17th Nov. 2016
Tempting as it is just to replay the entire Monty Python Spanish Inquisition sketch, I’ll confine myself to stating that our two favourite attractions are cemeteries and railway museums – and markets, and churches, and breweries / wineries / distilleries (and deserts, volcanoes and general weird/quirky stuff). And of course, we mustn’t forget… waterfalls. They don’t have to have ‘Smoke That Thunders’ (Vic. Falls) or be as big and awe inspiring as Iguazzu – (just as well as I don’t think there is anywhere that meets that criterion). It’s just that we’ve always found them to be worth a visit. Today, we’re off to the Reserva Nacional de las Siete Tasas in the foothills of the Andes.
We have a few days in the Maule Valley south of Santiago, to explore a very different part of the country. Whilst the principle attraction here are wineries (this is the heart of Chile’s wine industry), there are some national parks to the east and the coast to the west for us to visit. We’ve decided that the best way to see more of this area is to hire a car and so, after checking out the train and bus stations for the best way to get back to Santiago in a few days time, we head off to pick up our car. We’ve booked a ‘Kia Rio 5 (or equivalent)’ and surprisingly, (perhaps the first time ever) that is exactly what we get. It isn’t very exciting as a car (definitely not as exciting as the new Seat Ateca that is waiting for me at home), but the good news is that most body panels have a small ding or scratch on them already so we don’t have to worry too much about paint chips. As ever, Rule 1 (Don’t hit anything) applies.
There is a shopping mall nearby with a supermarket, a coffee shop and a petrol station and so we’re able to meet both our own and the car’s immediate needs for sustenance and then, after a bit of a drive round in circles, we learn how to get onto the motorway heading north and we’re off. The first part is dead easy, heading north up the Pan-American highway glancing occasionally out of the window at the snow capped mountains to our right – we’re fully equipped for winter weather with shorts, t-shirts and walking sandals, so we hope we’re not heading too high. After about half an hour we turn off and head through the small town of Molina towards the mountains.
Then, just after the sign that says ‘Radal Siete Tazas – 26km’ the tarmac road ends and we onto loose stones and bumps. We were expecting this, but we’d hoped to get a bit closer before the good road ended. The car hire folk hadn’t given us any prohibitions as to where we couldn’t go and so we pressed on – but much more slowly. Even 20km/h felt quick enough on the unpredictable road surface. Occasionally a 4×4 or a pick-up truck would blast by us and we’d slow even more temporarily to get out of the cloud of dust that they threw up. But generally the road is very quiet (hardly surprising given the state of it) – we even have to make way for a flock of kid goats.
We pass a number of camp grounds – the park is quite famous, and we suspect much busier in summer – and eventually, by the park entrance, we find a spot with picnic tables by the stream / river and sit down for our lunch. We’ve done about 20km on the track now and so surely there can’t be too much further to go! Well, yes and no – only 2km to Velo de la Novia (Bride’s Veil) waterfall, but the road deteriorates rutted in some places and protruding boulders in the other. The dark shadows of the trees cast by the bright sunshine onto the road make it hard to pick out the lumps and bumps. Good job that the suspension on hire cars is more robust than on normal cars!
The waterfall itself is impressive enough from the viewing platform but there is no way down to the base and so we move on – ‘only’ another 4km to the Siete Tazas (Seven Cups). This proves to be about 2km too far and the road deteriorates to the extent that I won’t take even a hire car up it. There is nothing else for it but to park up and hoof it up there. Our decision to leave the car is vindicated on our return as we find a large bus has tried to negotiate the section and broken down causing something of a traffic jam. We’re glad to be able to smile sweetly and get in our car and drive off!
Despite our fondness for waterfalls, we have sometimes been disappointed when the reality doesn’t match the hype. So we were pleased that, after all the driving and the extra walk, the Siete Tazas was worth the journey. They are essentially a cascade of waterfalls like champagne flowing from one glass into the next – not sure I counted 7 (or 6 falls, I suppose) but still to see them receding up the canyon was impressive enough. Whilst we only saw a handful of other people whilst we were there, the ample parking area and swish boardwalk and viewing platform suggest that in summer this place gets really busy. Goodness knows how they all get here.
From here there was a trail that led further downstream to a viewing point for Salto la Leona (Lioness waterfall). This was a 50m fall into a turquoise pool. We were hot and dusty by this point – the dust had caked nicely on the suncream on the parts of our feet left exposed by our sandals. A dip in the pool would have been very refreshing but that would have required a further walk along and down the valley side – and then, harder yet, a walk back up the other side. Besides, time was dragging on and we had at least a couple of hours driving ahead of us – half of that on dirt track.
Once back in the car, we counted down the kilometres until we got back onto proper road. We heard a couple of clangs and thumps as stones got thrown up against the car but nothing worse than that and after a quick inspection we couldn’t spot anything that was materially different from when we picked the car up. Even after I collect my 4wd Ateca, I’m not sure I’d want to take it down that road. After all that exertion we remembered another of our favourite things – pizza! We just about had the energy to walk to a nearby restaurant where we could contemplate another good day – but one with a longer/harder drive than we had anticipated.