El Glacier San Francisco
[Cajon del Maipu, Chile]
saturday morning we awoke to the warm sun on our faces, the clock read a pleasant 8:30.. mmm saturday mornings. i lingered for a moment until the realization hit me... we were already an hour and a half late for the bus. (shit) frantically, i mean cooly with even tempers, we stuffed our packs, laced our boots, and scurried for the elevator
our commute was relatively smooth. thanks to a boisterous street vendor and an entire boy scout troop we even got on the right bus. (i won’t mention that one of the scouts, the freckled one, offered me his ring. or that the street vendor had to stall the bus driver while i searched the nearby tiendas for my lost traveling partner.. who had wandered because he was hungry, again.)
the bus left us at the police check point where we were advised (by the police) to walk a block away and hitch-hike, there were no buses for the rest of the day. needless to say, we made friends along the way, took a couple group photos and made our way to the trailhead, that was “an hour up the road.” later we discovered that if you were traveling by foot with something that resembled the stomach flu, it was closer to three hours. after reaching the true trailhead, we hiked under an hour, found a flat spot by the river and settled in for the night. as we prepared the traditional trekker’s pasta and snuggled into our bags the air made its way from a pleasant 75 degrees to a little below freezing.
the next morning surrounded by snow capped mountain peaks and our systems reset, we finished the hike to El glacier San Francisco. as pictured above, the glacier (and snow) is an anomaly in the midst of violent, dry terrain. the earth is dusty, not excluding the mountains which i believe could crumble with moment’s notice. little rain and deep valleys protect jagged rocks from erosion. the plants which remain to be nibbled by horses are succulent and spiny specimens not dissimilar to the porcupine.
upon decent we were able to more perfectly enjoy the contrasting landscape. the sendero to the glacier lies just outside of Cajon del Maipo, a popular place to camp, trek, and climb, and much of the canyon extends beyond the park. many of the rocks that line (or block) the trail are in fact sedimentary and maintain rare shades of purple and teal. within the canyon walls lie layer upon layer of ancient history which create the most compelling stripes and designs.
our trek down the mountain we met a lovely couple and made fast friends. before we knew it, we were laughing in town over empanadas and peach juice.. then comfortably asleep in the back of their car... en route once again to Santiago.