The tale of La Serena

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We caught the overnight bus to Copiapo which despite all my best efforts of retaining the blanket and telling David that no one else was giving their blankets back we finally got kicked off the bus at Copiapo at 7.00am!!!! We decided to stay here 2 nights as our recovery process involved at least a day on the beach at nearby Bahia Inglesia!

On booking our tickets we discovered a hypermarket!!! Such simple pleasures we couldnt resist having a walking round!!!! We were like children in a sweetshop!!! Airconditiong, fresh fruit, bread - oh the world was our oyster!!! We had promised not to buy anything, but the temptation was to great!! We splashed out on some bread rolls and tins of tuna and crisps!!!! Oh we pushed the boat out here folks!!!!

Lunch was spent in the plaza sat in the shade consuming our ill gotten finds!!! Followed by orange ice lollies, then a siesta!!! Well when in Rome eh??!!!

The following day was spent at Bahia, swimming in the Pacific, temperatures in the high 20´s and generally just lazing, before heading off the following day on the next stage to La Serena.

We had met Pablo on the day we left San Pedro, who lives here in La Serena, who promised to look after us when we got here! He met us off the bus, found us a hostal and then showed us around La Serena. We visted the ex presidents house, and headed down to the beach at Cocquimbo where we walked along the front and had a little snack!! That evening we went back to Coquimbo which was alive! It was Valentines night and everybody was out. We sat outside in typical european street cafes and had tapas. A live jazz band played and the atmosphere was electric!!! Our tapas consisted of two types of cheese, bread and we naively thought beef!!!! Oh how nice goat is!!! But we didn´t mind!!! Pablos mother joined us and a real party began to swing!! It turned midnight and David turned 44!!!! Pablo got a message to the band who announced to the whole street, which was I hasten to add, was absolutley packed!!!! Happy Birthday played out and everyone sang to David!!!! Then a blinding white light descended on us - what was this - oh my - it was a local Chilean tv crew!! The next thing we know they are with us, and desperatley trying to get David to do an interview!!! I was merrily laughing away and taking photos, unaware that in those few minutes the tv crew decided to interview me instead!!!! Next time I wont laugh so loud!!!! Coquimbo has lovely plazas, with modern sculptures that are of Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Its a port but despite the obvious nature of its being is very very lovely and well worth any visit and even more so in the evening. We finally left - quite early by south american standards - and retired to our hotel for an early departure the next day ...... Penquins we the order of the day!!!

Yep we were off to see Penquins and the Humboldt Penquin Reserve. Its our 2 hour journey north, but well worth it!

We boarded small boats on a wing and a prayer! The boats were not tied to the jetty just held onto by a rope and a man at one end!!! The knack of getting on is waiting for the water to rise, then jumping!!!! We sat at the front - hee hee - and headed off to the islands!!! There was quite a swell on the pacific and we were in quite a small boat sitting low in the water - we did have life jackets!!! We didnt care that we were getting positively soaked, but the crew did and fetched out for everyone plastic sheets to hide under!!! We had to rescue a boat of germans as their motor broke, until that the replacement was brought out to them, and then we cut them free! Our first sighting was sealions high on the rocks, my they are big!!! They have 6month old pups and they were everywhere, on the rocks and playing in the water. Then the penquins, they are so cute and small! They were sat at the top of the cliffs where they go at night and then during the day they come down to the waters edge, where the majority were. Again they were basking in the sun, and amusing themselves watching us go past. They are well camoflauged against the rocks, but once you got use to looking for them, they were everywhere. We saw pelicans, comorants and gannets. And then we saw Bottlenose Dolphins. They played with the boats and us, swimming amongst and under the boats and then away. We seemed to spend forever with them, but it was brilliant. The whales should be moving through to the south now, but they haven´t arrived as yet. Apparently there is no krill, so they are late, or do they know the japanese whalers are down there and are holding off???

We had an hour on the Isla de Damas which was beautiful before heading back to land where we had lunch and back then to La Serena. Again we met up in the evening with Pablo and had tapas and drinks in a local bar. Thanks to Pablo we have had a fanastic time here in La Serena. We would never have gone to Coquimbo without him and would have missed out on a fantastic evening.

The chilean people are absolutley amazing. They are the friendliest we have met at every stage of anything we have done, and we will be very sad to say goodbye. They are a true credit to their nation.

We are heading over to Mendoza in Argentina tonight and will arrive in the early hours of the morning again. We shall be heading towards Buenos Aires, the Iguazu falls and Montevideo (hopefully).

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