We made the most of what Elki Magic in Vicuna had to offer. We hired bikes, Adeline briefed us on their recommende route and supplied detailed maps, her husband Lincoln drove us out to Pisco Elqui for us to ride back to Vicuna. We met Hendrik and Francine from Canada who were also being transported out to cycle back, but were being dropped off at Alcohuaz further out than our start point. Even though the Elqui valley has only a handful of days of rain per year, the valleys are so green with orange and avocado orchards and lots of vine yards. Everything is irrigated from the river Elqui which is fed by a constant supply of water from the Andes. The grapes are grown for wine production, drying out for raisens but more importantly for Pisco. Pisco is a Brandy type spirit and is the basis for Pisco sour - Chiles national drink (a mixture of Pisco, Lemon and various fruit juices). Pisco sour is also Peru's national drink and there is a perpetual and heated argument between the two countries of which country produced Pisco first. There is a village in Peru called Pisco, not to be out done Chile renamed a town - Pisco Elqui, so it also had a 'Pisco' named village. A lady from Santiago also got dropped off at Pisco Elqui to ride back to Vicuna. Adeline at Elki Magic tried to persuade the lady to do a different tour / activity as she hadn't ridden a cycle for at least 20 years but she insisted she would be okay. Before we could set off I had to adjust her saddle height for her and show her how to use the gears and brakes. I went to great lengths to ensure she knew not just to use the front brake on it's own especially as a lot of the route was downhill. Lincoln had promised to check on her as he drove back after dropping off Hendrik & Francine, and drive her back if she found it all too much. We rolled downhill out of Pisco Elqui, the scenery and weather was superb and the little traffic we encountered was very bike friendly. We made plenty of photo stops and had lunch in the village of Paihuano with Simon and Garfunkel's 'Bridge over troubled waters' being pumped out of the Plaza PA system. Shortly after we left the tarmac to follow a dirt road along the river. By the end of the dirt track Donna's seat post had dropped down into the frame and she was sitting far too low. I adjusted the saddle height put a touch more tension on the seat post bolt and closed the quick release, 'Ping' the bolt broke - shi#! We had the option to phone Elki magic who would drive out and change the bike but I decided we would soldier on. I gave Donna my seat pin bolt, so Donna could ride as normal and instead my saddle would be way too low. The downhill changed to flat, the dirt to tarmac then back to dirt and sand. After 4 or 5 miles of my knees coming up to my waist I spotted some discarded bamboo - a plan for saddle repair. After cutting the bamboo to the right length, I removed the saddle and seat post, pushed the bamboo down into the seat tube and then put the seat post back in position. The bamboo would keep the seat post and saddle at the right height, but the saddle would swivel. Just as I was effecting this repair Hendrik & Francine arrived and offered help. We told them to carry on and said we would see them at the Brewery. The repair worked great, except sometimes when mounting my bike the saddle swivelled and I was sitting side saddle whilst facing forward! We stopped at Guayacan Brewery, it was an hour to wait for a brewery tour which would have made it a really long day so we opted just for the tasting instead. Six different brews in glasses that totalled almost a litre. We shared the 6 glasses but as Donna only liked 2 of them I had to drink the Lions share. Back on the road and by now it must have been 30 Deg C - hot, hot, hot. We couldn't quite decide if we should take the right dirt road fork or the tarmac left fork - we had only just started down the dirt road fork when we spotted Lincoln driving the other way on the tarmac with a bike on the back - going away from Vicuna? Another obligatory stop at a Pisco distillery. We had a free tour, it was in Spanish but we understood enough and then some free Pisco cocktail samples. Soon afterwards we were back at Elki Magic, our saddle problem had been reported by Hendrik and Francine who missed the turning for the brewery and didn't taste the beer. When we saw Lincoln earlier he was looking for us to change our broken bike for a good one. He never saw us as we were on the dirt track fork which turned out to be the wrong one. Adeline and Lincoln were really impressed with my repair and that I had a spare length of bamboo strapped to my rucsac ready for a further repair if necessary! A great ride in the sunshine through dramatic scenery and a real ale stop - what more could we have asked for? Adeline also helped us with info on buses to our next destination. When we arrived in Vicuna we thought we had made a mistake coming here, but with help from Elki Magic we hiked, cycled, windsurfed, gazed at galaxies, quaffed beer, sipped Pisco and had a thoroughly great time. What happened to Santiago lady? She made it back but did go over the handlebars when trying to stop just using the front brake! She was unhurt and had a great cycle ride as well.