Vicuña/Pisco Elqui, Chile

After filling our minds and eyeballs with lots of art and port culture, it was time to escape to a more rural area. Abundant with vineyards and located in the Valle de Elqui, Vicuña seemed like the ideal environment we were looking for.

So, we finally did it – after 50+ days of traveling, we actually missed our bus to Vicuña! Literally sprinting towards the bus terminal (following a couple of different metro lines to make our 1:00 pm bus), much to our dismay the bus had already left. It was only 1:06pm….!

Thank goodness there was another bus going to the next closest city, La Serena, and we were able to catch a ride with them. Interesting enough, our bus actually caught up with our original bus and we were able to hop on and continue directly to Vicuña, phew!!

Our Airbnb host, Carlos, surprised us by picking us up from the bus terminal and taking us to his home a few minutes away. Him and his wife were very accommodating! They owned a small shop in town where they sold children’s clothing but we didn’t know it until we stumbled upon it while walking downtown. They welcomed us out of the hot sun, into their shop and gave us some juice. While hanging out, we showed them our blog and they were excited to read about our adventures.

Jen showing our blog to our hosts

Jen showing our blog to our hosts!

Vicuña is the place of birth to the other Chilean poet and educator, Gabriela Mistral, who, 26 years before Pablo Neruda (one of her students!), also won the Nobel Prize in Literature. She was the first Spanish-American woman to ever receive this honor.

During our stay, one of the things we did was take a bike tour. This time there was no guide – just us, our bikes, and a map! The map led us through a couple pisqueras (or pisquerias), a Hare Krishna retreat, some small villages, a cervecería, solar kitchens, several vineyards and most of all some of the most beautiful scenery we’ve ever laid our eyes on. The whole trip was a total of about 18k, in the blazing hot sun!

Vicuña bike tour

Vicuña bike tour

Vicuña vineyards

Vicuña vineyards

Hare Krishna retreat called EcoTruly

Hare Krishna retreat called EcoTruly

EcoTruly, Vicuña

EcoTruly

Aba Pisquera, Vicuña

Aba Pisquera

Aba Pisquera, Vicuña

Distillation area

Cerveceria, Vicuña

Cerveceria Guayacan

Pisco vineyards, Vicuña

Pisco vineyards

Vicuña

More beautiful Vicuña scenery

Vicuña donkey

We stopped to say hello to this little guy

The following day, we visited the neighboring town of Pisco Elqui, which is known as the heart of Chilean pisco production. You can’t come here without trying a few pisco sours, yum!! We also walked around the small town and admired some of the street art and quirky restaurants.

Pisco sours, Pisco Elqui

Pisco sours, trying different flavors

Mistral Pisqueria Pisco Elqui

Pisco Mistral

Pisco Elqui

Salad in Pisco Elqui, so good!

Pisco Elqui restaurant

Pisco Elqui restaurant

Pisco Elqui street art

Pisco Elqui street art

Church in Pisco Elqui

Church in Pisco Elqui

Selfie :-)

Selfie 🙂

Vicuña was a great scenic, relaxing place to hang out for a few days and pickle ourselves in pisco. Next up, the coastal town of Caldera!

Taking it easy in Santiago, Chile

Santiago was a city we had been looking forward to visiting for quite some time. We had planned a visit here – long before we even left home – because we were going to meet and stay with the family of one of my favorite patients, Isabel!

Isabel and I talked and planned for many weeks before Jen and I left for our trip. We were all very excited for us to be able to meet her sister, Carmen and Carmen’s husband, Andi. At last, all of our schedules aligned and we were all set to meet Isabel’s family. Andi was kind enough to pick us up from the airport in Santiago. We had a grand welcome waiting for us – see the pics below!

Paparazzi meeting us at the Santiago Airport

Paparazzi meeting us at the Santiago Airport

Ok, so the photogs weren’t for us. But we did ask one of the camera guys what the hubbub was all about and it turns out they were waiting for a famous Spanish singer named Ana Torroja. She was in town for the huge annual music festival in Viña Del Mar, a beautiful coastal town west of Santiago. We actually brushed shoulders with her as we were heading back into the airport to make a phone call to Andi because we couldn’t find him!

Once we found Andi, we headed home (but not without first stopping at a panadería to pick up the first of the many loaves of delicious marraqueta bread we would be eating over the next few days!) When we arrived, Carmen greeted us at the door. They offered us a room in their small home in Puente Alto – but as they say in Chile, the homes are small but the hearts are big!

Over the next few days, we shared many meals with Carmen and Andi and we also had the pleasure of spending time with Isabel’s brother, Carlos and his wife Lorena and their two children Paula and Mattias. Andi made sure we were well fed every morning and made fresh coffee for us which is very hard to find in Chile.

We visited the tallest building in all of Latin America, the Gran Torre Santiago, with Carmen and Carlos. We were able to see all of Santiago from there and learn about some important points of interest and history of the city.

Gran Torre Santiago

Gran Torre Santiago

Jen, Carmen, Carlos and I

Jen, Carmen, Carlos and I

View from the top

View from the top

A different view

A different view

Both Carmen and Lorena were amazing cooks – we were so lucky to have tried some home made Chilean dishes like parilla (barbecued meats), choripan (sausage wrapped in bread), chilena (a mix of tomatoes, onions, olive oil and a bunch of spices), and our new favorite drink, pisco sours. Lorena made some of the best pisco sours we have had in Chile up to this point, adding fresh mint leaves to really enhance the flavor.

Pisco sours with fresh mint

Pisco sours with fresh mint

Carlos making some choripan

Carlos making some choripan

Parrilla

Parrilla

More parrilla!

More parrilla!

The whole family (minus Jen!)

The whole family (minus Jen!)

Spending time in Santiago with the family was just what we needed to recharge our travel batteries. We relaxed, ate, saw a movie, did laundry and took the metro to several places (which most of the time came with live entertainment!)

This metro singer sounded just like Elvis!!

This metro singer sounded just like Elvis!!

It was very low key and that was alright with us after all the traveling we had been doing. We absolutely loved our time with Isabel’s family and we someday hope to return to see them again!

Honorable mentions: Laleona and Martín, our sweet home away from home kitties that belong to Carlos and Lorena.

Snuggle time

Snuggle time