Monday 29th April

After arriving from Rapa Nui late on the evening of Saturday 28th April, we had a 'spare' day in Santiago before our flight home and we decided to use it to have a private tour to the hot springs situated in the Andes, 2.5 hour's drive from Santiago and close to the border with Argentina. We contacted Santiago Tours and booked a private tour of the Valle de Colina hot springs. Even at this short notice, they agreed to arrange a tour and we scheduled a pickup from the Hotel La Quinta close to the airport at 7 a.m. in the morning.

After a brief sleep we grabbed a few bites for a short breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and arranged with the tour guide and driver to load our baggage into the van so that we could go straight to the airport on our return from the tour.

We were extremely fortunate to have as our guide Consuelo a very personable and knowledgeable young lady who was in other times a teacher and an actress. The driver was also a very helpful and charming guy, Jean-Pierre who together with Consuelo was extremely accommodating which made our day that much more enjoyable.

We set off into quite heavy traffic which gradually thinned out as we left the city environs. As we did so there was an increase in the height of the surrounding landscape. After about an hour's drive we stopped at a rest stop for coffee, bathrooms and a bite to eat.

Our trip to the hot springs site was enlivened by the wonderful dialogue we had with Consuelo whose experience as a teacher, quasi social worker for those women who suffered domestic violence was most interesting as well as her 'take' on the effects of the widespread mining operations in this area which are so damaging to the environment. The mining is for limestone used in the construction industry, copper and other minerals. Consuelo talked of the right/left swings in the Chilean politics from Pinochet to Bachelet and Pinera to the present center-left young President. Next year's elections may change the complexion to the right again. Corruption is, sadly, widespread on both sides of the political spectrum. The fast-flowing rivers in this area are frequently heavily polluted with mining waste. Consuelo also discussed the failure of the two attempts to change the Chilean Constitution via a referendum. One version prepared by a committee of the general public too liberal for the right wing and the other drafted by a committee of politicians, too illiberal for the left wing. Consuelo's verdict was that the media distorted the contents and that the general public failed to read the documents, themselves but just listened to the media's version which was biased toward a 'No' vote.

Onward we gradually started to climb into the foothills of the Andes until we spotted our first glacier where we stopped briefly to take photos. Then it was onward over increasingly narrow and rough roads to the hot spring's location at Valle de Colina

This is an overview of the site of the Valle de Colina hot springs. There are seven pools of differing water temperatures. The small changing center with (cold) showers is the building on the right of the photo.

On arrival at the hot springs, we realized that we had not brought towels! This then required some ingenious undressing with the use of ponchos supplied by Jeran-Pierre and Consuelo. When we were all dressed in our bathing suits we tested each pool to find the one most comfortable. The nearest pool was too hot for most of us so we gravitated to the more moderate pool which was very comfortable. Consuelo joined us in the pool and Jean-Piere was invaluable in helping me negotiate the steps in and out of the pool. The outside air temperature was close to freezing and we did have some minor snow flurries.

Our adventures in the hot springs are below.

Hot Springs Eternal

After about an hour in the pools, we showered and dressed and rejoined Jean-Pierre in the van and drove back towards Santiago. We encountered a herd of friendly goats on the way.

After about a further hour of driving descending gradually from the mountains we passed 'The House of Chocolate' (no explanation needed!!), which had been a possible stopping point but it was too crowded, so we decide to press on to a wonderful parrilla/BBQ restaurant called El Manso Toro. Here we all enjoyed a great lunch.

Some photos of the restaurant the last one being the dish which we shared of nixed meats and potato

A further hour's drive took us to the airport where we were able to unload our bags and check in for our flight to Newark via Atlanta.

Unfortunately, the lounge we could use had a problem with their computer system and was closed so we had to wait in the gate area. Boarding was easy and we soon were settled in for the 9-hour flight to Atlanta.