Ciao Santiago!

After an emotional goodbye to Santiago and the family I had been helping, I jumped on a bus and headed north to La Serena (7 hours ... which was only a fraction of what lay ahead!), where I based myself for a couple of days. La Serena is a coastal town which seems to be permanently covered in cloud! However, a two hour bus ride inland, between the mountains and into the valleys brought with it clear blue skies and lush vineyards, where grapes are harvested to produce the Chilean alcoholic drink known as ´pisco´. Pisco Elqui is a small, sleepy village where many of the distilleries in the Elqui Valley are based. It definitely had a relaxed feel to it as you will see ...



The vineyards are a sharp contrast to the surrounding mountains with their barren slopes ...



In the valley nets have been erected to trap/catch the morning mist to provide much needed moisture for the valuable grape crop ...



The village next to Pisco Elqui is Monte Grand. This has become famous as the birthplace of a Chilean winner of the Nobel literature prize ...

In this valley most of the buildings are constructed from a mud and straw mixture, from which bricks are cast...

As I was now entering a region which approached the Atacama Desert (the driest place on Earth!), I got my first glimpse of cactii in their natural environment ...