The Elqui Valley

Sitting by the pool at our cabana this evening – just after 5.00pm and still around 24C with a light cooling breeze – trying to decide what to drink.
Promised myself that I would write something for the blog before ordering a drink since we started on the hard stuff early today when we did the distillery tour at Pisco Capel – the largest producer in the country.
Unfortunately they could not provide an english-speaking guide so Linda had to suffer my translation of the explanation given by our pretty Chilena. Luckily I have visited enough distilleries that I could follow most of the technical stuff ! A quick visit to the tasting room for a drop of very smooth 40° Alta del Carmen and back into town for a go-faster haircut.
Then it was on to the local bus for a drive further up the valley to Pisco Elqui where we are staying for a few days. 1200M above sea-level and surrounded by the foothills of the Andes which rise 2-3000m above us, Pisco Elqui is the heart of the region where they grow the grapes for the Pisco production and is also a very popular holiday destination with plenty of hotels, cabanas, campsites restaurants etc. It's a very pretty place – an oasis of green nestled between the arid, brown mountains.
Have persuaded Linda to join me on a bike ride tomorrow up the valley to Los Nichos and one of the oldest private Pisco distilleries in the country and arranged a tour in English so she will get a proper explanation this time – I am sure the tasting will give us the energy boost we will need for the ride home!