San Alfonso, Chile: Monumento Natural El Morado

After school on Friday, Kim and I, along with Eddie (from California) and Laura (from Melbourne), rented a car, then headed east to go and explore the Andes.  After getting out of the Friday afternoon traffic and Santiago suburban area, it only took about thirty minutes until we started seeing views like this.  We were really excited!

We stayed in this cabana in San Alfonso, which was about a forty minute drive from our Saturday hiking destination.  Since we got to San Alfonso before the sun went down, we decided to drive up towards El Morado as a sort of 'dry run' for Saturday morning.  We were glad we did, because...

...we got to see the sun set over the mountains!  It was beautiful.

When we got back to San Alfonso, we headed to the only open restaurant at the only traditional hotel in the town.  Basically the Chilean equivalent of a five-star adventure resort, we had amazing food (Eddie's goat was literally roasted over a campfire at the entrance to the restaurant) and wine for a very reasonable price next to a rushing river.  It's amazing how well you sleep when your belly is full, the air is clean, and you can't hear any traffic!

On Saturday morning, we got up early and drove to Monumento Natural El Morado, which is basically a national park for hiking and mountaineering.  Before we began, we ate breakfast at this German ski lodge near the park.  It was actually one of our favorite parts of the trip, because we walked in (the only people up and about, by the way, because apparently getting up before 10am just isn't done in Chile), and the man said to us, "Would you like some breakfast?".  Of course, we said yes, so--with no menus, price, or any sort of discussion--he went and made us some breakfast.  It was hilarious, but the food was awesome, and eating with the view above just can't be that bad.

After our breakfast adventure, we started our hike to the base of the glacier in El Morado.  It was pretty from the bottom, and even better from the middle, as you can see above.  However, the real view was from the lake at the base, right where there started to be snow on the trail.  Take a look...

...and be awed!

I'm including it one more time, just so everyone can properly appreciate the awesomeness of El Morado.  I'm so glad we got to see this part of Chile!