First published: 06/02/18.

Michael Anak Kenyalang 5.0

Sewell Mining Town

Sewell Mining Town (Inscribed)

Sewell Mining Town by Jonas Kremer

There are less information of how to get there, so I'm sharing the one I did and hope it helps anyone who intend to go. First, there's no direct bus from Santiago and you're permitted to get in on your one car. The easiest way is to book a tour with Fundación Sewell online (fundacionsewell@gmail.com). This is a non profit organization that's related to Sewell and it's way cheaper than those tours offered online.

But then you have to know that you have to go to the meeting point. Here's what I did. Take a bus from Santiago and specified that you have to drop at Terminal O'Higgins Rancagua (cos there are TWO terminals). Then walk from the terminal to the meeting point at their office, it's about 10-15 mins walk if you googled the route. After the safety video we departed with tourist bus around 10am. The journey takes around 1 hour.

I was lucky to have a good English speaking guide Anitza. Though she explained most of the time in Spanish to the Chilenos but she would explain to me in English for things that I don't understand. We started at the El Teniente Club with a video regarding history of Sewell, then the guide explained a bit of the surrounding and itinerary.

We went to see the living quarters of the miners. At lunch time you can have the pre booked lunch or your can bring your own and have it at the miners restaurant. I was lucky to meet some miners and took photo with them at the restaurant when they came for lunch. After lunch we visited the first bowling alley in Chile where the miners used to have competition everyday and also you can ask you guide for the spooky ghost story about this place. Then we went to the little church and finally the museum.

I strongly recommend the museum. It housed one of the most complete copper related items in the world. The ground floor has some minerals found close to the copper mine and a gift shop. The first floor is more to the tools used in copper mining and also some daily life of Sewell mining town in the past. Then the second floor has a vast collection of copper made items and artifacts from around the world. It will change your mind of how people from around the world use copper from past to present.

And finally after the museum, we were lucky to have one hour to play with the snow. It's recommend to come during winter as it's covered with snow everywhere. You can throw a snowball or built a snowman. It was really fun. But make sure you bring waterproof shoes and windproof jacket as it tend to be cold outdoor.

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