Blogs from Coquimbo Region, Chile, South America - page 9

We took a day trip outside of La Serena in the Elqui Valley and fell in love. The valley is home to some of Chile's most famous Pisco vineyards. Pisco is a liquor distilled from grapes and belongs to the brandy family of beverages. We spent much of the day in Pisco Elqui but also walked to Monte Grande along the highway. Each town is very small but all have a great, arty vibe and are very clean. We had lunch in a little place that serves, of course, Pisco Sour, the drink of Chile, but also other variations with fresh fruit blended with Pisco. I had the papaya sour and we agreed it was amazing. Perhaps the valley was also so great because the sun came out all day Sunday and it got quite warm. ... read more

Woke up to the bus attendant kindly offering us a breakfast of biscuits, wafers and sweets, just as he’d put another film on. What a great way to be woken up! Not a very healthy breakfast admittedly but hey ho! We arrived in La Serena on time and immediately got hawked by a number of hostel workers, but once we told them we were staying at Maria’s Casa, they all let out a sigh and gave up. Was this a good sign? Hope so... We trudged up to Maria’s place, only about 5 minutes from the bus terminal and so perfectly positioned. And when we got there we discovered the reason why all the other hostel folk seemed so despondent once Maria’s name was mentioned. From the outside, the house looks tiny and barely big enough ... read more

We had major drama to clear the motos from customs in San Antonio, as the day we were to that, we had traveled with great expectations 120 south of Vina del Mar to the port of San Antonio. On arrival at the port we were informed that the container had been damaged in transit, so until an assessor has been we can't open the container, have you any idea how frustrating that is !!. The left hand door had a mighty whack and had been forced inwards. Now we were concerned about the state of the motos, as if the container had been dropped ????. We had to wait for the shipping company rep to arrive, but about then all decisions were taken from us as a 6.4 Teramoto (earthquake) rocked us about, power poles were ... read more

"We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking up at the stars." Oscar Wilde The area around La Serena in northern Chile boasts the clearest skies in the world, hence the white domes of observatories dot the neighbouring mountains. In amongst this belt of star gazing scientific centres is Mamalluca, a 'tourist' observatory (scientists don't like tourist hordes disturbing their work). Through a digital telescope and also a manual one, we saw star clusters, Jupiter, a red giant star and the moon up close and personal. The moon was the most impressive. Afterwards our guide gave a short talk using computer programmes (check out Starry Night and Stellarium if you are interested). I could feel myself getting smaller and smaller in my chair as the screen zoomed outwards from Earth to ... read more

I just got back from La Serena, about 6 hours up north on the coast. We went for the independence (September 18th) but didn´t do much celebrating. We walked along the boardwalk for about two hours, until we got to an amazing seafood restaurant. The guy we were staying with (from couchsurfing.org) wined and dined us but was a little annoying- inviting himself everywhere and due to his lack of self-confidence acted as if he knew everyyything. Anyways, we stuffed ourselves with great fish, sauces, wine and empanadas then took about a two hour nap on the beach. That night we went to the neighboring town, Coquimbo, and went to a few bars that were full of karoke and fiestas de las patrias. The next day we took a bus about an hour out to Vicuña ... read more