Cajon Del Maipo
to the Cascade de las Animals......in other words... we are going to the mountain
When I was researching Chile, many websites praised the Chilean bus network for its operation and time accuracy. So, getting the bus from downtown to a nearby mountain 100km away was a very easy plan to follow. The only strange thing is that we took the bus from a central station that looked like a city bus. And for the first 40 minutes of the route, it did operate like a normal city bus.
As it was getting out of the city, we started going up the mountain and passed through some villages. A lot of kids hopped on and off until we arrived in a bigger town. The bus, at that point, was the school bus of the area.
All-in-one bus concept that not only manages to keep a schedule on time but, since they merge a few services, they can use more buses to run this route (every 15 min). Very Impressed!!!
The place we arrived at, looked better than the brochure. A ranch built next to the river (Rio Maipo) which runs between the Andes mountains (Cajon del Maipo area).
It is like a forest/park with organized areas for visitors to come for the day and BBQ or do other activities (horse riding, white-water rafting, trekking). There was another option (my favourite) to just lay by the swimming pool and enjoy the sun while drinking beer.
We stayed in one of the many wooden cabins and spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading printouts about the next destinations in Asia.
We only had a day to spend here, so the next day, early in the morning, we took the bus back to Santiago to get to the airport. We have a flight to northern Chile and our way to Bolivia.
In the beginning, we were worried that we might arrive late at the airport, but when we got on the bus, we had other things to worry about…OUR LIVES!!!
It appears that the long-lost third Schumacher brother lives in Chile, and he is a bus driver, preparing at this time of the year for the inter-Chilean bus death race. Now we are back at Santiago airport (three hours early!!!) waiting for the next flight to Calama, where we are going to meet Xavier (a friend from SKY who is traveling as well), and we are going to do a trip in the Bolivian Salt lakes…more about that trip when we get to the next internet cafe.
