Going “Out of Town”

After the city of Valparaiso, there are not many big places to visit, as Chile starts to get more spread out. Our first stop going north was La Serena, which was the starting point of the Atacama Desert region.

La Serena is a small town, about the size of Reading, and where we realised how cold it can get at night. Chileans do not like the cold, and will wear multiple layers during the day even when the sun is out. Even more oddly though, they very rarely heat their homes or restaurants, which can lead to people sitting in outside coats while sipping a beer or having.a meal.

We eventually had to turn the oven on to heat the main room in the Airbnb that we rented, just to get some heat. On the other hand, they do like lots of layers of bed clothes to keep them warm at night. I guess there’s a reason why Chileans have so many children compared to the West…

La Serena is quite a pretty town. It has a long beach, which in summer gets very busy; which has a lighthouse as a focal point. The town itself is about a mile inland. It is typical of these parts as it has a lovely square, with a large church beside it, and the main shopping street nearby.

As in the rest of Chile everything goes to sleep at lunchtime on Saturday afternoon until Monday morning, except for bars and restaurants on a Saturday night. We had a few days here, just relaxing, and getting cold at night!

We then moved inland and up much higher, to a place called Pisco Elqui. On a rickety old bus, with all the locals, we ended up in a delightful small town which is the centre of pisco-making. This is a white brandy, and a main drink in Chile and Peru – but don’t ask who invented it as you will start arguments!

We had found a lovely adobe hut to rent. Down a small alley, we were met by the owner’s father, Marcos. He showed us round the hut, and thirty seconds later, said his goodbyes. It was brilliant as it literally was one room with a bed and couch and a shower room which had water heated by the desert sun.

We had hit Pisco Elqui at a quiet time as we reckon there may have been two other people staying in this delightful town. Although it only has about two thousand people there, it is a major tourist centre, and can easily double or triple in size in the summer – or for the upcoming total eclipse in a couple of weeks.

We wandered around the picturesque town, but also headed up the valley to see the oldest pisco distillery in Chile. Without any English-speaking guides, the tour was a little odd, but since each distillery has to provide its own grapes, they are not very big, or complicated, sites. We understood the tasting session though!

Another great trip was to the observatory. This valley is famous for grapes and growing vegetables and fruit, but was also the first place in the world to be declared a “dark sky” region. It is now host to a myriad of tourist and scientific observatories due the clear skies, height above sea level and lack of humidity due to the nearby desert.

We visited a tourist observatory further down the valley, where there did appear to be more tourists, and saw an amazing night sky. Through two different telescopes we saw everything from Jupiter and its four moons, to nebulae and galaxies. With the naked eye too, we could see so many stars.

Having said it was quiet, in Pisco Elqui we had a great time. One night the only place open was food was a little shop where the husband and wife cooked us chorillanos; whilst another stayed open for us after the observatory visit, and we all sat eating our dinner in coats and scarves.

We are now starting to see more of the remote side of Chile, and our next move is into the Atacama itself.