Off the Map Chile Adventure: August 2013

After Easter Island, Achilles wanted us to go north. Elijah and I would have been happy to stay in Pucon, but the weather was getting colder and wetter and Achilles was ready for some sunshine. Back in 1998 he had explored the north of Chile and there were some places he wanted us to see. The most beautiful of all – Valle de Elqui. En route we stayed in a town named Vicuna. Wilson and Anna, Chileans we had met in Easter Island offered us their second home to stay in so we accepted their generosity and spent a few days just outside of the valley exploring the local area. We had the good fortune to go to Mamalluca, one of the world’s premier observatories. It was magnificent. This area in northern

Chile

is known for its clear skies and amazing quantity of stars.

Next we went to the valley proper. The land is much like California chaparral, dry desert like but also good for growing grapes. It is a narrow gorge with a small river running at the bottom, and steep hills of the Andes rising up on both sides. Cabanas Caballieri is built right on the side of the hill. Our cabin was gorgeous with a fantastic view and had the bonus feature of 3 young boys for Elijah to play with, along with ping-pong and fusball.

On the Wednesday before we left, Claudia, the owner invited us to an asado on her patio. She had invited some local friends over and we felt honored to be included. It started at 1:30 and went well past midnight. We ate rich delicious food and drank good Chilean wine; talked and laughed, both in English and Spanish. At some point it got dark, more folks came and another round of food appeared. Achilles brought out his guitar, little did he know Horacio was a passionate folkloric guitarist. Imagine us sitting around with a group of Chileans, the kids running in and out, Horacio, sparkling blue-grey eyes, long grey hair, passionately singing folksongs with the Chileans chiming in. It was a magical time! And it was Wednesday!

We took some good hikes in the valley, Achilles did a motorcycle tour, and we did a lot of good relaxing, but the highlight of the north was definitely Claudia’s place and the asado on Wednesday!