[3] When the second survey voyage of HMS Beagle arrived at Valparaiso on 23 July 1834, Charles Darwin took residence ashore to explore the area.

They reached the Hacienda de San Isidro, sited at the foot of Cerro La Campana, and on the morning of 16 August after being given a guide and fresh horses they began their ascent.

In the evening they camped at a spring named the Agua del Guanaco, then on the next morning climbed the "rough mass" of fragmented greenstone to the summit, where they spent the day.

Who can avoid admiring the wonderful force which has upheaved these mountains, & even more so the countless ages which it must have required to have broken through, removed & levelled whole masses of them?"

After another evening talking round their camp fire, they descended on the following day by a different route to the Hacienda, and continued on to Quillota on their way to Santiago.