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| ruta del vino |
| Written by sophie et jeremy |
| Sunday, 25 March 2018 |
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On the way to the west and the pacific coast, we first cross the wine country, including Colchagua valley, where the wine is almost 2 meters high, and surrounded by palmtrees and eucalyptus. Quite exotic. We also can find here a forgotten vine, Carménère, which pleased Sophie very much, especially along a juicy steak !
After driving in the middle of small lagunas and salt marshes, we reach the coast at Pichilemu « worldwild surf capital ». The few adventurous surfers are pulled by jetskis to the biggest waves, when the tourists wander on the beach on rental horses. We see some locals with their tents on the beach, fishermen selling smelly fishes surrounded by many birds. The ports here are homes for big sealions, waiting for fishing left-overs.
We decide to avoid Santiago, huge sity, and stop in Valparaiso instea, in a very nice hostel, run by a slovenian couple who cook delicious « pancrepes ». the visit of the city is pleasant, and the air relaxed with a lot of street art and trendy bars and restaurant.
After this european interlude, we continue on the « ruta del mar », where we discover a coastline, packed with people and destroyed by estate developer. On the middle of this, we can still fond one nice beach to camp at Ritoque. Sadly, the waves are too big to enjoy a swim there...
The road continues along the ocean, amongst sand dunes and cactus, then we turn eastwards to the « ruta de las estrellas » (road of the stars). Here, the landscape is mountaneous and barren, except for the Elqui valley, where they grow vine, used to produce the national alcohol : the Pisco. It looks like they can grow everything amongst the rocks with a few drops of water. We eat there, sun cooked meat and cactus ice cream...
We are still in a wine country, but the weather is getting more and more hot and dry, as long as we head to the desert in northern Chile.
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