Part 3 – Out of the Desert and into the Valley

After the adventure out on the water we climbed back into the fiat and headed east.

We had a much more relaxed trip back through the desert with plenty of fuel in the tank and stopped to say hi to the burros and llamas along the way.

We stopped to check out the cacti and the scenery.

The happy driver and passenger stayed in the car while the Frenchies and I took photos in the desert landscape. (I guess growing up in Arizona leaves you rather unexcited by cacti)

The Eucalyptus trees are all over Chile. They even seem to love it in the desert.

After passing back through La Serena we headed due East on route 44 which ran through Valle Del Elqui.

Elqui is known for its grapes which are both used to make the famous pisco liquor and are also exported to the U.S. and sold in your nearest grocery store for eating.

The deeper into the valley we went the more grapes we saw. And then we came across these goats….

We guessed it was the end of the season and this farmer wanted to let his goats have a treat.  They so badly just want to be bipedal!

 That night we stayed in the small sweet hippie town of Vicuña.

 We were scheduled to go to an observatory that night to see the stars but unfortunately our tour was canceled due to cloud cover. Talk about bad luck because it’s only cloudy about 3 days out of the year in that region of Chile! I guess we’ll just have to go back!