Road Trip Chile- El Norte Chico

From Valparaiso we followed the coast north, into a region called El Norte Chico. It's a land of contrasts, with pounding surf beaches mixed with desert-like landscape just a handful of kilometers in from the coast.


The waves here in Chile are fantastic, but if you come to surf bring a wetsuit. The water's icy COLD:


The coastal camanchaca (fog) brings moisture slightly inland, to a crispy dry landscape that would otherwise be barren of life:




Northern Chile is so dry, nearly all of its cities sit on the coast and along rivers that bring fresh water down from the Andes. La Serena is an old colonial port town (founded in 1544!) at the mouth of the Rio Elqui. Here we stocked up on groceries before following the river inland:



Cazuela, a typical Chilean dish:


Touring the valle del Elqui turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. It's a mystical place with crystal clear skies, popular with New Agers and astronomers alike. Best of all, this is where they grow the grapes and produce Chile's famous pisco:



If you haven’t yet tried a pisco sour I would definitely recommend you put it on your list of "The 1000 Things To Do Before You Die"- magnificent!


At Mamalluca Observatory we got a close up view (and photo) of the moon:


From the lovely valle del Elqui we continued up the coast. We spent our last day in El Norte Chico at Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar (literally means Sugar Bread National Park), famous for its Humboldt Penguins and other sealife:




It's unusual to find penguins so close to the equator, but the rich (and very COLD) Humboldt Current brings plenty of fresh fish for them to feed on:





After our busy day at sea, we fueled up for the long drive through the desert to El Norte Grande: