view just outside of town As we made our way south from Atacama, we decided to take a bus break and spend a night in La Serena. Flipping through our Lonely Planet for things to do around there, we were excited to learn that the nearby Elqui Valley is famous as a hot spot for paranormal activity, with numerous reported UFO sightings and a population of crystal-power practitioners. The valley also boasts production of some of the best pisco (a liquor made from distilled grapes) in Chile. Hoping to get in on the action, we threw on our tinfoil helmets and caught the next bus to Pisco Elqui.
what the heck was he going on about? Although we didn't end up meeting any obvious extraterrestrials (we weren't sure about a few of the locals), we did see some excellent starry night skies while relaxing in our hostel's garden. We also gained some insight into how pisco is made by taking a tour of the distillery just outside of town. This is what I learned from the hour long tour: pisco has something to do with grapes, and it's painfully boring to sit through a tour when you can't understand what the tour guide is saying. Although our spanish isn't terrible, we have a hard time making out the Chilean accent, especially when people (such as our mile-a-minute tour guide) speak too quickly. Despite our powerful desire to sneak away and run, we stuck it out until the end and scored a few tiny free samples. When you haven't had a paying job in almost a year, your perception of the value of time becomes very skewed.
Pisco Elqui itself is a nice and quaint town, a good place to be chili and enjoy the surrounding dry and hilly landscape. There's something about sitting in the eerie silence while watching the first few stars appear above the neighbouring mountains that makes you feel like there may indeed be something out there... though the bottles of pisco nectar (like a very sweet wine) may have had something to do with it.
After a couple nights of failed alien-spotting, we were ready to get back on the road and continue south to Santiago and beyond!
If someones bein' mean,
Hit them with a bean-
flavoured fart.
~Mandrew
After a couple nights of failed alien-spotting, we were ready to get back on the road and continue south to Santiago and beyond!
If someones bein' mean,
Hit them with a bean-
flavoured fart.
~Mandrew
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