Rapel Lake

In the middle of August, there was a three-day weekend in Chile, so Claudio and I wanted to make the most of it and go to a new place. Our original idea was to stay in a cabaña with a jacuzzi in Termas de Chillán, but it seems everyone else in the country had the same idea, as all of the cabañas in the area were fully booked. (Hopefully we will get to go there some other time!)

In the end we decided to go on a day trip instead. As we'd been to the snowy mountains the previous weekend and to the beach the weekend before that, I had the idea of going to a lake in the countryside, in order to do something completely different. So we chose to go to Rapel Lake, which is actually an artificially-created reservoir located in the O'Higgins region, the next region down from Santiago Metropolitan Region. I had actually never visited anywhere in this region before (I'd only ever passed through by bus) so it was nice to get to know a new area of the country. (Now I've been to 10 of Chile's 16 regions - I hope to explore them all some day!)

The journey took longer than we expected, but after a few hours, the stunning blue lake finally came into view. Unfortunately, actually getting access to it was more difficult than we anticipated, as a lot of the area around it is private. So we went to have lunch at a nearby restaurant and had a look at Google Maps to figure out where to go next.

First we ended up going to a small amphitheatre on the shore of the lake. It was nice to have access to the lake at last, and there were nice views of the mountains and trees from there, but the actual area itself was a bit swampy and unattractive.

Next we went to a beach that was mainly being used for fishing. Again, this area had some nice views, but it was quite run-down looking with lots of rubbish on the ground.

Up to this point, Rapel Lake had been a bit of a disappointing experience. But then as we were driving across the bridge that goes back in the direction of Santiago, we noticed some people offering boat rides. We got out of the car, and found out that we were just in time for the last ride of the day, which was very lucky!

The boat trip really was just the experience we were hoping for. It was amazing to sail around the lake at sunset, seeing the different birdlife (including herons and pelicans) on and around the water, and enjoying the views of the mountains, palm trees, forests and cabañas. There were even some over-water cabañas that reminded me of pictures I've seen of the Maldives - I think they would be a great place to stay in summer.

Overall, our trip to Rapel Lake was a nice little adventure, and we're thinking of going back there in the summer to go swimming.

Right now I'm actually back in England again, and I'll be here for the next three weeks. Although I was really happy to move to Chile, it's definitely nice to be back here for a holiday! I'm hoping to do a bit of travelling during my time here, including trips to London and to the beach in Wales. So watch this space!