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Published: September 26th 2016
We spent much of Monday wandering around Santiago unfortunately it is a holiday and most places including the museums are closed which made acquiring medication for my sick wife a difficult exercise. The Lastarria district was pleasant to wander through on our way to the Plaza De Armas the central square where many off the more stunning colonial buildings and museums are found.
We then made our way up to the district of Bellevista where many of the cities bars and restaurants can be found for a chorrillana vegetariana and a huge Escudo cerveza. The rest of the day we chilled at the hostel before enduring a night from hell as everybody in the place got pissed and screamed their heads off at 4am. I asked the night manager to quiten things down to no avail, poor Ruth is unwell and needs her sleep.
Around 9am we packed up our gear and walked to the nearest metro station where we boarded a red line train to Almeda bus station. Here we purchased tickets to La Serena and almost missed our bus, it seemed the tickets were so expensive because we had somehow selected first class. We arrived at our
Guanaco
The largest of South America's camalid speciesdestination and probably our last hostel at 530pm and immediately organised a trip to the Reserva Nacional Penguino de Humboldt before heading off into the old town to look at the architecture and find a meal. After a quick trip to the Supermercado for a few supplies we searched the town for a restaurant, peculiarly all except one place was closed and our attempt to order vegetarian resulted in steak and pork burger which was a bit thin by the time we removed the meat. I am not sure how long my no meat lifestyle will hold up when we can't get our hands on sufficient protein. La Serena was established in 1544 and is Chile's second oldest city and is blessed with lovely colonial architecture.
Breakfast at 8am, then on the road for the two hour drive through the coastal mountains to Punta De Choros the stepping off point to the Reserve. Almost immediately after leaving the pier on a dodgy looking boat we encountered a Moon fish and three Sea otters. As we approached Isla Choros we were greeted by many species of sea birds including three species of cormorant, two Gulls, Shearwaters and the Peruvian Booby.
Plaza Caupolican
Bellavista Barrio We also saw seals, Sea lions, Red headed buzzards and the star of the show the Humboldt Penguin.
Next we visited Damas Island where we navigate the nature trail admiring the birds including the pretty Rufous-collared sparrow and a few reptile and cactus species. On returning to the beach we visited a desert campground where they served us a pleasant three course lunch, on our way back to La Serena we were lucky enough to see a large herd if Gaunaco and a not so shy Chilla fox.
Thursday morning we departed La Serena heading north to the desert mining town of Copiapó, the town has a population of about 200,000 people and is completely surrounded by mountains. Ruth and I are suffering from a nasty colds now, mine is particularly severe. It was necessary to wander down into the town centre in search of medicines which we acquired before arranging tickets for the next leg of our journey. I spent the rest of the day laying around feeling sorry for my self watching movies and later eating good pizza.
The next morning we were picked up for our tour into the Parque Nacional Nevado Tres Cruces
located on the Argentine border some three hours from Copiapó. We departed around 7.30am travelling through early morning fog we made a brief stop at 2500 metre to acclimatise a little before continuing on to the Laguna Santa Rosa where we were greeted by perhaps a hundred flamingo all very exciting. The Lonely Planet (LP) made a whole series of claims about wildlife in this park which turned out to be garbage so we paid far more than this excursion was worth which upset me no end.
Next we headed towards the world's highest volcano the Ojos del Salado, I spotted a single Vicuna so much for the large herds described by the LP. The volcano was spectacular and at 4300 metres breathing was more difficult here, a short time later we arrived at the Laguna Verde (Green Lake) which was kind of aquamarine. We arrived back in Copiapó around 7pm the tour was good and Ruth had a great birthday but I don't think it was worth the huge amount we paid. I was really feeling shit now.
I woke at 3am again feeling horrendous I couldn't sleep due to the coughing, we went down to breakfast
at 5am, the taxi arrived at 530am and I was abused by some drunk in the street. On arrival at the bus station some minda started abusing me, seems he wanted a cigarette or money or something. Finally we boarded our bus for the 12 hour journey to find some stinking pig in Ruth's seat she was not happy about this and neither was I when the air con didn't work. Eventually though we arrived in San Pedro De Atacama around 8pm. How hostal is quite nice as are the staff, we arranged a few tours and had a few ales before bed a big mistake at this altitude.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
It is horrible to be sick when traveling
We hope to make it to Chile to see this amazing beauty. I wish you were feeling better so you could enjoy it more.