Advertisement
Published: December 1st 2008
Edit Blog Post
So our journey Northward started with a trip South, it sounds a bit backward but then again you somtimes have to take a few steps back to get forwards. We headed for Vina, where they have a large bus terminal and where our bus for La Serena would be departing. Tur bus was our choice of bus company and they turned out to be as good as ever with the traditional supply of dubbed movies and varying body odours for company as we counted down the six hour journey.
We arrived mid afternoon and after a quick consultation with the LP we directed ourselves to our hostel which was about 1.5km away. Now to all of you regular gym going people this is a mere warm up on the treadmill but however when you are laiden with rucksacks X 3 and surfboards it can somtimes feel like Mohammed moving up the mountain with some elephants. We arrived at the hostel called Hostal Jofre with some sweat beads appearing and we were met by a lovely host called Antonio. He brought us into a quite delightful courtyard where we filled in his paperwork and he whizzed us around the town on
his printed map.
When arriving in a new place the basic instincts kick in, so as we had some facilities to cook in we decided to get some food from the local supermarket and bring it back to the hostel for an early night.
Next morning we were up and down the beach relatively early, surfboard in hand and waiting for picture perfect beaches. However we were faced by litter ridden mounds of sand that conatined several carcasses of seals. The beach was deserted with only a pack of stray dogs to keep you company. La Serena had a tired feel to the beach front where we were but in the summer comes alive with people visiting it from the major commercial cities.
After washing some clothes we were out into the old quarter and looking around the old square to sample some traditional life. It came in the form of a "menu del dia", a two/three course lunch menu that can usualy throws up a few surprises. I can assure you that this would not be the last time that we would sample one of these, it makes sense to have a cheaper larger meal for
lunch and then just snack later in the day. Also if your Spanish is a bit limited then you always get a meal that you didn´t expect.
We spent the majority of the afternoon trying to book accomodation for our next stop, the internet was not proving definitive so with a couple of leads we were going to haver to phone to confirm our booking. We wanted to head to Bahia Inglesia, which contains quite a few accommodation options but as it was the weekend most were full. So with our bus tickets booked we got a number for a set of cabañas six kilometers south of Bahia called Cabañna Paraiso. We borrowed a shop keepers mobile phone and Smith ventured off into the world of Spanglish, trying to book a room for three nights. Em was stood next to me, feeding the spanish translations and Smith was mixing more languages than most adult learning centers. After five minutes of apologies, acceptances, agreements and basic confusion both parties ended the conversation with lots of doubt but with some understanding that a booking had been made.
We got back to Jofre with a complete clean set of clothes and
settled down to another meal of pasta to provide some strength for the next days monster journey. We checked out late and ventured down to the bus station with a bit of time to kill before our bus turned up. Em decided to run off to get some snacks for the journey which turned out to be a nightmare as she had to revisited the supermarket that was over 2km away. With Smith holding the bags at the bus station, panicking that they would miss the bus, Em turned up just on the alloted time. In the end the bus was 30mins late and we had plenty of time to spare.
Moving on was not hard, La Serena beach needs a good wash, just like a tramp but does hide some little gems. Hostal Jofre was definitely one of those. The old square had a colonial charm and bustling streets, and the small town is home to over 29 churches apparently. I think we may have spotted one or two. It was certainly not the most exciting place we ever visited, but it was also not unpleasant in anyway, and we will remember it with as much fondness as
all the other places we saw in Chile.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.104s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 15; qc: 61; dbt: 0.0653s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb