Good For One GalaxyAs we follow the Chilean coast further north we reach the seaside town of La Serena.
It’s a quiet place, perfect for chilling out, and eating seafood, with fresh fish markets in abundance. But its also our pit stop to an area that boasts some of the clearest skies in the world and the birthplace of the national alcoholic drink; the Elqui Valley.
Acres upon acres of lush green grape vines fill the valley
The Elqui Valley is a beautiful 2 hour bus ride from La Serena through vineyard rich valleys and cactus-patched desert. There’s also a distinct difference in climate in this area; drier, warmer and not a cloud in the sky. We were later told that this area has it’s own micro climate, only raining less than 7 days in a year, which is completely different to the often wet Chilean coast a mere few hours away.
Our bus ride ends in the small town of Pisco Elqui, birthplace of Chilean Pisco (a brandy made from grape), and home to the oldest distillery in the country, so knowing this, a refreshing cocktail of pisco sour was in definite order- see below for a recipe!
The Mistral Distillery is the oldest Pisco Distillery in Chile
The telescope we used to look at both Mars and Saturn
As the skies in this area are so clear most of the year and there is little light pollution in the valley, it makes the perfect place for some of the world most impressively large observatories. We were lucky enough to visit a one of the smaller observatories on a tour that night. Through their telescope you could to visible see mars, and even better, the rings of Saturn! And as there was no moon that night the stars shone extra bright; we had never seen the Milky Way look so detailed with the naked eye, it was truly amazing.
The Southern Cross constellation which twinkled so brightly reminded us of home