La Serena

Today I leave La Serena where I have been for 2 nights. The hostel is a house with an outhouse that the guests stay in, and everybody shares the garden, courtyard and kitchen areas. We live with a lovely lady called Maria who has been fussing over us like an aunt, washing our dishes before we can protest and making us coffee and fruit salads. I´ve made 2 good friends here (a German girl and a Belgian girl) who I have seen the city with and travelled to nearby Vicuña with, and Ellen and I are on the same bus tonight which is good as it takes 18 hours to get to San Pedro de Atacama! The buses are super comfy and we are even served breakfast in the morning.

La Serena is a sweet old city with loads of churches, a nice main square, tons of market stalls and cobbled streets that it´s fun to get lost in. Vicuña was similar but we found a hill that we climbed to the top of for some great views of the Elqui Valley and the town. We could hear music coming from the main square (a mother´s day celebration I think) which made it a great place to stay and chat, then we ate empañadas (yummy pasties - I´m addicted!) before catching the bus home.

I realised how dirty Santiago is when I rode the funicular to Cerro San Cristobal on my last day. It´s a park overlooking the city with a massive statue of the Virgin Mary and a botanical garden, supposedly with great views of the city and the Andes in the near distance. I could hardly see the buildings for the thick brown smog lying heavily on the ground - yuk! As for the mountains they were only visible through a murky haze, but it was good to see them and the route home took me past some awesome markets. Chile is one of the more expensive countries on my route though so I´m saving my pesos and waiting for Peru. Paul, there are so many llama themed things here I just don´t know where to start with your presents!