Weekend in Valle Elqui (April 24th - 26th)

On the last weekend of April, Elias - one of my friends here - invited Lasse and me to his place in Vicuña in the Elqui Valley (a village of about 6000 people where the sun always shines).
Elias' street

("Welcome to Vicuña")

So on Friday night, Lasse and I got on the (very small and "with no room for our long legs"-) bus and after an hour we arrived to Vicuña around 10pm. Elias picked us up from the bus station, and we went to some of his friends' house for beer and a chat. Later on, we went to a disco to go dancing, but unfortunately it ended in a weird situation: I was sitting talking to someone, and then I felt something brushing against my back where I had my purse, so I turned around and saw this guy stuffing my cell phone into his pocket!! Luckily I saw it, and reacted quickly enough to snatch it out of his hands, but it kind of ruined my mood for the evening...

On Saturday, we had planned to go further into the Elqui Valley to the even smaller village, Pisco Elqui. So we got up and got on the bus at 10am, and an hour later we arrived. The weather there was even better than in Vicuña, and Pisco Elqui is a very idyllic little village! It is located in a small valley (of course) between dry hills, vineyards and a stream running through it, so it's still very green and lush!

We wandered about for a while, and then we found this place where we could go horseback riding! Neither of us were very good at it, but it sounded like fun and was only 4000 pesos (about 40 DKR) for 1 hour! Our "guide" was a very funny, cool guy, who first gave us a mini-course on how horses work, so we'd be able to actually control it, and then we went off, up through Pisco Elqui "centre" and up on the hills surrounding Pisco Elqui!

Me and the horse Trying to get on the horse

Ta dah - got on the horse Me, Lasse and Elias giving the horses water..

At one point, we galloped!!! I've ridden horses before, but I don't think I've ever galloped, and it's crazy, haha! I really admire people who know how to gallop without hurting their rear end AND being able to stay on the horse AND making it look really easy! When we got to the top of a hill, we had the best view of the Elqui Valley in both directions - WOW!

When we got back down to Pisco Elqui, we caught a bus back to Elias' mom's house in Vicuña for a late, home cooked lunch.

A view to the Elqui Valley

Pastel de choclo - corn pie, a very delicious pie with (of course) corn, minced meat, egg and 1 black olive.

Guayaba - a local fruit, very fresh and delicious!

In the evening we were all very tired, and ended up watching movies all night.

The next day, Sunday, Lasse and I went off to see the Capel distellery that makes pisco - the national drink of Chile (tastes like tequila).

On our way to Capel

When we finally got there, there was some kind of reunion, and we weren't allowed to enter for the tour:-( So in stead we had lunch at the restaurant where Elias works

Having very delicious kid (goat)!

and walked around Vicuña.

The Plaza de Armas

A statue in the park

After that we went up to the top of a hill next to Vicuña - Cerro de la Virgen (The Virgin's Hill) - for a beautiful view of the valley around Vicuña.

In the afternoon, Lasse and I went to this diked lake in the valley, where there is always a lot of wind and therefore lots of wind- and kite surfers! The village near the lake is called Gualliguaica, which caused us a lot of problems in pronouncing it and therefore finding transport to get there, haha.. But when we did find it, it was beautiful (and very windy!).

After that, we just hung out at Elias' house and went back to La Serena around 8pm.