Elqui Valley - Intergalactic sightseeing in a valley far, far away

Elqui Valley via La Serena (Chile)
27 April - 01 May 2015

Recently I decided to do some research into Daylight Saving time in Chile, as in, when it should occur, when clocks should move forward or back, you know, the standard questions that people in either hemisphere ask themselves when the months of April & October appear on the horizon and you get that uneasy feeling of realising that a time change is upon you but not really knowing when it should occur.  The reason for this belated research is that Inga and I ''apparently' got caught out by this  temporal revision when we were about to make our way north from Valparaiso to La Serena. We had arrived at the main bus terminal in Valparaiso, purchased tickets and had assumed that we had over an hour to spare prior to our specified departure time, only we actually didn't. We discovered an hour later, much to our chagrin, that our intended ride had departed 45 minutes earlier than we had anticipated. Now this type of mishap had also happened to me once before, way back in good 'ole Mexico. One time when downing Caronas on a Mexican beach a time change there had meant that the intended ride that Jet and I wanted to take from Mazatlan to Mexico City left 30 minutes prior to the time that our watches were showing. That error however had occurred in the northern hemisphere, during a time when I would have anticipated the clocks to have been moved forward, which they did, thus making the 'miss' fully understandable. On this occasion we were in the southern hemisphere, during April and a change of times should have turned the clocks back, which in essence should have provided us with an additional hour. To make this oddity even more confusing, my research of late has shown that in 2015 Chile made the once off decision of not changing their daylight savings hours, which now on reflection completely dumbfounds me as to how and why we missed this specific connection by over an hour when all others had gone and indeed did go extremely smoothly. So therefore I provide this tip to all would be travellers out there, check your time zone changes! Make these checks both when jumping borders and within the country you're travelling as movement across those long lines of latitude also means that clocks can move forward or back. Also, keep a look out for allotted days for daylight savings changes (if indeed they occur), this can monumentally stuff up your itinerary and catch you out in terms of finances.

Hours after our intended time of arrival we pulled into the uninspiring town of La Serena just on dusk. For all its architectural prominence and its status as Chile's second oldest city we had had the simple hopes of finding a place that served a decent pisco sour, I mean really, that was all our minds had requested after several hours on a bus. Somehow through our day of small misfortunes we also managed to find the one bar that served a desperately bad national beverage that included random floating pieces of lemon rind. The drinks looked more like a gringo joke than an actual verifiable concoction. In addition the price we paid also proved that the joke was well and truly being played out at our expense, which in the grand scheme of things wasn't a tragedy as the next day we were heading to the Elqui Valley.

So, why the Elqui Valley and why in particular Elqui Domos? Keep reading...

The road to Elqui Domos - Elqui Valley - near Pisco Elqui - Chile

Sometime in 2014 when the bones for this trip was being put together I came across an article in the SMH that mentioned the domes and cabins hidden in the Valle de Elqui. Having also commenced my early years of answering the notoriously annoying and irrelevant question of ''What do you want to be when you grow up?" with the answer of  "An astronomer" then the idea of sleeping under the "grandeur of the skies of the Elqui Valley" was something that established itself on my mental itinerary very early on in the piece.

Our bid to leave La Serena was almost halted at its earliest moment when we found ourselves sprinting from a supermarket back to the bus station after misjudging the distance we had initially walked in the first place. Still, we made the ride and headed the 107km east to our stop of Pisco Elqui.

A pisco pit stop - Sala de Ventas - Elqui Valley - Chile

As the bus made the slow climb into the valley the scenery very much reminded me of both the topography and the colours that I had previously encountered in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. The lush green of the valley floor, being supported Rio Claro O Dercho, made for quite the contrast to the rugged, sparse mountains that offered up hues of blue, red and grey. The area itself is known for its cool desert climate, low rainfall (being positioned at the very southern end of the Atacama desert) and dry rocky terrain. The green striations of vineyards and orchards were occasionally punctuated by small, quaint, sleepy towns of Paihuano, Monte Grande, La Union and finally Pisco Elqui.

We arrived in Pisco Elqui on a beautifully clear day, the sunshine bathed valley stretching out into the distance within the Precodillera of the Andes. The village itself felt like it was living on permanent Sunday time, laid-back, unruffled, slow in pace, our presence making us feel like we had somehow disturbed their equilibrium. Needless to say, there were no taxis, no collectivos, no random guys in utes waiting to take backpackers to their next port of call. The only way from here to Elqui Domos was to walk the 3.5kms out of town in the beating sun, which is just want we did.

Walking the sun drenched bitumen up the valley immediately evoked a conflict of competing senses. Visually stunning panoramas subtly slid on the scale of importance when heat and thirst started to make their way through the pack. We were thankful when we came across the beautiful Sala de Ventas which looked out over the valley and settled our need for a nice cold pisco sour or three. It was with this energy boost that we were able to make the last small charge to Elqui Domos.

A roof with a view - Elqui Domos - Elqui Valley - Chile

The Elqui Domos facility occupies part of the rugged terrain that overlooks the valley. The domed tents that dot the grounds highlight the other main attraction that draws tourists to these parts and that's the unbelievably clear evening skies which provide you with a step ladder that allows you to high five the cosmos. It's also said that the Elqui Valley is where the Earth's magnetic centre is situated but how much truth can you take away from the lines "they say" and "apparently scientists have measured" other than the concept of an interesting tag line. Still, as we entered our cabin in the late afternoon and quickly found a latticed space on the roof which allowed for the a perfect view of the sky above, there was no need to produce any sort of counter argument.

As the sun dropped and the shadows grew longer, the "clearest atmosphere" in the world made its way to the podium and all those billions of stars that you never ever see for the artificial lights of the city came out to play, and yes, it was magical. Its said that under these skies that the human eye can see stars in the sky up to the eigth magnitude. In all honesty, I have no idea what that means but the suggestion by Inga that we take all our bedding onto the roof and that for this night we sleep under the stars was simply inspired. It felt as though the whole universe was wrapped around us, enveloping us as we starred off back in time. The Milky Way stretched out like a stubborn cloud that wouldn't leave the picture, only to be punctuated by a falling star or two, witnessed only in those moments when Inga wasn't looking. At times I drifted off to sleep only to wake up minutes or perhaps hours later staring up at the cosmos looking back at me. My recommendation to you, if you get then chance then don't second guess yourself, just go there.

Elqui Valley - Chile

The experience of the evening and the early morning was so fantastic that we decided to add another night at Elqui Domos the next day. To fill our daylight hours the next day we hired some bikes from Pisco Elqui village and cruised down the valley to the small village of Paihuno. The day before when we had passed through it had made a bit of an impression on me and I was glad to get the opportunity to go and investigate. Somewhat unfortunately when we arrived we found out why it was devoid of tourists, there was simply nothing going on there, at all. The reward that accompanied that ride was a tough 12km return ride back up to Pisco Elqui under what was a fairly brutal sun. Each kilometre turned over felt like 5kms as the long winding road rose further into the hills. It was simlply with brutal determination that we managed to get back under our own power and thus we treated ourselves to an afternoon at the bar of the Pisco distillery which luckily was supported by a lovely bartender that made basil pisco sours that were more than ample in volume. Each drink we purchased was actually a cocktail shaker in volume. We left the distillery with large beaming grins.

Pisco sours at the Pisco distillery - Pisco Elqui - Elqui Valley - Chile

Elqui Valley - Chile

On our final evening we took a ride further up the valley to one of the many small observatories that call the valley home. An interesting French astronomer took us on a tour of the night sky and almost looked to reach out and touch even the most barely visible stars with his funky laser pointer. It was intergalactic sightseeing at its best and something that will I'm sure will remain fondly in our memories for years to come.

Stargazing and moon gazing in the Elqui Valley - Chile