"Camping" in el Cajon

As the end of the world was right around the corner (back in May when the rapture happened...right, didn't it? oh no, huh, well that's strange), we decided to spend it "camping" in one of the most beautiful places (that we had been) in Chile - Cajon del Maipo.  The university where Stephen teaches had an english immersion day at their campus in Cajon del Maipo, so Stephen recruited some of our friends, and we made a weekend out of it!

We rented a cabana at Las Lomitas for a weekend of cards, wine, meat and good friends!

Amanda, Nadine and me

Diego and Stephen

Monique and Jorge

ATL-iens

Sunset from the cabana

On Saturday morning, we were up and about to explore Stephen's "campus" down the road. The campus was a retreat for Pinochet when he was in power and, as you can imagine, is gorgeous!  This campus is for the eco-tourism department and has an orchard of apple, almond and cashew trees to name a few, plus a garden where they learn all about self-sustainable living.  We hung out around the campus with the students who came for the day and just relaxed.  They taught us about the different uses for the trees around the campus and all the nuts and fruits from the orchard.

On Sunday, we decided to try and find a nice area to hike before heading back to the city.  We drove along a windy 21 km road with signs of trails straight ahead every few kilometers, but when we got to the end, there was a gate and no trails.  A little disappointed, we decided to make the best of it and explore a river bank instead.  The views were still breath-taking and well worth the motion sickness I am learning to live with :)

On our way back home to Santiago, we were temporarily slowed by a herd of goats in the middle of the road.  Can you find the leader in the group (hint - check out the horns!!!)?

All in all, a wonderful weekend with great friends - and such a nice escape from the bustling city life.  It's nice to be able to take these trips and fully experience and enjoy everything Chile has to offer.