Blogs from La Serena, Coquimbo Region, Chile, South America - page 8

About a month ago, me, my room mate micaela, and sara, her friend from michigan went to la serena. We took the last bus at midnight, and got there at about 7 am. We left our bags at the bus stations, and went to explore the city. The streets were literally empty, because no one wakes up tell after 9, or 10, or even later! so it was kind of nice to have a peaceful city all to ourselves, but we couldn´t even buy coffee or anything to eat until about 10:30! Our plan was to stay just for the day, visit the beach, and i wanted to see my friends, but we ended up staying the night there!. We walked all over the city, it´s the second oldest city in chile, very beautiful with old ... read more

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 ... read more

I spent the first few days of the vacation in La Serena visiting with Laura´s host family, which was a lot of fun!... read more

Me hablo Español, pero solo un poco Español. Cuanto Cuesta una habataccion por favour. Puedo tener la cuenta, gracias. Frightening, truely frightening. Almost as frightening as trying to pronounce the average item on a Chillean menu. Take the nation dish of Chorrillana, as an example - a feat which we have been attempting with vigour since returning to the mainland. There´s a ´y´ sound in there, but we´ll let you work out where. They´d be better, of course, by refering to the dish as it is known in its natural state under the very tasty guise of Steak, Egg and Chips. Yip, Chillean cuisine seems to comprise of the best the British Caf has to offer. Throw in some hot dogs (completos) and the odd Empanada (Cornish Pasty) and your sorted, with not a noodle in ... read more

Arrived in La Serena by plane from Santiago. Checked into best hostel so far - run by Germans, no less. Had our first ´Kompleto´ - a hotdog with guacamole, tomatoes and mustard - a local favourite, apparently. Pretty dam good. Visited one of the many observatories that night and looked at some stars and planets through a 12" telescope (200x magnification). Was amazing - saw Jupiter and Saturn too, but unfortunately couldn´t see Uranus. Did a tour the following day into the Elqui Valley and visited a Pisco distillery, which is a type of immature cognac famous to this region. Then went to visit the hometown of Gabrialla Mistral - yep, us neither. Leaving now to get the bus up to Copiapo.... read more