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Published: June 15th 2007
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Chile, being the string-bean country it is, means that if you start in Santiago and go to the north and then want to travel south again, you have to pass through all the same places again. I decided to break up my long journey from Iquique back towards Santiago with a stop in Copiapó, a thirteen hour bus ride from Iquique. Arriving early in the morning, I went on my way to find a hostel room in town. Being a mining town, and having no tourists around, it seems like all the "residenciales" in town were fully-occupied by mine workers. The cheapest place in town I could find was $30 a night and I wasn't ready to pay that as that is basically my daily budget. When I asked any of the owners of the "residenciales" about other places they could recommend, I got the same answer back from everyone: "Estoy preocupado solamente con mi residencial" (translation: I am only worried about my hostel) I did something that I have never done before after that... I was turned off by the city from the unfriendliness and unhelpfullness of the people here and marched back to the bus station and booked
a ticket onto La Serena.
After another five hours on the bus, I arrived in La Serena once again. Getting off the bus I noticed Gladys, the owner of the hostel I had previously stayed at in La Serena, waiting for travelers to come off the bus to convince them to stay at her place. I walked over to her, asked her if she had a room available for me, she said of course, and then she drove me to the hostel in her car. It was almost like she knew I was showing up again 😊 Walking back into the hostel was a great relief after my long bus trip and my unpleasent visit to Copiapó, it kind of felt like I was back home for a few days.
This time in the La Serena region, I decided to check out the neighbouring city of Coquimbo, what Lonely Planet claims as "La Serena's ugly cousin". I wouldn't agree with that at all... La Serena might be Coquimbo's beautiful cousin, but Coquimbo itself is not overly ugly. I decided to walk from La Serena to Coquimbo along the beach, which ended up being a much longer task than
initially thought. Walking all the way there brought on hunger, so I grabbed some lunch before doing anything else. The main site to see in Coquimbo is the Cruz de Tercer Milenio (Third Millenium Cross), built in the year 2000 for the start of the third millenium. At the site is a church at the base of the cross, a museum decidated to John Paul II and two different elevators to bring you as high up as the cross section of the cross for a view over Coquimbo. Great view of the city from here but La Serena seemed to be blocked out by some fog. What I am in the place with the clearest skies in the world and I can't see a thing!
I ventured outside of La Serena again to visit the Elqui Valley, a valley known throughout Chile for its output of fruit, vegetables and Pisco! I took a bus all the way to the town of Pisco Elqui and decided to work my way back to La Serena from there. Too bad that this day was one of the few days of the year that there is rain in the valley! No problem though
because I started the day off visiting the Mariscol pisco distillery and sampling their goods sure warmed me up. After a quick visit to the town of Pisco Elqui, I walked to the Monte Grande, the next town on the way back to La Serena to get lunch and catch a bus back to the town of Vicuña. On my way to the Capel pisco distillery in Vicuña is when the bottom feel out of the sky. Due to poor weather conditions, I was told that I was not able to have a tour of the plant because some of it is outside and very slippery 😞 However, I still was able to sample their wares which warmed me up once again after being soaked by the rain. Why on the day I decided to visit the valley was one of the few days in the year that they actually have rain? Go figure 😊
I figure now that I know quite a bit about the region around La Serena, so off to the next destination.
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