Valle del Elqui

Not only did I finally make it to La Serena, but I also made it to Valle del Elqui! As I mentioned in my previous post, Valle del Elqui was chosen by Lonely Planet as one of their top destinations to visit in 2019, so I was very excited to visit it.

The main town in the valley is called Vicuña (like the animals in the Atacama Desert!). It's easy to know when you've arrived there, because it has those big letters like Coquimbo and La Serena do!

Opposite the letters, there's a cool sculpture of a dragon!

The poet Gabriela Mistral was born in Vicuña, and one of the town's main attractions is a museum about her life. We couldn't visit as it was closed due to the protests, but we had had a look around the market and the Plaza de Armas, where you can see the Torre Bauer. We also found a very good vegetarian restaurant called Govinda's to have lunch in. I'm a long-term vegetarian, recently turned vegan, and I haven't always found it easy to find vegetarian and vegan food in Chile. So it was a nice surprise to find a place like that!

On the way to our next destination, we had some really nice views over the valley.

The next place we visited was the small village of Montegrande, where we visited the house in which Gabriela Mistral grew up.

Finally, we visited the village of Pisco Elqui. It's named after Pisco, the national drink of Chile, which is made in Valle del Elqui.

On the drive back, we stopped at Paihuano for some more photos with big letters!

Valle del Elqui was a really beautiful and unique place to visit. As well as being famous because of Gabriela Mistral and Pisco, it's also famous for its observatories. However, all the observatories in the area were closed to visitors when we were there. So we definitely have an excuse to go back in the future!