La Serena May 7 - 9

We arrived in La Serena after a seven hour bus journey and decided to walk to find a hostel as the taxis were trying to rip us off and our Spanish is not yet up to scratch to barter. We found Aji Verde, a cute little place on a back street and checked in for a couple of nights.

A couple of guys from the hostel were heading out to the Elqui Valley the following day so we jumped on the bandwagon and booked ourselves on too. Initially we were going to do it independently but it seemed like a big hassle and the experience wouldn't have been so good. Also staying at the hostel were a couple of girls we met in Valparaiso and they just happened to be going onto San Pedro next so we arranged to meet.

La Serena itself is a huge tourist destination amongst South Americans during the summer as apparently it boasts a great beach although we didn't actually see it. It is also home to many churches and the University of La Serena. Many backpackers use it as a base to explore the Elqui Valley and surrounding areas.

That evening we headed out for dinner which was a bit dissapointing, but we did get a free pisco with lemon which went down a treat. I may have to find some back home although we have been informed its about ten times the price!

The following morning we were picked up by the tour company and joined a couple of older Aussies, a french girl and a Chilean family for our trip to the Elqui Valley.

This place is a geographic configuration, which is unique in the world. It is a narrow, but fertile strip of land where vegetables, papayas, lucuma, cherimoya trees (custard apple), and grapes grow alongside the hillsides, covered with cacti, of the semi arid desert.

The tour heads for Vicuna going alongside the banks of the river Elqui that provides irrigation for this fertile valley. The newly constructed Puclaro dam will eventually hold 200 million cubic meters of water, and is used to provide water for irrigation as it is one of the driest areas on the planet. On the mountaintop the white domes of the Tololo Observatory can be spotted,located her because of the clearest atmosphere in the world. No less surprising are the vineyards, with different varieties of Moscatel and Torontel grapes which are used to make one of the most characteristic liquors of Chile, “Pisco" which is produced and bottled in the region.

The tour of the ABA pisco distillery shows you the processes involved in the distillation of wine into this clear liquor. It's one of the oldest processes in the world. Having tried Pisco numerous times we were pretty excited about this, but the first one was about 70 percent alcohol and burnt your throat so most of us passed the remainders onto a dutch guy who finished of 5 or 6 glasses. The second was only 40 precent alcohol and slightly more bearable but still not drinkable straight - the way they made us drink it! The best one was a mix of Pisco and Mango which went down a treat! Vicuña is the main town of the valley, 60 kilometers from La Serena, and is also noted for being the birthplace of Gabriela Mistral, the Nobel Prize winner for literature.

We went to see the Bauer Tower (old city hall), Vicuña's church and the main square. Leaving Vicuña behind the valley narrows and the mountains become higher and steep sided with the contrasting green vineyards occupying the valley floor. Here the vines are grown for the early exportation of table grapes from the Port of Coquimbo.

Lunch was in a village restaurant where they cook using only solar power. You will have to see the pictures but they have various panels where they place pots to cook the food. It was amazing to see this way of living and the food was pretty tasty too. I didn't dare try the goat but the desert looked like a brain but was infact a dried peach! A beer with lunch meant that we all felt pretty sleepy and struggled to stay awake for the next leg of the trip.

All of the villages in the valley have their own football team and pitch and we were lucky enough to see a match in play. They have a real passion for it over here and of course love the Premiership too.

The tour begins its descent down the valley, stopping at the tomb of Gabriela Mistral in the village of Montegrande and a visit to the old schoolhouse where she spent her childhood and is now a small museum.

We headed back to La Serena, arriving about 6pm after a really good day, helped by a great guide that spoke Spanish and English and took a liking to Zara!

We had another quiet evening, and spent the next day seeing the sites of La Serena - which doesn't take long, and buying warmer clothes in preparation for our trip to the Salar de Uyuni where temperatures reach minus 15 at night!