#3: [22-Nov-04]

#1: [30-Dec-01]

08-Mar-2002 -- Together with my girlfriend Alena and my Chilean friend Cristobal we visited the confluence at 33°S and 71°W.

The point is approx. 50km NW from Chiles capital Santiago.

To get there Cristobal was driving Routa 5 to the North to Tiltil. On the way to it, the monument of Manuel Rodriguez can be visited. After Tiltil we used a minor gravel road to get to Caleu. On the way to it we found a entry to a natur site supported by UN were we entered. A bad and steep road was leading uphill and after a while it was time to have a picnic. The village of Caleu was easy to see in the valley (#6) and it was also obvious, that the confluence must be there. Since we used the Chilean Turistel map, we thought we had to do a longer walk in the mountains, but the map is quite incorrect. The confluence is in the village itself.

In the village itself we took the road till there was a door (approx. 160m away from the confluence) with a big dog waiting. But the people there were friendly and opened their property to us and let us find the piont. The point itself is just behind a barbed wire fence of the property, which is a nice plantage of all kinds of fruits like lemon, fig, tuna (cactus fig) and apples.

We got more and more excited coming closer to the confluence- it should be our first confluence!! . Finally I was able to locate the spot (#1). Exactly S33°00'00.00" - W71°00'00.00" !!!
The readings (#7)have been very acurate with an error of 4m. Several tries found exactly the same spot  in an area of 2m. The confluence is surrounded by trees (#3 & #4) and shrubs (#5) Finally we hope,  that this was the 1st submitted visit of a confluence of Chile, since the landowner told us that another party was there just two weeks ago...

Anyway, it was a nice trip and the valley where the confluence is, is extremly beautyful. Even the current President of Chile has a cabain there. On the way back to Santiago we had the almost bad luck to hit him in his car right after Caleu.
So this was it.

I have to thank first my friend Cristobal and his family from Santiago for their kindness and for letting us stay in their house and feel like home as well as my girlfriend Alena for the great four weeks of holiday and finally Frank Reifegerste from Dresden, who lent me his GPS-device.