cold water. The no stall thing was a shocker to me as I walked in on an eye full and immediately diverted my eyes to the floor. If you think the lack of privacy would cause those needing to shower to shower in their swimsuits you would be wrong, oh so wrong. I’m telling you because I wish someone had told me. I would have never entered the bathroom. But if you’re not modest then no worries, I guess. Despite being covered in grit and sunscreen, we all opted to skip the showers, except for Emily. You can ask her about that experience.

Check out this wood bridge we had to cross. I was waiting for it to collapse. We didn’t see any of this wildlife but, apparently, according to this sign, it exists.

Our poor once perfectly clean and shiny car. Sorry for the dust Hertz.

On the way home, we stopped at Casa Chocolate. It was touristy but so whimsical that I’m glad we stopped.

The screen referenced former President Jimmy Carter, but the frame around the screen obstructed the rest of the words. His administration wanted to help the human rights situation in Chile in the late 1970s; not sure if it had anything to do with that or not.

The boys had churros, and ice cream, and I tried a small sample of charcoal activated lime, whatever that means. I grabbed a cookie and a chocolate mixed nut treat to eat later when I was feeling better.

Even the bathrooms were magical. They are also free if you purchase something.

The thermal pools must have worked their magic as I was feeling good and hungry. This time “The Google” did not disappoint us. Finally, it was taco time! It was so goooood. We haven’t had good tacos in 10 months. Delicious.

You are looking at Tucker’s chicken taco, Mason’s tongue taco, yes, you read that right, tongue, and Trevor’s barria nachos. Emily ordered the barria nachos too. Sarah and I split a thing of steak nachos (so good), and I had a chicken taco and she ordered a pork adobada (red chili sauce with vinegar, garlic, and spices) mula and it was huge! She and I had leftovers.

The next morning was check out. I had purchased this fruit from the market. It is called pepino dulce (sweet cucumber) but it’s not a cucumber as it is from the melon family. We all tried it. It tasted like a really bland melon with the texture of cantaloupe. Never know until you try. We checked out but nothing is open on Sunday mornings in Santiago so we decided to go to church…kind of.

This is the Bahái Temple, home to the Bahái faith. I had never heard of this religion. Upon arrival, they give you a quick overview of the faith and the building. We were concerned we were about to get inducted into a cult but it wasn’t like that at all. But it was good for the boys to hear because conversations like that lead to discussions about how does this differ from the Truth of Jesus Christ, what are the fallacies of this religion when compared to the Bible, and why it’s important to be able to defend your faith.

I was only intrigued by the amazing architecture. This $30 million, 14 year project, took six years to construct and being made of steel and aluminum the temple can withstand over a 10 point earthquake, as Chile is prone to frequent earthquakes. Due to the heat, the nine sides, or petals, are made of pieced Portuguese marble and cast glass. There are nine entrances, nine pathways swirling out from the temple center, and nine fountains.

You’re asked not to take pictures inside out of respect for those “practicing their faith.” They don’t have services or anything but one day a week they sing. The bottom right picture is the view of looking up at the ceiling (this image is from a sign on the property). It truly is a remarkable structure standing at 98 feet tall and 98 feet wide and has won Canadian architect Siamak Hariri several awards. The word inscribed in the center circle is The Greatest Name, a calligraphic representation of the invocation “O Glory of the All-Glorious.

With so much closed on Sunday, we decided to head back to the airport to see if we could catch the earlier flight. Well, we could, but it would cost us over $300 so we decided to just wait.

Sarah and Emily taught us a new card game that passed the time, while we ate some snacks.

Once we were allowed to check in for our flight, we checked in and went through customs. I had a very friendly conversation with the customs agent, which led to me signing Holly Jolly Christmas at one point. You would just had to have been there. Trust me, nice fella.

Walking to our gate we noticed a California Pizza Kitchen, which got Tuck’s attention and it was playing the Eagles/Commanders game, which caught Sarah and Trevor’s attention, so we sat and ate while we watched the game. The time before our flight flew.

There was just enough time for Sarah and Emily to have one last Dunkin run and for us to grab ice cream from MickeyDs before boarding.

These pictures are a little weird but they display the wonderful kindness and heart for the Lord that Sarah and Emily have. In the seat between them, which is where Ellis would have been, sat a lady that was ill. The doctor had ruled out kidney stones but they weren’t sure what it was. The lady was headed to the hospital after she got off the plane. Sarah prayed with this lady, which is what is happening in this picture. They assured the lady they would talk to her during the plane ride to help keep her mind off of her pain. And they did. Though we didn’t get much sleep because of their conversation, it was okay knowing that they were being the hands and feet of Jesus to this woman. This is the kind of people we serve alongside of. Truly beautiful.

And now off to our next location. Just kidding. I wish it was to Australia (maybe one day); but it was just back to our house in Brazil.

We have lots to do before the kids come back. Oh, and I celebrated another year of life with açaí once we were back in Brazil.