A day trip to Pirque

This weekend a coworker lent us his car as the paperwork for mine has been delayed. On Saturday we stayed in town, barbecuing with friends, but on Sunday we all decided to go for a day trip. The question is where to go with a borrowed car, on short notice? So we took out the Chile travel guides, and opened to the "day trips from Santiago" page. We settled on the area near Pirque because it is near Santiago (Río Clarillo) with a river to swim in. This last one was our primary target.

So we packed up the borrowed car (a 1999 Jetta almost identical to the one we sold before coming to Chile, down to the radio problems) and headed off with two other families. The usual hilarity ensued, with fueling up, stopping at Starbucks, mid-trip potty breaks for an "in-training" toddler, etc. Eventually we all got there, parked the cars, took our stuff to a point near the river, and enjoyed what the park has to offer. My impressions:

Rating (0=hated, 5=ok, 10=absolutely must see):
4 out of 10.

Getting there is pretty easy, but you'll need a map to plan the route as the signs are not very good. You drive through Pirque and right past Cancha y Toro (stop in if you feel like taking the tour), make a couple of turns (where you need the map) and you end up in the entrance to the park. We had a 20min wait as they are very slow to process the payments for each car. Also, people let 3 cars cut in front, which had me pretty upset and I made sure to let them know.

In this time of year, the park is packed. It is the height of summer, and even people who are not on vacation take the weekends to get out of town. I'm told that all the parks are usually full on the weekends. We were told there were no more bbq spots available, which we didn't want, and we told them that we just wanted to go to the river and have a picnic. They said ok, have fun.

We drove another 4km on a dirt/rocky road that was very dusty. This turnout to be the biggest problem with the park: it is a dust bowl. There is a lot of vegetation, but the ground is dust+rocks. Lots of uneven steps, round rocks, tripping hazards, etc. The park's infrastructure doesn't include clearing/fixing paths, though they have some rudimentary steps where necessary. We parked the car, grabbed kids+bags and proceeded to walk another 5 mins or so down to the river.

Here our excitement quickly turned to dismay. The park was jam packed. There was nowhere to put down. We knew the bbq areas (with their tables) were taken, but what we didn't know is that to sit on the ground (and in the shade) we would have to put a blanket at the root of one of the low trees, in the middle of some pathway, and near someone else's "camp". The ground wasn't flat, it was full of rocks, dust everywhere, you couldn't stand up under the trees, and people were walking next to us. Worse, there was nowhere for the kids to play.

Luckily, one of our friends went out with his twins to scope out other locations. Another 5 min walk downstream led us to a less populated part of the park, and we even found an open table with an area for the kids to play. It was a bit further from the river, but it was fine.

We settled in, fed the kids a bit and went to explore the waters. Unfortunately, all of us had an expectation of sitting by the shore, watching the kids play. The river was all boulders and rocks. The water itself was great. Cool, clear, a gentle current, with some nice pools and small (1 ft.) waterfalls. I didn't bring my swimsuit! What a boneheaded move! Definitely bring one everywhere you go.

Luckily, my wife brought a bathing suit for our daughter, who loved sitting on the rocks and splashing her feet on the water, and taking a swim with the one adult in our group that had a bathing suit. She had fun, and the river salvaged an otherwise bad experience. But outside of the river, we all could think only of leaving. Too many people, too much dust, not enough peace and quiet, or areas to explore, too many flies...

There might have been better areas of the park to see, or another time when there were less people. And the river was genuinely fun to be in. But I have to say that I hope our next park experience is better. I also have to keep in mind that this was a hasty trip and it was poorly planned. We got there late and were already a bit tired, so we didn't explore the park. Had we decided to stay in town overnight we would have been able to see the town, the vinyard, and still go for a swim in the park.

My final veredict: the river was great, the rest was disappointing. But I'm willing to give it another chance.

Pictures forthcoming.