Day 7 to Day 34
Whale watching
On goes the life jacket and into the boat! Zooming off over the water to look for whales!
We spotted one, but it was sleeping. This was a fin whale we only got to see its fin sticking out of the water and we got close enough to see its head under the water. These are the second longest whale. We let the whale sleep and zoomed off again to find more life in the sea. Puff, a big squirt of water, we spotted another whale...it was a humpback whale. I got the perfect shot:
After following the whale for a while, it was time to see other wildlife.
We got to see penguins, different birds, a sea bird (who spend all their life at sea) and hundreds of sea lions.
Lighthouse and beach
In La Serena we visited the lighthouse which is the symbol of the city then hired a 2-person bike to ride down by the beach. It is a very long beach. We also spent the day just hanging out on the beach in the beautiful sunshine.
Broken down
Oh no! The car wouldn’t start! We were in a small town! We thought it was the battery someone stopped by to help us try to restart it but no luck! Off, the find a mechanic. He charged the battery enough to find an electrical mechanic. The problem was the alternator wasn’t charging the battery!
Then fully charged we had to make our way back to the big city La Serena before the battery died! We made it but the problem was it was a Friday night and we had to wait till Monday for someone to see the van. Finally on Monday we had good luck and it was all sorted.
Pisco Valley
Pisco tasting time!
Pisco is an alcoholic sprit made from grapes. It is a very popular drink in Chile.
We learnt how pisco is made; first they harvest the grapes, extract the juice and turn it into wine. They leave it to ferment but not as long as wine; around 16 days. Then into the distillery, they heat the wine the water condensates then the alcohol. There are 3 parts of the alcohol process: the head, the heart and the tail. The head comes first which is methanol, then the heart which is Ethanol and the tail at the end which is also methanol. The head and the tail are sold off to make alcohol gel and the heart is sent to be mixed with water that doesn’t contain minerals to make pisco. The last part of the process to leave it in oak barrels, depending on how aged they want the pisco it’s left there to mature. Minimum time is 8 months.
First we went to ? Had a tour of the distillery and learnt that this particular pisco is made with 5 types of grapes and that if you cut the grapes at night it gives a different flavor. This company exports all they produce internationally. We got to try some lemon, mango and maqui pisco sours, delicious!
I think Monty was a little drunk after the first tour!
Next we head to another distillery called ?
This distillery only uses 2 types of grapes which we tried and they were nice and sweet but had a very thick skin. They use bees to pollinate their grape plant. The pisco tasting was great we tried 4 different types! Monty found the perfect size bottle for himself too!
Astronomical tour
We got to see any different parts of the night sky, first the moon was up and could see the fine details on the moon then it set and gave us darkness to see the fantastic stars. Monty enjoyed looking at the stars.
Horse riding
Trek through the valley on horseback. It was a very relaxing ride. We got taken to a rock glacier spring. The water tasted good, fresh and cold.
Charro
I meet a Charro (this is a traditional Mexican singer) he is actually Chilean and has been singing since he was 13 years old and is famous in the area. He has produced 9 albums with number 10 on the way. His stage name is El Ruiseñor de Limarí and he gets hired to serenade people for birthdays, parties and special events. I got to watch him in action at a party.
Chinchillas
Went to the Chinchillas National Park but it was closed for maintenance so we couldn’t go on a hike. As it was late we stopped off for the night anyways. Then sitting eating breakfast and we were joined by 2 Chinchillas! I was so happy I got to see some, they look so cute.
Bridge of wishes
This is a small bridge that people come to make a wish and as they do so tie a ribbon on the bridge. We didn’t make a wish!
Viña del Mar and Valparaíso
Viña del Mar and Valparaiso are 2 city’s that are right next to each other. We stayed with some friends Pablo and Daniela and had a good catch up. They took us on a walk around Valparaiso to see the street art, have a drink and pizza.
We also visited; The lift, an outside church, the flower clock and a castle.
