La Serena is one of Chile’s oldest cities, founded in 1544.It was the main staging post on the route north to Peru; many of the religious orders built churches and convents here providing accommodation for their members, and the city still has 29 churches. Some people went to Coquimbo to see the big cross, the Cruz del Tercer Milenio (Spanish for "Third Millennium Cross"). It is 83m tall and 40m wide and you can see it from La Serena. Some of us decided to walk to the beach where the lighthouse is. On the way there we walked by Parque Pedro de Valdivia where there was small zoo / aviary with llama, alpaca, some domestic fowl (chicken, ducks, geese), parrots, emu and ostrich. There was also a rink where some kids were playing roller hockey which
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