a few more photos from the trip to Valle del Yeso

Not much to say here.  On the heels of the last post, enjoy some more shots from the first drive into the mountains.

Oh, but this:  Chile is stunning!

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!