Blogs from Coquimbo Region, Chile, South America - page 2

South America » Chile » Coquimbo Region » Pisco Elqui July 12th 2016

Leaving Valparaiso and heading off to the Elqui Valley on the advice of a local seemed like a good plan. I hopped onto a bus for the eight hour journey ($CLP 13,000 or $26 USD; buses here are expensive) to La Serena which is a coastal city and the jumping point to the Elqui Valley. I knocked on a few doors, found accommodation and really did not do anything nor do I have much to write about whilst in La Serena. Waking up the following morning I walked to the bus terminal, got a ride, and spent the next three hours climbing the Chilean foothills into the Elqui Valley. The valley is known for its many vineyards providing the fruit for pisco, its clear and pollution free skies for stargazing (many, many observatories on the peaks), ... read more

Un plein de soleil et de bonne humeur dans la vallée de Cochiguaz !

South America » Chile » Coquimbo Region » Pisco Elqui April 7th 2016

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ricochetslatinos

Du 22 au 28 mars 2016 Marie La Serena...une ville d'environ 200000 habitants à 470 kilomètres au nord de Santiago. Et surtout une vallée creusée par un fleuve, l'Elqui, surplombee par de magnifiques montagnes aux couleurs rouge et ocre, réputée par son ensoleillement quasi permanent, ses nuits étoilées, ses jolis villages et ses vignes qui donnent le raisin pour concocter le fameux Pisco. C'est surtout cette vallée incroyable que nous voulions découvrir en se décidant de faire une halte dans cette région. On est vraiment super enthousiastes car on a trouvé un nouveau lieu de Woofing dans une vallée attenante à la vallée de l'Elqui, la vallée de Cochiguaz ! Cela va nous permettre de découvrir cet endroit en pleine nature au contact de personnes qui y vivent ! Le souci, c'est qu'il y a très ... read more

Norte Chico: El Sol infinito

South America » Chile » Coquimbo Region » Vicuna February 23rd 2016

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Penguin and Flamingo are the new latin lovers

Después de haber disfrutado de los deportes de aventura en Pucón y los lagos de la región, pasamos por la capital de Chile: un poco de shopping, de metro, de música, de cerros, y contaminación! Nos dirigimos a Valparaiso que nos permite un poco de aire fresco disfrutando a su vez de un street art que nos deja boquiabiertos por cada calle que recorremos. Pero con ganas de un poquito de tranquilidad nos dirigimos a la playa de la Serena. Aunque no tiene mucho de especial, pasar dos días sobre la arena, tomando el sol y bañandonos entre las olas es mas que suficiente para disfrutar del lugar. Pero esta destinación es sólo una escala antes de nuestro objetivo en el Norte Chico: Visitar Vicuña y el Valle del Elqui, para descubrir la nueva vida y ... read more

Pinguin-watching in La Serena

South America » Chile » Coquimbo Region » La Serena December 28th 2015

La Serena

BMertens

Geo: -35.6751, -71.54314 hours later, we finally arrived at La Serena and Alex went directly to our hostel while I went to Vicuña to finally get back my towel and bikini. We spent the afternoon relaxing and drinking beer on the roof terrace with some people that we knew from our hostel in San Pedro de Atakam and in the evening we went for a walk in the city center, bought some presents (Alex at least) and we cooked dinner in our hostel.The next day (29.12), our tour to the Humboldt Pinguïn Reserve started at 8:30 AM and our guide was actually early for a change ; can you imagine this? Really strange for Chile! ;-)Hannah from Texas came with us, 2 people from England and 3 from Germany. Our guide was really good - he ... read more

Coquimbo, Chile and its next door neighbor, La Serena.

South America » Chile » Coquimbo Region » La Serena March 9th 2015

1 La Serena Papayeros

Adventureduo

Coquimbo, Chile and its next door neighbor, La Serena. 450 miles north of Santiago on the coast of Chile, we come to Coquimbo and its next door neighbor of La Serena. The first thing we learned was that these two cities are mortal enemies, at least when it comes to futbol! The Coquimbo Pirates (yellow and black) vs. the La Serena Papayeros (red and yellow). Well, as it happened, our driver, David, was from Coquimbo, and our tour guide, Patricio is from La Serena and both are avid futbol fans. Throughout the morning the rivalry continued with Patricio showing us a very small yellow and black Pirates shirt, but then when he wanted to tell us about Los Papayeros, he brought out a very LARGE red shirt with the number 10 on it to honor the ... read more

COQUIMBO (LA SERENA)

South America » Chile » Coquimbo Region » Coquimbo March 5th 2015

BEACH BETWEEN COQUIMBO AND LA SERENA

John and Gloria Travels

Docked early and our private tour we booked from home was for 9.30a.m. so a leisurely breaky and off we go again. Nicholas was our guide - a local boy in his final year of mechanical engineering - being a tour guide part time - very nice guy and we had a great day! We had wanted to get out in the Elqui Valley - to see a Pisco distillery and the countryside - the mountains around are just so bare and desert like and then you have this very fertile valley growing a lot of grapes, veges and and array of fruits as well as peaches and oranges. The valley is watered by a huge dam backed up halfway along the valley but the water catchment to this area has been very little and they ... read more

Cowgirl Star Gazer

South America » Chile » Coquimbo Region » Pisco Elqui March 30th 2014

The Scottish Hilton In La Serena

tdv95

Geo: -30.0715, -70.4677The skies of central and northern Chile are known around the world for their sharpness and clarity, thanks to the fact that it only rains about 60 nights a year. And given DH's fascination with all things shiny and sparkly, we knew we had to make our way there.On the way, we stopped in at the coastal city of La Serena (with a claim to fame as a summer beach escape). We didn't have any specific plan and started questioning our decision while checking into our hotel- the proprietor was a grumpy Scottish ex-pat (we think the grumpy part was just part of his shtick) who was not La Serena's best salesman. Since this was the second hotel in a row that we had stayed in which we were the only guests, we put ... read more

Two Days in La Serena and Coquimbo, Chile (March 2014)

South America » Chile » Coquimbo Region » Coquimbo March 13th 2014

La Serena 008

GregandJoan

11 March 2014 – Tuesday – La Serena, Chile Cold, steel-gray skies greeted us this morning – not the welcoming clear blue that we have become used to. The hostel offers breakfast inclusive with the price of the room: the breakfast is a plastic Tupperware-like container with two slices of bread and thin piece of cheese, a package of crackers, a small tetra-pak juice, a tea bag and a measure of instant coffee in a sachet, two packs of sugar. The Chileans just don’t do breakfasts! I went out to a nearby shop and bought six eggs and Joan whipped up an omelette. We caught up with our correspondence and the national news online – strange about the missing Malaysian airliner. When we began our walkabout of La Serena it was still grey skies and cool ... read more

Dead Batteries on arrival...

South America » Chile » Coquimbo Region » Coquimbo March 7th 2014

On Arrival in Chile

Rosco p

I have enjoyed many excellent flights now to Chile with Lan/Qantas, but this was one of the worst. During the flight the airconditioning just couldn't cope and we were so hot and on top of that our section of seating had no inflight entertainment, so all in all it became a very LONG night. We were met at the airport by Gerardo and our taxi van. on arrival at the hotel we presented our passports and rego papers to our agent, to get a jump start on the release of the bikes, the only problem was, that Bob and Mary were still on their way back from Easter Island and would not be in to Santiago until 9.00 pm. With a bit of practice, I had perfected their signatures and we were in business.... After a ... read more

Complaciente vino...Nice Chilean Wine

South America » Chile » Coquimbo Region January 9th 2014

This leg was a beautiful ocean drive

timalemanha

Geo: -30.5988, -71.1892In the middle of the desert...but...this particular town is favorable for the cultivation of vineyards that give origin to pisco and Chilean wine...I wanted to enjoy the wine but being a business town...Every hotel, every hostel...every guesthouse was fully booked, since it was getting late and late meaning chill...I had to decide to push onwards rather than staying...To bad, I would have enjoyed the wine...Quickly I decided to push on towards La Serena...... read more

with equally pleasant wines to choose from

Brief history of Chile

Prior to the coming of the Spanish in the 16th century, northern Chile was under Inca rule while Araucanian Indians inhabited central and southern Chile; the latter were not completely subjugated until the early 1880s. Although Chile declared its ind...more history

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