October 12:
The Bus:
Susi and I both left work early on Friday so that we could take a bus to La Serena. We met at Estación Central, a bustling part of the city that I had yet to visit. It was pretty crazy - you'd think it would be pretty easy to find a bus terminal, but not when it's disguised as a mall. It was a strange experience, walking through shops, taking an escalator to the second floor, suddenly being befuddled by rows of ticket windows and buses parked far above street level. Luckily we made it on the bus just in time and got settled for our 7 hour ride. We kept entertained with beautiful roadside views and the entertainment system that played 80's music videos and Infinity War.
The Hostel:
We arrived to La Serena just before midnight, so we took an uber to our hostel and called it a night... Well kind of. I had never been in a hostel before, so I was a little weirded out. Strangely enough, the third person in our room was a 23 yr old shirtless Ecuadorian guy named Carlos who was recovering from a full day of drinking while backpacking across South America. The most awkward part wasn't his willingness to shared about his botched relationships, but that he graduated from Purdue. One can never escape the midwest.
October 13:
We woke up to breakfast from the owner of the hostel, Paula. She was really sweet, and showed us what tours they offered. We decided to go on a full day tour of the Valle de ElquÃ. Paula's son, Roberto, spent the day with us as our guide.
We first went to a bakery to try some alfajores con manjar. We next went to the Puclaro Dam - which was impressive. A wall of rocks held back a giant reservoir the size of a lake. It was a windy, kind of chilly day, perfect for kite-surfing (which we did not do, but saw off in the distance). It was absolutely beautiful. We next drove up to Vicuña, a town nestled in the valley. We were followed around by stray dogs as we checked out the museum of Nobel Laureate Gabriela Mistral and had a traditional chilean lunch of cazuela. After lunch, we got to walk around the town and check out the artisan market. The tour didn't stop there though. We next drove up to a pisquera, where they make pisco (double-distilled Chilean alcoholic beverage). We topped the tour off with a drive to a secluded spot of the Elquà River and a nice, scenic drive home.
That night, we considered going out. Roberto had been a bouncer for several clubs in the area and had no shortage of recommendations of clubs on the beach. Instead, we grabbed some dinner (when my card got declined, a sweet, Italian-Chilean couple paid for me) and watched Netflix.
October 14:
We woke up to another breakfast (hostels with breakfast are the best), but this time from Paula's husband, Frances. He was a Belgian that relocated to Chile to be with Paula and had very many stories to tell us about Chile from a foreigner's perspective.
Susi and I headed to Coquimbo, the town a little south of La Serena, for the day. We took a bus us the city perched on hills above the sea. We visited the Cruz de Tercer Milenio, which was interesting. Reminded me a little too much of Crosley Tower, a building on UC Campus that I love to hate.
We walked down the winding streets to the port and then to the beach. Coquimbo is a fisherman's town and La Serena is a beach town. We checked out the feria (market) which had really cheap produce - 2 avocados for fifty cents (!!) We grabbed some shrimp empanadas and walked along the beach until we got to La Serena. It was a really beautiful day. For dinner, we went to a restaurant on the beach called Pirats. No, that is not a typo.
That night, we went on an astronomy tour, with the ever-friendly Roberto as our guide. We drove up the hills as the sunset and it became dark. Chile has some of the clearest skies in the world due to its geographic features. Many of the world's best telescopes are built here. Vicuña has the second clearest skies in the world (second to San Pedro de Atacama). It was a really cool experience. I grabbed some hot chocolate from their late night cafe and looked at the stars and it just blew my mind. This picture was taken on my phone through a telescope.
October 15:
Our last day in La Serena, we got our breakfast and checked out of our hostel. We took a bus up to La Serena and walked to El Faro, an old fortress (?) on the beach. It was a chilly morning - every morning in La Serena is cloudy, and every afternoon is clear because of it's location between the sea and the mountains.
We walked into the town and checked out the Japanese garden, which was very peaceful after such a busy weekend of traveling. We also walked through their Plaza de Armas and the markets there. We walked down to the mall for lunch, which was right next to the bus terminal. And as close as the two were, we almost missed our bus back to Santiago. A series of obstacles kept getting thrown our way and it was stressful to say the least.
Luckily we just made it on the bus. Unluckily, the movies weren't that great and there was some traffic, so we got back into Santiago pretty late. On top of that we had to take metros home - about 50 additional minutes. I was exhausted, but it was all worth it.
