By spending all of our time in and around Chile’s major cities Santiago and Valparaíso, we had not gotten to see much of the natural beauty. On Friday, our free day, a group and I traveled to Maipo Valley and to the hot springs; it was unlike anything I’ve experienced before. While it was a fun day, we learned much about the Chilean culture outside of the major cities.
Our tour guide explained to us that the Maipo Valley area is experiencing an issue with the hydraulic drilling that is occurring. It pollutes their natural streams and disrupts the ecosystem. However, they don’t have many other options for income. Their income source used to be mining until it was shut down due to the danger regarding drilling and earthquakes. Now, the little Chilean towns rely on tourism.
I found this particularly interesting that tourism is the main source of income in the smaller towns. They don’t look like typical tourist traps that one would see in major tourist destinations in America. For our tour, we stopped at the same quaint restaurant for breakfast and a nice little tapas dinner. While I was expecting the tour to be great, it blew away my expectations.
Along with the economic aspects, we learned about the environment and the vegetation’s that can only grow in Maipo Valley due to the specific climate and altitude. We learned about the three types of trees that grow there— soap bark tree, the Baldo/doctor tree, and a litre tree that causes allergic reactions. The cacti there also only grows 900 km above sea level and can be surrounded by snow.
With our tour, we hiked a 18,000 foot volcano and went in seven hot springs, with the hottest one being 60° celsius, or 140° Fahrenheit. It was two kilometer hike up and another two kilometer hike back down. While it was a long day, it was an experience that I will never regret or forget.
The heart of Maipo Valley, showing off it’s amazing views in the mountains and natural streams.
My sketch of my favorite place we saw in Maipo Valley.
One of the natural springs on our tour.
Hi Madison,
It is also surprising to me that a smaller city outside of Santiago would rely so heavily on tourism as a source of income. The view of the mountains from the valley looks beautiful and serene. I also had an opportunity to get out of Santiago on the free day. We went to a winery called viña undurraga in Talagante, Chile. The scenery on the way out there was beautiful. We learned about the types of grapes grown in that area and that it was best for red. The tour guide also touched upon the devastation caused by the 2010 earthquake.