Valparaiso and La Serena, in serach of Penguins

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We arrived in Valparaiso glad to see sunshine on our skin again, and found our next hostel, another great one, with the help of our first taxi ride in Chile (but after a 22 hour journey I think we can be forgiven!). Valparaiso is a port city in the middle of Chile, which is a city two parts. "El Plan", the flat part which goes along the coast, much like any other city with shops, offices, etc. Then there are the numerous hills that rise up behind, full of character, and great to spend a day wandering around with your camera. There isn´t that much to do in Valparaiso really, so after a great set lunch of Salmon in a great cafe in a dodgy area of town, we hit the Navy museum, reached by a very wobbliy funicular ride up Cerro Artilleria. We then took a very bizzare boat ride around the port, onthe promise of sea lions (which we weren´t too shocked to find didn´t actually exist!), instead getting up close and personal with the various nationalities of navy ships docked in the port!

From Valparaiso we headed to La Serena, 7 hours north, a small city on the coast which has a great relaxed atmosphere (probably contributed to by the beach), and good architecture with lots of old churches an civic buildings, it felt the most Spanish of all the places we´ve vistited so far. Another fantastic hostal, Maria´s Casa, and again a great owner (Maria of course) who was wonderful if ever so slightly batty, and greated us with a cup of coffee. After a day leisurely wandering around the city and battling against the wind on the beach, we spent our second day bussing up and down the Elqui Valley between Vicuña and Montegrande, through spectacular scenery that alternated between arid desert scattered with cactus, and vast expanses of irrigated farmland that despite being man made, added to the beauty of the valley, all against a back drop of arid mountains. We finished the day in style wit a trip to an observatory called Mallmuca, as the Elqui Valley is world renound for its clear skies and the perfect place to go star gazing. After opting for the guide in English rather than Spanish, it turned out that Phil and I had our own private tour guide as the other 16 tourists obviously wanted to show off their Spanish skills (ha ha - for the first time my bad spanish paid off!). We had an amzing two hours looking through the telescopes at different stars and I actually learnt the names of some of the constellations! We happened to be there on a full moon and though they say this is the worst time to star gaze for us it was amazing to be in the middle of no where with no artificial light for miles yet be able to see clearly in the middle of the night, purely from the light of the moon. Definitely recommended!

The action continued at full pace the next day with an organised tour to the Nation Himboldt Pinguin reserve, a couple of hours from La Serena. After missing the penguin season in Chiloe by a couple of weeks, and the lack of promised sea lions in Valparaiso we were determined to see some sealife in the wild! And we were not dissapointed! After a bus ride to los Chorros during which we spotted our first lama and a destert fox, we mounted a little motorised boat and set off towards the first island in the reserve, Isla Choros, were we spotted the miniature penguins! They were so funny waddling along the rocks and really cute, only about a foot tall. The boat ride was fantastic in itself, and the driver really skilled in getting us up close to the island without disturbing the birds too much. There were so many different species of birds flying and landing everywhere, but the highlight had to be coming across a massive group of sea lions bathing themselves in the midday sun. We also saw a couple of sea otters hunting in the sea, though sadly no dolphins which sometimes can be spotted. But it was fantastic day, and after lunch with the group back on the mainland, we headed back to La Serena ready to catch the bus to our final destination in Chile - San Pedro de Atacama!

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