10th Nov. 2016
The plan for the next few days has changed three times before we finally decide to go to Pisco Elqui today on the local bus. We had thought of going tomorrow and staying the night but the hostel we chose was fully booked. There was a local bus waiting at the station when we arrived, so we were soon headed on the one hour trip further along the valley. The green continued and it is incredible how the lush green vineyards fill the valley but the hillside is the dusty grey/brown we have become accustomed to in our month in Chile.
Pisco Elqui is a typical Chilean village with a tree lined Plaza looked over by the church. First things first, and we booked on the 2pm tour of the Pisco Mistral Distillery, giving us time to explore and have a bite of lunch. Most restaurants did not open until 1pm but we found the hostal we had tried to book for the night, as it had been described as a little oasis in town. It was a decent enough lunch but we did not see why it received such glowing reviews, making us happy with our revised plans.
As we keep saying, it is not high season here and sure enough we were the only two on the 2pm tour (the 4pm had 30 on it but I expect it was a coach party!). I had been reading up about the rivalry between Chile and Peru over the home of Pisco. Peru claims they have been making it since 1600s but Chile claims theirs is better and that they make and export more than Peru. The debate will run and run. We have sampled good and not so good in both countries but are also happy to keep tasting.
We had a great tour with Danielle patiently explaining in slow Spanish the procedures to produce Pisco – and us working hard to understand at least the gist of what she is saying. It is odd to think the grapes will not be picked until March or April, as we are in the southern hemisphere. The alcohol was bubbling away in a couple of the stills and we could see the hydrometer bobbing up and down measuring the density. It was great to see the process close up and there was no problem over taking photos. Unlike at the Hennessy cognac distillery in France (at four times the price) where photography was forbidden.
Included in our tour was a tasting of 3 month old and 2 year old neat Pisco which tasted quite different and the older one was a deeper colour having been stored in oak barrels . The locals may like drinking it neat, but it was not to my liking. We also received a Pisco Sour (much better!) and were allowed to keep the inscribed glasses, which I hope will make it home in one piece. We had a 50% success rate last time with our tankards from the Kunstmann Brewery tour.
On a more serious historical note a famous name in this part of Chile is Gabriela Mistral, who we discover is a Chilean, Nobel Prize winning poet. On the way back to Vicuña we stop in an even smaller place, Monte Grande and visit her mausoleum on the hillside. There is a small funicular to save walking up about fifty steps, but it was not working so we had to walk anyway!
We also visited the museum in Monte Grande which consisted of a replica school room, a replica bedroom and some letters and other documents but bizarrely no photos allowed. This took all of five minutes but with a £1 entrance fee, we can’t really complain. There is a larger Gabriela Mistral museum next to our hostal in Vicuña but this was closed due to a strike.
Of course we had to stop at the church in the main square before heading to the bus stop. As with London buses, we waited 45 minutes and then three came at once! Still a great day out but it was gone 6pm before we finally arrived back at our hostal, a longer day than we had planned so a hot shower would have been good, but no joy again.
Across from our hostal advertised fresh pasta and it turned out to be a cookery school as well. We had a delicious supper of salmon for me and seafood fettuccine for Dave, cooked by a keen novice. Pity no one else came to sample the food as we ate alone once again.