The Flowering Desert and Copete
Right now, I am in a small town in the desert named Vallenar (population about 20.000) on my way back to Santiago and luck is with my- this week is the beginning of the desierto florecido or flowering desert that only occurs every few years, depending on the rainfall. This means that instead of staring out of the bus window at the bleak, monotonous desert, I am seeing a light carpet of white and bright yellow flowers.Since arriving here, I have realzed that Chileans son buenos pa´ el copete, or Chileans are keen for spirits. Not ony do they have cheap, excellent wine and decent beer, they also have their national liquor pisco (which I have written about before). And as I just discovered, produced in this valley and the one above it is pajarete, a sweet wine often mixed with seltzer water and ice, and chicha, which is also produced from grapes but is bottled immidiately (as opposed to pajarete which is matured in barrels before being consumed).
I bought a bottle of both the chicha and pajarete to share with friends next weekend while celebrating Chile´s independence day (September 18). The festivities start on Friday and end on Sunday- it should be a good weekend after the two tests that I have on Thursday.
Right now, I am going to hop on a bus to the coast, which should take about two hours. Since I have some reading to do and a beautiful view to look at, I won´t mind the ride at all...
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