Adventure and Disaster in Chile

It's has been a little over a week since I arrived in Chile. On Saturday, my cousin, her friend, and I decided to drive up to a town called Baños Morales, for a day hike in the El Morado National Monument. It is pretty deep in the Andes, almost near the Argentine border and about 6,000 feet in elevation, but it is a beautiful place.

Baños Morales from the trail to El Morado

The trail is about 10 miles round trip and follows a valley to a high cirque with several glaciers.

We knew there was a chance for afternoon showers, but the ranger at the entrance had told us to turn back immediately if it began.

At 4 miles in, we reached a lake where we decided to break for a snack. We continued on for another quarter of a mile before it began to rain, and the clouds were looking pretty ominous.

Just before turning back

The rain was coming down pretty steady with sporadic lightening strikes. As we made our way back, the rain gradually slowed as we descended the valley. When we arrived back to the car in Baños Morales, the rain had not yet reached the town, but we could tell it was on its way.

As we began to drive back to Santiago, we did not even make it 5 miles down before we encountered a long line of cars. Several people at this point got out of their cars to see what had happened, our curiosity got the best of us so we went to take a look.

Turns out, a mudslide had blocked the road and a small bulldozer was working to clear the road. We waited for about 45 minutes and it was finally clear enough to drive through.

We drove not even a mile further before we were hit with another line of cars. This time, there was no sight of the front of the traffic and the rain was coming down pretty strong. Then we noticed cars turning around, we stopped one guy and asked what had happened. They said about a 6 foot high by 20 foot long mudslide had blocked the road, and there was no one working to repair it. It was at this point we realized we might be staying the night up here, so we turned around and decided to see if there was room at the hotel near Baños Morales.

Luckily there was a room available, with several people unable to make the reservations for that night. The hotel had a ground spring water source, wifi, and ran on solar panels, so we had a pretty luxurious place to stay.

Others were not so lucky. We later found out that there were around 11 mudslides blocking the route back to Santiago, including a bridge that had been swept away. Several people who were camped near the river were missing and at least 3 killed when their car was washed away in a mudslide.

We had left Saturday morning for a day hike, and did not make it back to Santiago until Monday afternoon.

Our hotel on Monday monring, with Volcan San Jose in the background

Repairing the bridge that bad been taken out

For more info: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39099313