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Published: December 20th 2006
We decided to save time and take the overnight bus to La Serena, an eight hour trip away. This seemed like a smart option to save time - if we could all sleep on the deluxe Chilean buses. La Serena is a beach town about 8 hours north of Vina del Mar. It has easy access to some nearby sights -- observatories and penguins.
Chilean buses tend to be pretty fabulous and prompt with quick starts and stops. Our trip started with a movie followed by (pretty much) lights out. Everyone slept, except Theresa. With no forewarning, the bus arrived in La Serena and it was 5 am. We stumbled off the bus to find ourselves in the dark at a bus station in a town that was completely asleep except for a few taxi drivers who wanted to take us somewhere but we don’t know where to go at that hour. A coffee shop seemed a good option, but we're told there is nothing open at this hour. We probably won't be taking an overnight bus again.
We wait it out at the bus station (the boys were real troopers) and at about 6:30, with the sun now
up, we head into town in search of a place to stay. Our travel book mentioned a few places, but no one answers, everything seems sleepy and closed. Finally at about 7:15 we find nice hostal to stay at. We'll make reservations in advance next time.
After finding breakfast, we head out to find a rental car, then headed inland into the Elqui Valley. This valley is famous for pisco-tasting tours (the official Chilean drink), but our interests are its gigantic telescopes and astronomical research centers. The sky here is particularly clear. We spent the remainder of the day hanging out in the town of Vicuna -- we visited the plaza and an insect museum. Finally our evening tour to the Mamalluca Observatory began with a caravan drive into the hills. Midway though the tour, the boys were just too tired and started losing it. We aborted the tour and headed back to La Serena. Luckily, we had our own car and also luckily, we got to see the moon really close up, various star clusters and other cool stuff.
The next day we got up early to head to Reserva Nacional Penguino de Humboldt - yes --
They are brave enough to eat Cobras on a cold day.
Ice cream and popsicles are everywhere. We eagerly awaited the arrival of the Cobra -- green and black popsicle with gummy worms in it. YUMMMMM!penguins!!! We drove on the dirt road to a small village called Choros. (The rental car company warned us of this road, but we found it way better than what you find back home in New Mexico!!) We got there just in time to connect with a group going out on a boat to the three islands. We saw penguins and all sorts of neat stuff, but the best was the group of maybe 50 dolphins that seemed to escort our little boat part way around the island. It was a great trip!! The boat really got tossed around in the water which Ben and Oliver loved.
La Serena, while it looked like it can be a nice town, didn’t seem to have much happening. This is the off-season after all. Our last day there, Theresa got some sort of stomach bug and spent the day in the car, while the boys played at the beach. It’s a cool and cloudy day. After returning the car we took the bus back to Vina, during the day. Looking out the window, the terrain looked a lot like New Mexico - dry, scrubby and with cactus. It’s nice to get back
to the beach. Theresa survived the bus ride home. Now we have to get ready to part with Steve for 3 weeks!!
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