Termas Colina and Glaciar Nieves Negras

Last weekend we enjoyed one of those trips that remind us again of why we decided to move to Chile. We took Friday off and combined trekking, spending some quality time with our dogs and flollopping in some hot springs, which is actually very easy to do when you live in Santiago. One should really do it more often... :o)

The plan was simple, leave Friday late morning to avoid the usual Santiago rush-hour traffic mayhem, have a hot bath in Termas Colina (hot springs located in Cajon de Maipo) in the afternoon / evening, then camp for the night, followed by a long hike the next day.

The hot springs part went very well. Although a little rustic (read "underdeveloped" or "basic") the place was reasonably empty and the weather was great which made for some stunning views while relaxing in some VERY hot pools. These termas are accessible and open for 24h/day, meaning people can go there at night to watch the stars, provided one doesn't mind doing so with lots of other folks because that seems to be the "hot springs rush hour".

Since we were actually after some peace and quiet, we went up the valley a little further once we had soaked up enough heat, and then found a secluded camping spot away from the termas. We set up the tent, cooked some food, wrapped up in warm clothes, put the dogs to sleep and watched the starry night (we spotted at least 5 shooting stars!) :o)

The day after we got up reasonably early to make our way to the base of Volcan San Jose. The whole route is very well described on this link. The geology and rock formations in the area are fascinating and very unusual (even for non-"rock geeks" like us).

The trek took us 5h in one direction at a very leisurely pace. The way back was quicker. The most fun bit is the crossing of Rio Azufre (which has extremely cold water!). Getting water along the way is quite exciting, too: The water is fine to drink, although we do use water disinfectant as a rule, nevertheless each river has completely different flavours - we went from a slightly sparkling water taste at the camping spot to "fish tank flavour" at the last river we stopped! As we approached camp again, a sand storm convinced us that another night in the tent may not be worth the stunning views and scenery so we packed up, had another hot bath and drove back to Santiago for Saturday night.

Definitely a very recommended weekend trip (especially if you can start on Friday). As always, slide show below (high resolution here):