Cascadas Las Animas

We did some exploring over the weekend and headed down to Cajón del Maipo, a canyon southeast of Santiago. We spent the day at Cascadas Las Animas, an adventure resort that offers all sorts of activities. Our first stop was a delicious three-course meal overlooking the river - we had the best table in the house!

After lunch, we went for a casual zip-line, 30m above the Rio Maipo. The longest wire was 170m across the river and my squeals echoed around the canyon!

To end off the day, we walked to the famous waterfalls, where the fairy spirits are said to live. According to legend, they are benevolent to children, but mischievous to adults... Fortunately they did not stir while we were out and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and cascadas.

Festival de la Rosa

Our local park hosts numerous events throughout the year. The big spring event is the Rose Festival, a combination of a garden expo and the unveiling of the year's new roses. We spent a lovely Sunday afternoon strolling along the paths and through the gardens. Our prize purchase was a new hammock, which we look forward to testing out over the summer!

Yerba Loca

We went to Santuario La Naturaleza de Hierba Loca with some friends and camped Chilean-style. While we had packed our tent, sleeping bags, food, clothes, etc. to fit into two backpacks, our friends’ car was overloaded with shopping bags, a duvet, a table and chairs, inflatable mattresses, you name it! Clearly we had misunderstood the brief that we were leaving home very early, walking very far and then camping. Turns out we left the city after midday, pitched camp about 20m from our car, and took a gentle stroll along the river before dinner!

  

And we ended up having a great long weekend! Yerba Loca is located halfway up the Andes about 30km from Santiago. The glacial Yerba Loca river winds its way through the valley and there are lovely trails and an abundance of wildlife. We saw several new bird species, lots of guajitas (lizards) and a very cute little chilla (fox).

Chileans take their dining very seriously and we had the biggest asado (braai) we’ve ever had, washed down by some piscola. There was music playing around the campsite and we all enjoyed a weekend getaway out of the city.