As you all already may know, I’m tackling my Chile bucket one destination at a time and over this past weekend, I got to cross another one off the list. I visited the Chilean National Reserve Radal Siete Tazas located in the 7th region of Chile, about 180 miles away from the capital of Santiago.
What Happened?
I grabbed my tent and a couple of friends and we were off to explore. Most Campgrounds and Cabins don’t take reservations in this area so everything is on a first come, first serve basis. I had a feeling that this was going to be complicated because we were in February and we were a large group of 20 people. Yup, 20.
We wanted to stay in the “Parque Ingles” of the reserve because it was the closest to the waterfalls and hiking trails that we wanted to see during the weekend. Little did we know that 2,000 other people wanted to stay in the same area of the reserve. It was going to be almost impossible to organize 4 cars with no reservation and different arrival times for each car.
Side note: The month of February is the best and worse month to come to Chile. It’s the heart of the summer season and every single region has something for any kind of travelers. The only thing you can’t do is Ski, its too hot. It’s also the month where huge percentages of Chileans take advantage of the weather and go on vacation. Some take a weekend for a short get-away, others take their 15-paid business days and completely disconnect. Anything that is less than 5 hours driving distance from Santiago is usually overflowing with people and Sunday traffic back into the city can be a nightmare.
To make a long story short, let me fill you in with details that you need to know if you’re planning on coming to this area.
Number 1: Get Here Early
To help on crowd control, CONAF (National Forest Corporation) will only allow people to go into the park up until 3 pm during the month of February. If they see that the place is starting to overflow earlier than three, then they will limit the access to the park and wait for vehicles to leave so that new cars can come in. Once you are actually in the park, the majority of the road is just a one-way street. Just imagine what can happen when cars park in places where they aren’t supposed to and a 45-passenger bus is trying to get out. Yea…
Number 2: Be Patient
15 miles before reaching the park, the roads are no longer paved. Drive slowly, respect others around you if you have to wait in line to get into the park, and understand that everyone has different fitness levels. I saw people taking their 2-month-old baby on this hike and I saw 75-year-old grannies walking down to the lookouts.
Number 3: There is Room for Everyone
It may not be inside the park, but every mile there were campsites or cabins that you can rent. You can definitely come to the reserve, but like I said in my first point. Get here early. Prices can range from 2.500 CLP (5 USD) to 10.000 CLP (20 USD) per person/per night. Everything must be paid for in cash.
We made it to the 7 tazas
We ended up finding the most amazing place just around the corner from “Puente Pancho” (which is about 10 miles from the entrance to the “Siete Tazas”) called Cabañas “Ya llegue” which is translated to “I’ve arrived”. A lovely woman named Elena who was happy to take us in and let us use all her green area to set up camp greeted us. She had a private access to the “Claro” River, which ended up being one of the best spots of the weekend.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfbLW4uBc5t/?taken-by=mujicaaandrea
We grilled, we jumped off cliffs, we went to the National reserve for the day, we swam under an amazing waterfall, and the weather was amazing. We didn’t get to camp out in the place that we originally planned for but we ended up finding something even better. We had such a great time that we didn’t want the weekend the end. You may think it’s hard to organize a trip with 20 people…but we’ve been doing it for years that it’s just second nature.
If there is anything that I have learned after all these years living in Chile is that things rarely happen the way you plan. Just go with the flow and everything will work out the way it’s supposed to be. The Monica-like tendencies in me struggle with this every day but I don’t think I have a time, place, or moment in Chile when things don’t work out in my favor. And for that, Chile, I am grateful.
https://www.facebook.com/whereshegoesTODAY/videos/1665858043507450/
It looks like we are going to be going on a lot of short weekend adventures. Don’t miss out on any of them by making sure you follow me on Instagram. I’m always uploading Insta-Stories and let me tell you, I’m quite the hoot.
Remember when you give good, you get good.
