Blogs from Coquimbo Region, Chile, South America

In the narrow country, there are only two directions to choose from - north or south. With snow still in and out of the Lake District, heading north seemed like a reasonable choice, so we headed to La Serena, 7 hours north of Valparaiso. At least a 7-hour bus ride allows you to see amazing nature, unlike flying, so the trip went pretty quickly. Fortunately the Chilean buses are closer to Argentinian standards than those in Bolivia or Peru!La Serena is a large seaside resort in the summer, but was quite quiet in the off-season. Arriving early in the evening, food was again on the priority list, and after checking out the pizzeria we recommended, red wine was on my mind. Unfortunately, the waiter decided to leave out the fact that they were out of red ... read more

20 juillet Derrière La Serena s'élève l'imposante Cordillière des Andes qui délimite la frontière avec l'Argentine. Au niveau de la ville, un entonnoir déverse des confluents de rivières à partir des sommets jusqu'à l'Océan Pacifique. Dans les montagnes, une vallée fertile se forme, là où poussent des jardins de papayes, des plantations démesurées d'avocats et des vignobles de raisins Muscatel avec lesquels sont produit des vins sucrés comme le fameux Pisco, fierté festive du Pays. En matinée, un mini-bus s'arrête devant mon Hostal pour justement me permettre de m'injecter dans la Valle Del Elqui. Je suis le touriste canadien dans le lot de latina familia en vacancia. Je m'assied en avant: Felipe le guide-chauffeur est le seul à pouvoir me répondre en anglais. Sans attendre, Felipe actionne le moteur et nous partons vers ... read more

We left Santiago bus station so that it could recover from our visit, and continued on a different whizz bang bus to La Serena, where a lovely German lady rescued us from the large road by the bus station and helped us find our hostel. We enjoyed the pavement cafes of Serena but it was a bit busy for us and we just stayed a couple of days. We had read about the beautiful and mystical Elqui Valley, where communities have been established believing that the magnetic centre of the earth is here rather than in the Himalayas, where apparently everyone else thinks it is. I have to say that the location of the magnetic centre of the earth has never, not once, been the subject of my thinking so I am happy to believe anyone. ... read more

Day two Coquimbo. Football, dogfights and spectacular views. See photos and video! The only good thing about having to use facebook to post my blogs is the speed I can upload photos and now videos too! Enjoy! The one of Dave almost getting savaged by a dog is a good watch. We docked in Coquimbo early morning and, after breakfast in the dining room, headed out to explore. ?? Chile is long and thin, the top end being desert and the lower part more lush with varied weather. We are close to the top third so the signs of desert were everywhere. The land itself is sand coloured and dusty. Even the tarmac roads had a thin layer of desert dust atop and cactus ? were absolutely everywhere. It was hot but not at all unbearable. ... read more

Suzanne here... The bus arrived in La Serena 1.5 hours late. Not usually a big deal, but we'd booked an apartment and given an arrival time of 2pm, and it was that already. There were no taxi's (perhaps as the Confederations Cup Final between Chile and Germany was on). Nor could I find free wi-fi anywhere to let them know. We found the bus stop and after a bit of a wait a bus came along and took us to within 10 minutes walk of the apartment. We were just under an hour late. The security chap had to phone the guy (who had given up waiting for us) to come back. All rather embarrassing. Still, the apartment was fabulous. Modern and with a great sea view. We quickly settled in and then went out to ... read more