Cajón del Maipo (south east of Santiago)

Very closed to Santiago, it’s the chance to run away from the city and experience a real contact with Santiago’s nature, the mountains.  And it’s exactly what “santiaguinos” do on weekends, lots of people in touch with healthy life, bike riding and trekking, and if you go far far away into Los Andes mountains you can reach some natural hots springs.

We contacted a car rental office where we also rented bikes, and went straight to some hot springs, we have been told that it’s was the perfect place to take “the” pictures and find fossils, which I wanted so bad.  Spent a wonderful day, right on top of the mountains, unfortunately wasn’t so lucky, didn’t find no fossil but the bike riding was “extreme”.  On the way back we had the best Chilean meal in one of the many restaurants on the road. I personally recommend Calypso, an Italian restaurant attended by an European immigrant family and in my opinion the best dish is “fungi spaghetti” Please takle note that if you want to visit this restaurant for lunch and during a weekend you must get there at least at 1:00pm, otherwise you will not find available tables (located in El Canelo)

Another very nice and cozy restaurant is called Casa del Bosque, which is closer to the mountains and it was build entirely by hand. It is really beautiful.

Even though Cajón del Maipo could be a one day trip, there are many cabins and bungalows for rent.

San José small town offers an attractive main plaza with an artesian market.

Claudia García,
Mexico