Norte Chico

Four day weekend = travel.

When you have a country that stretches 2460 miles from north to south, that leaves you a lot of possible travel destinations.   The nice thing was we knew we wanted to drive so we were limited to about 400 miles north or south.  And, as we headed about that far south on our last vacation, north it was.  But what is that far north of Santiago?

Lucky for us it was the Elqui Valley.

The Elqui Valley has been on our list of things to see since we arrived almost 3 years ago.  But we didn't really want to drive 7 hours with our kids when they were really little so we had put it off.  Until now.

Thursday morning I dressed our kids in their Halloween outfits (it was Halloween after all.  And yes, this is probably the last year that they are little enough to miss Halloween without missing Halloween.  I am not horrible, they did trick or treat - just not on the actual day), packed the car with snacks and a lot of electronics and we were on our way.  We left just after breakfast hoping to make it in time for dinner!

And we did.

It was 5 pm when we pulled into the parking lot. Low on gas (we should have stopped as the nearest gas station was 20 miles away), high on pent up energy.  What was the first thing the girls did?

This...

And promptly decide that it really was too cold to swim in.  Though MadHatter did make a few remarks about how maybe she and Daddy were tough enough to handle it.

It was a short walk up the steps to our dome.  Yep, dome.  When we decided to do this trip we decided we didn't want to make it just another trip.  We wanted to really do something different.  So we booked our stay at the Elqui Domos.  They are the only astronomic hotel in the Southern Hemisphere and we got to sleep in a dome!  (I think I was more excited than they were).  The 7 domes can each sleep 4 and have a detachable roof above the 2nd story bed.  Our bed.  The one we were very afraid of falling out of at night.  You see, the bed is about the only thing on the second floor.  The stairs are steep and with no railing, a bit dangerous.  Then you hit the second floor and you see that you have a Queen size bed with about 6 inches of space on all sides.  With sheer drop offs...on all sides.   Sure, they put 2 wires around the space to keep you in but it could never have done the job it was intended to do.  Needless to say, B and I slept fitfully that first night thinking we may wake up on top of one of the kids below...

And their second favorite thing about the room - there was no key.  You simply unzipped your doorway.

They were instantly enthralled!  

Opening the door.

Not the best picture of the platform but you can see that there are no sides or even a lot of room.  Off of the end of the pillows, it is a straight drop.

As great as the hotel grounds were, there was a lot to see in the Elqui Valley.  So we set out early the next morning.  We spent about 45 minutes driving around and taking in the scenery.  Ok, the truth is, we spent that time going back into the nearest town to get gas and then start our day.  (I mentioned above that we should have gotten gas!)

I love the stark, brown mountains that turn almost instantly into green.  Granted they are irrigated and tended pisco grape fields but it does make a great picture.

Won't be taking this one any time soon.

 We were back in Elqui by about 10 am.  And since we didn't plan on doing our tour at Mistral until about 2, we had some time to kill.  Which was fine with everyone as the town of Elqui (which doesn't really exist but that is too hard to explain here) is charming, and colorful and sooooo full of history...

They sat and told secrets, and giggled.  Probably about us...

 

 

We had booked tomorrows horseback ride, walked, jumped and run through most of the town, made new friends on the playground, dipped our hands in the local fountain and now decided we might be hungry.  Ok.  The famous Mistral it is for lunch...

 Mistral.  One of the largest producers of Pisco in Chile. In the world.  They take their name from the nobel laureate Gabriela Mistral, born in the Elqui Valley.  Great...but what is Pisco?  It is a colorless brandy made from grapes made only in Chile and Peru.  And let's not get into the fight on who discovered it, perfected it and still produces the best Pisco.  It is a bone of contention between the two countries and asking for a Pisco Sour Peruana in Chile could get you in a lot of trouble.  Or at least maybe a little extra something in it when they bring it to you.  Both countries pride themselves on being the originators of Pisco...All I know is that I like their sours.  And I like the views from their distilleries.

 

We had lunch here (see above) with a pisco sour, of course, and then headed out on the tour.  I thought it would be just like the vineyard tours (they are using grapes after all) but it differed in a few ways.  Basically Pisco is an over fermented wine.  They must use one of three varietals of grape - all Muscat - and only the Peruvian makers can use the Pisco name (though in the U.S. you can find Chilean versions with the Pisco brand).   

The three R's - Rigoberto Rodriguez Rodriguez...The best pisco maker in town.

She got to drive the tractor ;)

And she assumed the usual position.

As much as I love Pisco Sours, I found out that I do not love Pisco straight. 

She was ready to go...She spied something that she really wanted to try out...

This playground...

And while her dad and I tried Pisco sours (for the first time, really...) the girls enjoyed playing here...

  And then we headed off for our second tour of the day.  This time to the oldest Pisco maker in Chile, Los Nichos (which happens to be the original house of Rigoberto Rodriguez Rodriguez interestingly enough).  The process is the pretty much the same, the girls were tired and I was about out of patience.  So I took pictures of the scenery...

  

 Day one summary...We drank too many Pisco Sours to be safe sleeping in that platform bed.

Tomorrow - The horseback ride through this beautiful country!