Day 17 … a trip to the Andes

October 31, 2025

Today we had a full day private tour that we were not really sure what it was about! On paper it said we would be going to Yeso Dam and we would have a glass of wine and some cheese. That was it … it also said it would be a 10-12 hour day! So … we decided to just go with the flow and see what emerged.

So after our usual get up, get dressed, eat another buffet breakfast … we were ready in the lobby of the hotel at our designated time of 8.00am where we met up with Alberto our guide. He ushered us out to our car … a four wheel drive and introduced us to our driver Oscar (Chilean Hugh Jackman!).

And off we went! Oscar drove us through the back streets of the suburbs to allow us to see some different parts of Santiago. We saw small houses, large houses and apartments. Lots of small shops, street vendors and shopping malls and complexes. It was quiet on the road today as it was a public holiday … for Halloween no less!

After about half an hour we left the suburbs of Santiago (which has a population of 8 million!) and began heading to the mountains. Our drive was spectacular as we climbed through the pre-Andes, travelling beside the river Maipo. We slowly climbed, the road winding and hugging the mountains. The scenery was incredible … rapid running rivers, sheer cliffs, fields of walnut trees, expanses of bright orange and yellow Californian Poppies.

Alberto would point out things for us as we wound our way up the mountain … an odd building, where two rivers meet, a waterfall over there … oh and another over here. As we travelled up we crossed over to the Andes mountains where the snow was still capping the mountain tops.

We passed through several small towns … Las Vertientes, El Canelo, El Manzano, Guayacan and San Jose de Maipo. We stopped in San Jose to wander the small town square where street vendors were setting up for the market later in the day. We saw a beautiful old church and some statues to honour the O’Higgins family who were instrumental in the history of Chile. It was lovely to see the locals sitting chatting in the square, enjoying the sun.

More towns and crazy cyclists as we head towards the dam.

We headed further on … rising in altitude …and headed to Cajon del Maipo and the Embalse el Yeso dam. This dam was constructed in 1964 (so it is the same age as Ian) and provides the bulk of the drinking water for Santiago. The water is crystal clear blue and the view of the dam is backed by the Andes Mountains.

The sight is spectacular and we spent a lovely half hour just taking it all in. Tiny birds … from the finch family, flitted about and posed nicely for photos. The clouds rolled in and by … changing the scenery as we stood there.

Our drive to the dam had taken us past two glaciers … Glacier San Martin and Glacier Morale … both high up on top of the Andes, with Argentina on the other side of the peaks, the compressed ice of the glacier hanging over the sheer rock. Even from afar you could make out the bluish hue of the glacial ice.

We then headed down the mountain again … stopping to use the banos at a small road side stop where I swear the older gentleman that runs the place makes his fortune off the 500 pesos per person to use the toilets! The toilets were clean though (Raj Ghat India … I have not forgotten you!). Whilst we stopped we had the chance to watch the condors flying in the adjacent valley. Glorious, wide winged (up to 3 metres), gliding and circling above us.

We then headed on to our next stop … the Mirador Rio Volcan, Cajon del Maipo. This is a viewing spot for the massive volcano (Volcan San Jose … and no I am not misspelling volcano, it is the Spanish version) in the Andes. The cloud was in though so we were not able to see it in its full glory due to its shroud. The viewing spot has a beautiful small water course filled with water plants and fed by the glacial streams. We had a lovely walk around, stopping for photos and enjoying the sheer beauty of the area.

Whilst we wandered, Alberto and Oscar set up our picnic! A folding table, red checkered table cloth, chairs, wine, cheeses, prosciutto, fruit and nuts, water, orange juice, crackers and a salad roll! An absolute feast! We sat and enjoyed the glorious view, sipping wine (that’s me) and enjoying our meal while the clouds drifted in and off the mountains. Sheer bliss!

We continued on … stopping for a cow, some sheep, many dogs wandering the roads. Our descent took us on the same road we had travelled going up the mountain but it looks different as you go down. We stopped at Casa Chocolate just out of San Alfonso. This quirky building with its wavy roof, mosaic tiles, turrets, metal structures, rock art … all set in a meandering garden. We didn’t even go inside the chocolate shop … but just wandered the building and gardens.

And then we headed back to our hotel. We enjoyed the drive and managed to take photos of things we had missed on the way up. We were back at the hotel just before 4pm. The journey was fantastic. Wonderful to leave the city limits to see the countryside but also to drive through the city to see life beyond the “tourist” areas.

What, on paper at least, looked a very odd day turned into a wonderdul experience. We think we might suggest to our travel agent Joanne that we offer to rewrite the description of the trip to highlight how wonderful it actually is!

And so for our last night in Santiago we wandered out to find some dinner. We passed a number of people in Halloween costumes along the way. We ended up at a place called SDG whose tag line is 'what you like". All of the wait staff were dressed up ... our server was a pretty creepy looking clown. (Dana ... scroll on!)