March 18, 2024

Diaguitas and Aba Pisquera

Important note about my frequent travel: these are my experiences and observations I share eagerly and enthusiastically. I receive no compensation in cash/kind/discounts, etc. in any way from any business/locations I’ve visited. None of the businesses paid for my travel expenses or offered any free services.

Colorful Diaguitas

Since we’ll be travelling again, we wanted to relax on our last, full day in Vicuna. We woke up without an alarm. At breakfast our host, Roberto, recommended we visit the village of Diaguitas.

Streets of Diaguitas

Diaguitas is a small village named after a group of indigenous people native to Chile. Diaguita means hill or mountain and the culture emerged more than 400 years before the Spanish conquest. I don’t know if we were too early in the day or that we visited during winter but the village was deserted. There was no one around. It was kind of eerie to drive through the village and not see a single person.

Huevos untados

Roberto recommended Tatul Diaguitas in the village for lunch. The restaurant had just opened so we were the only people there. Not to mention, there was no one else around. We had artichoke quiche and huevos untados. The best thing I ate in Chile ended up being huevos untados. The quiche was as expected.

We couldn’t leave Chile without visiting at least one pisco distillery. After all, pisco sour is their national drink. Pisco is brandy made from muscat grapes. So we drove to Aba Pisquera after lunch. Since this was winter and middle of the week, the distillery was mostly empty. We saw a small group of people inside the main building. There were a few people grilling meats outside and I got excited until I realized that was for a private, corporate event.

Aba Pisqueria

We were the only people at the distillery not part of the corporate event which meant we got a 45 min private tour. We walked around the beautiful grounds learning about pisco making process. The region looked like Napa Valley except the sky in Elqui Valley looked more blue and mountains looked bigger. Aba is a family business that started in 1922 and they only make 50,000 bottles a year. Most of them are for domestic use and some are exported to Europe and Canada.

Aba vineyard was so pretty

The distillery sold bottles of Mango sour and Maqui sour. Maqui is elderberry like fruit that grows in Chile. We tasted different pisco they made and the export bottle was particularly smooth. After the tour, we wanted to sit at the distillery and have a drink. They had a beautiful outdoor bar but unfortunately it’s only open on weekends during winter. They said we can purchase a small bottle of the Maqui or Mango sour, sit outside and enjoy the scenery.

After sharing a drink, we drove back to the B&B. We sat by the pool and enjoyed the drinks we’d purchased at Aba distillery. Once it got dark, we set up our telescope and enjoyed the night sky. We spent almost 3 weeks in Chile and it was absolutely amazing! Patagonia is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited. The night sky was the clearest in San Pedro de Atacama.

private tour of the distillery

In Patagonia I highly recommend going with Chile Tour Patagonia and SPACE astronomy tour in San Pedro de Atacama. You won’t find better value for money than Elqui Terra in Elqui Valley. The entire country has such different landscape from northern to southern point that I felt like I was on a completely different planets. If you like my blog, send the link to others. Follow me on Instagram and come along with me on my latest adventure.

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