The Elqui Valley is also famous as the birthplace of the Chilean poet, Gabriela Mistral. Her real name was Lucila Godoy Alcayaga; she was born in 1889 and died in 1957. She won the Nobel Prize for Chile in the year 1945.

Her childhood was spent in Vicuña, where she was born, and from an early age she felt a vocation to work as a teacher. At the age of fifteen, she started to work as an assistant in the school of La Compañía, a small neighboring village. Subsequently she became a teacher in La Cantera, in Barrancas, and Inspector in the girls’ secondary school in La Serena. Later, she carried out teacher training in Los Angeles, and in secondary schools in Punta Arenas and Temuco where she was also head mistress. In 1923 the Primary Teaching Council awarded her a degree as a Spanish Teacher. Between the years 1932 and 1941 she carried out consular missions in Madrid, Lisbon, Nice and Brazil.

The poetry of Gabriela Mistral finds its inspiration in maternal love, in the world of children and in the natural environment of the continent in which she lived. She was awarded the National Prize for Literature in 1951.

Gabriela Mistral was born in Vicuña, where there is a museum devoted to her life and work. In the museum, there are manuscripts, books, photographs and other documents which perpetuate her figure and her creative genius, and whose basic purpose is to recover, preserve and publicize the bibliographical and personal legacy of the poet together with documents and pictures. The museum preserves around 1,100 items related to the life and work of the poet: awards, letters, furniture and other personal objects, as well as an important collection of photographs.

The museum was opened on November 13th 1971, and is located in Calle Gabriela Mistral 759, e-mail: mgmistral@entelchile.net, telephone/fax: (56-51) 411 223 – 412 524. The opening hours of the museum are from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 14:30 to 17:45 from Monday to Friday and on Saturdays from 10:00 to 13:00 and 15:00 to 17:45. On Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 to 13:00.

A visit can also be made to Montegrande, southeast of Vicuña, where the Casa Escuela and the tomb of Gabriela Mistral are preserved. The Casa Escuela Museum is administered by the municipality of Paihuano (telephone (56-51) 451 015) and it is open to visitors from Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 15:00 to 19:00.