ET Phone Home - Coquimbo Chile - published Ponsonby News June 2020

Daybreak on board found us observing a collection of rudimentary homes spilling down a cliff above a spartan and shabby port that spread over a forbidding and rocky shoreline. The absence of colour or gardens surrounding the simple homes on the hill underlined the advice given to us by the ships tour team - to book an excursion here and move through the area ... quickly. 

We are at the Chilean port of Coquimbo and its neighbouring town of Le Serena whose main claim to fame seems to be its rather quaint but battered lighthouse that guards a foreshore regularly thrashed by the numerous tsunamis this area is known for. The homes and businesses look temporary and unsubstantial for a reason. After the maritime inundations when the town is frequently flattened, the rebuild can occur again quickly and cheaply - the only downside being the town gives exactly that appearance, with very few substantial buildings on its foreshore. 

Within a few hours’ drive of the port, is one of the areas few bright spots, the Elqui Valley, which is the centre of Chile’s Pisco Grape growing area. Pisco is Chile’s national drink, it has two major elements, it is between 35 and 50% proof and if you consume more than two of these delectable cocktails, your legs won’t work. I had already consumed a generous amount of Pisco in the short week I had been in Chile so it only seemed polite to discover its origins and besides, I needed to stretch my legs which had recently stopped working. 

Not only is the Elqui Valley famous for its grape variety, but also for the fact that it has the highest concentration of UFO sightings anywhere in the Americas and that includes some backwater farms in New Mexico. Chile’s very own Area 51 if you will. 

I decided that I should investigate if there is any correlation between the amount of Pisco that South Americans seem to consume and the number of UFO sightings Chile’s version of Roswell sustains, the vineyard seemed like a  good start and I was a happy volunteer. 

In 1980 one of the local farmers in the Valley had gone a bit loopy after a mysterious explosion and a “meteorite” had landed. He babbled for days about alien life forms and mysterious mutilated animal carcasses to anyone who listened, until he was visited by "Government" officials ... he never spoke about that night again and died a mysterious death a few months later. The locals still talk about the incident in hushed tones whilst testing the vintage of their grapes. 

Here in Pisco Elqui there are also four world-renowned observatories, their domes opening just wide enough to expose the lenses of extremely powerful telescopes. All surrounded in government secrecy, their scopes pointing ever hopefully skyward, they await each evening when the lack of humidity creates perfect star gazing conditions. Tourists from countries well beyond the borders, travel here to marvel at the Milky Way and various other nebulae, whilst on the hills surrounding the Valley, astronomers also scan the sky looking for any sign of life or a signal that proves we are not alone. Prohibited from getting any closer than a barbed wire fence to the observatories, we had to satisfy our curiosities within the confines of the vineyard tour. 

In the evening after dinner, we took our free samples outside to gaze skyward, our eyes scanning the depths for another form of life - other than the barman darting amongst us topping up our glasses. There may not have been any correlation between the number of Piscos we were consuming and the lack of UFOS sighted, but there certainly seemed to be a similarity between the number of samples we drank and the number of bottles that were later purchased. 

For some reason I don't remember much about the ride back from the vineyard. Our bus with its specially installed glass skylights didn’t highlight any mysterious celestial objects, however those conspiracists amongst us would have suggested our drugged state was on purpose to negate our chances of seeing anything that we shouldn’t.  The bus was after all, sponsored by the Chilean Government. Coincidence or Conspiracy?  

It seemed that no matter how much I drank, I still didn't see anything. A UFO sighting still as elusive to me as the reason my legs once again didn’t seem to be doing what they should. Maybe ET finally got someone to answer the phone and went home - although hopefully, not without sampling the Elqui Valley’s finest.