heading out of the city

We arrived in Santiago on Friday morning.  By noon I was taking a nap in the hotel room.  

At 2PM we were in a van heading away from the hotel, off west, out of the city, on into the Andes.  I had the idea in mind that we were going to a city overlook that also had hot springs, dining, spa, and more.  Nope.

It was a long drive out to the Cajon de Maipo.  And then beyond.  Way beyond.  By 6PM (and one empanada break earlier) we were in the Valle del Yeso park at a place with thermal pools that others were soaking in but in which we declined to splash.  A river thick and brown with sediment ran past.  

The compasses in our phones told us we were at 9600+ feet above sea level.  

Mountains still towered over us.

Whoa.

It’s humbling to be in that setting.  We have a few tall peaks in SoCal, but they top out below 12,000 feet.  Which is impressive, but this was a lot more.  In other words:  whoa!

I’d tell you more about the scenery along the way, but man, I was tired.  I napped so much on that long drive.  Just the same, I did note how graffiti-ed a lot of Santiago was.  Like Lisbon, in a way.  It was cool rolling through the city, though.  

I wish we’d had more time to see it!

We stopped for a late dinner in the way home in San José de Maipo.  

A small town serving lots of tourists, but plenty of locals enjoying a summer night.  We dined in a restaurant patio by the square.  

Plateada for me - flank or skirt steak

(and lots of it) in a plain broth.  Adding rice improved it. The pisco sour also helped.

And then it was back to our room and a loooooong night of sleep.  So long that we almost missed getting up in time for the Saturday trip to Valparaiso!