Dec 9, 2007
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Woke up a bit later than usual and was ready by 9 AM.I did not have a good sleep last night as there are some guests at the hotel who come in really late and create a racket for an hour or so afterwards. A drunken guest fiddled with the lock on my door for a few minutes (at 1 AM) until I was forced to open the door and give him an evil stare. He mumbled an apology and went to find his room.
Post breakfast, Hector and I chatted a few minutes about these folks and Hector´s history before moving to La Serena. His Sister was in Switzerland for 20+ years before moving to La Serena. Hector owned a restaurant in Santiago. Over time he could not handle it. Since his sister and her husband could not handle La Serena, Hector bought their place and renamed it Res Suiza (in honour of her stay in Switzerland) and converted it to a B&B.
The Vehicle from INGSERVTUR pulled up during our chat and I boarded it. It was a minivan and there were 2 ladies from Spain who would also be part of the tour.One of them was my age and the other appeared to be her mom. The driver/guide gave a brief city tour and then proceeded to Vicuna. For the 3rd time in 2 days, I was travelling this route!
Our first stop was the CAPEL Pisco Distillery (Planta Capel del Elqui) just outside Vicuna. While we waited for the distillery tour to start, I conversed with the young lady who spoke good English. She had been travelling for a month or so now and was on a sabbatical from work until June 2008. The older lady was a close friend of her mother´s who was accompanying her on part of her travels for 6 weeks or so before heading back to Spain. The younger one would then continue on to more places in South America, New York City and concluding the vacation in Australia before returning to Spain. Sounded a lot like my adventure.
The guided tour of the distillery showcased the process of making PISCO from grapes. The subterranean room where the tour was being conducted smelled strongly of alcohol.The tour was entirely in Spanish and I caught some dribs and drabs of Information. We did not get to see the actual distilling process in the plant. At the end of our tour we were taken to a tasting room and I opted to taste a Mango flavoured Pisco. Having being diluted to 12% alcohol, it turned out to be quite decent. I purchased a 40% proof of Pisco regular for CLP 500 (US$1.1) as a souvenir. It will certainly need to be diluted before consumption.
I took a few pictures and we headed onwards to PAIHUANO. Enroute we stopped at a valley to take a few more pictures. After crossing Paihuano, we stopped at Monte Grande – the birthplace of the Nobel laureate - Gabriela Mistral (aka?). We visited her school, her dorm and her mausoleum before continuing to Pisco Elqui. I learned (for the first time) that there was a Chilean Nobel Laureate before Pablo Neruda!
The driver kept up a running commentary all through (in Spanish, of course). I was more or less getting the drift of it. The younger woman translated or clarified things from time to time for me. The weather was yet again gorgeous - Blue sky and not a cloud in the sky. We reached the quaint village of Pisco Elqui and spent around 20 minutes in the main plaza. Being a Sunday, services were being conducted in the local church and it was well attended.
Chile is 90% catholic and most folks do attend Church on Sundays. I had an ice-cream while the ladies went souvenir shopping.
Post-Helado (Ice-cream) we headed to a small village called VILLACECA for Lunch. The food here is cooked using Solar energy. With over 300+ days of sunshine in a year, it seemed an
excellent way to conserve fossil fuel. Being a vegetarian, I ordered a salad and a tortilla - making it clear that I did not want eggs (or any kind of meat for that matter). The salad was quite good and the tortilla turned out to be a eggless omelette. Apart from a being a bit salty, it tasted excellent. We were given a complimentary shot glass of Pisco Sour and I also ordered a glass of Vino Tinto. We chatted (I was a passive listener) for about 30 minutes after lunch (25 mins too many in my opinion)! The lunch (including wine) was included in tour. This tour is turning out to be an excellent deal.
We drove to the town of Vicuna and were given 20 minutes to wander by ourselves. There was not a lot to do in this sleepy town on a Sunday afternoon. Took a few pictures before we headed back to La Serena. We stopped at PUCLARO (the Dam) - AGAIN. Took more pictures. PUCLARO in Indian tongue means ´La Vida de la Agua´ (Water of life).
I dozed a bit on the way back to La Serena. Upon my enthusiastic recommendation earlier in the day, the ladies had decided to do a tour of the Mamalluca observatory - later that evening. We headed to the Ingservtur office where I used my credit card to pay for the tour (CLP 15000 - US$30). Not a bad deal with a good lunch included.
AMOR (Yes, that was the young lady´s name) and I exchanged e-mails. We would cross paths in San Pedro de Atacama ( a few days from today), in Argentina (a few months from today) and in New York (a few more months from now). I also wanted to jog my memory and tell her as much as I could about what to see and do when she visits Australia.
I blogged for an hour and settled on Beethoven restaurant (BeethovenRestaurant.cl) for dinner. I had a fettuccini pasta and a barely quaffable vine tint. I tried my ATM card at a REDBANC machine and it appeared to work. I packed up most of my stuff for my departure to Santiago tomorrow morning. I will change planes at Santiago before heading to San Pedro de Atacama later tomorrow afternoon.
I have experienced 4 of the 300+ days of sunshine. It has been a good start to my Odyssey.
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