UFO and Pisco

It has been an internetless few weeks, so sorry everyone!!

Once we left Santiago we headed to Valparaiso, which is only a couple of hours away on the coast. We had been told that this little city held some magic and we would just fall in love with it. Our hostel was just outside the main area up at the top of a hill which looked down over the city, we had a great view! When we arrived we decided to spend the afternoon in town, not really knwoing where to get off the bus we picked a random stop and as the bus pulled away you will never guess what we saw!!! Emporio La Rosa! Overexcited we headed straight for it and got our old favourite. It was amazing, as always. Steph asked if there were anymore in Chile, to be told no. Our hearts would be broken once more in a couple of days.

We spent our time in Valparaiso wondering around the pretty navel town up and down the side streets. The City is full of old funicular's, some of which are still running to the top of Cerro'. We also found a wedding dress shop, which gave us some amusment.

Next stop was Pisco Elqui, the home to Pisco and UFO's. We didn`t arrive in Pisco till after dark, which didn`t cause too many problems as there was a jazz festival on. We ended up camping at a camp site down near the river, which had fantastic views in vine yards and the hills we discovered in the morning. Pisco Elqui is a lovely small town, but doesn`t really have much going on before 2pm, that is when we found most things opened that Monday morning. However, once things are open, don`t expect them to want to serve you food, even if they are an eating establishment. In our two days there, one day too many, we hit the distilleries. Pisco Elqui is named after the drink Pisco, which is famous in Chile and Peru. Although who came up with it first is a big question! Pisco is a brandy and is yummy when its turned into pisco sours! Pisco Sours is Pisco with lemon, sugar and egg white and if your not careful, goes straight to your head!! Three was the magic number that got us home to our tent safely. Anymore and who knows who´s tent we would have taken as ours.... do squatters rights apply to tents?

The next morning we were attempting to make cous cous for our lunch, we discovered that my stove had decided to stop working! We investigated the problem and determined that it had something to do with the hose.  We made a quick call to Guy (who happened to be at work, which is an outdoor shop),whose first question was, ¨when was it last cleaned?¨ Awkward pause ... ¨never?¨ I think we found the problem! Quick phone call to the States and a chat to my Dad... we have a cleaning kit on the way (guess we won´t be camping too much before March 13th).

With our many many days in Pisco, we kept a look out for the UFO's. But didn't see anyway!! I am very shocked they didn't come to take Steph away! However, we did see some amazing stars.

Next stop on our tour is San Pedro De Atacama, the driest desert in the world!

Steph and Anna