Fundo Los Nichos
Below are today’s Fun Photo Friday offerings. Next week we leave Chile in the rear view mirror of the Golden Princess bridge and sail into Paracas, Peru.
Monument to Nobel Laurette Gabriela Mistral (Lucila Godoy y Alcayaga)
Moscato
La Serena Lighthouse at Dawn
Coquimbo Waters and Colorful Rocks
Filed under Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation
Monte Grande Church
I showed you the exterior of the church at Monte Grande earlier in this series on Elqui Valley. Here’s the interior:
Monte Grande’s church
Our arrival to Monte Grande happened to coincide with the noon rush hour:
Rush Hour in Monte Grande
We headed back to the west, but first we would stop for lunch. The fascinating thing about this eatery was the method of cooking — solar ovens and solar broilers. And, yes, lunch was delicious. So much so that I forgot to photograph it.
Solar Oven
Solar Broiler
Baking Bread
After lunch it was off to Vicuña. Vicuña was the largest town we visited in Elqui Valley. It has a population of 25,000. Here are some photos from this stop on our day trip into Chilean wine/pisco country:
Bauer Tower — Yes, it rhymes; No, I didn’t make up that name
A Case of Prickly Heat
Vicuña statuary
Comments Off on Monte Grande, Vicuña, and Lunch by Solar Power
Filed under Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation, Wine & Food
A map of Elqui Valley
You’ll notice from the above map that to get to Pisco Elqui we first passed through the town of Monte Grande. Monte Grande is considerably larger than Pisco Elqui, but still a small town. It is also a great place to take photos. Here’s one of the church in Monte Grande:
Monte Grande Church
And just beyond Pisco Elqui? That would be Fundo Los Nichos distillery. Fundo Los Nichos are far from being the biggest pisco distillery, but they are one of the oldest. As such, they distill pisco here the traditional ways, adhering strictly to time-honored methods rather than succumbing to the siren call of mass distribution.
Fundo Los Nichos distillery
It’s a truly charming little family-owned operation. Los Nichos even display old-time equipment in their courtyard:
Fundo Los Nichos distillery
And then there’s that classic old B-series International Harvester truck we stumbled across. What a beauty she is:
Old International Harvester truck
Even some of the old, now abandoned structures remain preserved in the Atacama Desert dryness. Here an old adobe structure sits in the distance (we’ll take a closer look at that in next week’s Fun Photo Friday):
Fundo Los Nichos distillery
On Fun Photo Friday I’ll present to you some more of my favorite shots from this portion of our cruise. Until then here’s one last look at some of the buildings making up Fundo Los Nichos Distillery with high desert mountains in the backdrop (we’ll go inside Los Nichos for a taste of pisco next week):
Fundo Los Nichos distillery
Filed under Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation, Wine & Food
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