Glacier El Morado

Which way?

We went with a friend to the quaint town of Baños Morales, at the east end of Cajon del Maipo, 92km southeast of Santiago. The town itself is a picturesque village of colourful houses amidst tall trees, barns, a winding river, a windmill, a waterwheel; basically everything prerequisite in a cute little village without being kitsch!

From here we entered a National Park and followed an 8km trail which took us to a small lake and glacier at the end. We had a picnic at the lake and walked up quite close to the bottom of the glacier, Glaciar El Morado.

The trail we followed

The laguna with the glacial backdrop - a perfect place for a picnic

A glimpse of the bright blue glacial ice running through the snow-covered rocks

It was great to see yet another new part of Chile and, of course, to see a little glacier!

Us in front of the glacier

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.