The Elqui Valley and the ‘Pisco Sour’

La Serena and its close neighbour sit on edge of the Pacific about 1 hr north of Santiago by plane. A slightly problematic journey from Pt Montt saw me landing in a town not even mentioned on the ticket (turns out to be the coastal city of Concepcion south of Santiago). Following the confusion and my realisation that the airport did not look at all similar to the one in Santiago (the expected destination for the flight) saw me back on another plane and heading for Santiago…confused?...I was!

A third short flight from Santiago to La Serena parted me from my bags….a second piece of confusion leading to their overnight stay in Santiago! Anyway, I was met at La Serena by Karin and arrangements were made to deliver my bags the next day. A much needed few days of rest in La Serena followed.

Saturday morning involved a great run on the sands of La Serena beach with Karin and a visit to the local market for food. Later, more excellent seafood in a beachfront ‘Picada’ allowed me to sample again the excellent ‘Corvina’ (bass) and the empanadas (small pasties, in this case filled with seafood and cheese). Chilean wines are obviously a mainstay here…deep bottle bases and odd years apparently marking their likelihood for vintage status!

Sunday involved an all day trip to the stunning Elqui valley and to the remote village of Pisco Elqui. Passing the dam and heading into the valley leads to steadily rising temperatures and an increase in the amount of valley land devoted to growing grapes…in this case not for wine but for making ‘Pisco’, a grape spirit that forms the alcoholic basis of the universal ‘Pisco Sour’ (more on that later). Apart from the river that runs through the valley, it is very dry. The contrast between the grape farms (and papaya/avocado farms) in the valley bottom and the red-gold sand of the slopes in this part of the Andes is pretty stunning.

The topography of the valley becomes more and more extreme as the road winds to Pisco Elqui (the birthplace of Chilean Nobel laureate Gabriella Mistral and home to a religious and rather bohemian community - the boy in the photo is concetrating hard on his Chilean flag during a catholic festival taking place in the village). Despite the heat, we found a really nice restaurant in the shade of the palms and sampled the local delicacy…’Lomo’….a very large beef steak with higher fat levels that most other beef steak. Barbecued, it was delicious, particularly with a beer and the view of the mountains that overlook the whole of this tiny village.

Heading back towards La Serena after a great day, we purchased a bottle of local ‘Pisco’ and some special ‘Pica’ lemons (very small and aromatic) for production of the Pisco Sour…two parts Pisco, one part Pica lemon juice/or blitzed whole lemons and some sugar. Normally served as an aperitif prior to seafood but great at any time. I convinced myself that the high vitamin C content of the drink would somehow protect me from the morning after effects but alas not.

Look at these pictures of the valley! Back to work tomorrow and more presentations to the staff and students of Universidad Catolica del Norte. Chao!

p.s. in case you didn´t know, you can double click on any of the photos in the blog and you will see them full size.