I just got back from our first solo trip of the year. It was a success! Very relaxing after pretty intense first few days.
So...first we took a bus up to La Serena, a little beach town in the north of Chile. The bus itself was pretty entertaining. It was a double-decker and we had the front row on the top so we could see out. Of course it was nighttime so that didn't help too much. Actually it was kind of like being in a video game. Every time we turned, I was sure we were going to hit a sign. Or go off a cliff. But fortunately there were curtains so we slept peacefully. The most entertaining bit was the bathroom really. My friend Leigh went back to use it and came back saying she couldn't get the door open. We thought maybe someone was in there so we decided to wait awhile. An hour later we both needed to use it so we decided to go back and figure it out. The door would not open. We pulled and pulled, but didn't want to break it or something. Not to mention everyone was sleeping and we didn't want to disturb anyone. We stood back there for a few minutes, I guess just hoping the door would open itself when, finally, this sleepy man sitting next to us reached over and yanked the door open in one easy pull. Oops. Apparently we just hadn't been trying hard enough. And...I don't know if you've ever tried using the bathroom on a moving bus, but let's just say it's a heck of a lot harder than using one on a plane or a train...
We got to La Serena around 7 am and went straight to the hostel (after nearly witnessing a fistfight in the bus station). The dueño of the hostel was nice enough to have a room all ready for us to sleep in for a few hours. We'd found the hostel in our LonelyPlanet guide book which said it had the best breakfasts around. I guess if you consider cold bread and butter and instant coffee the best breakfast then they were right, but I'm gonna say we could've found better. That being said, we did get breakfast (although we didn't get the jar of homemade jam that the guidebook promised either). And a cold shower, especially the second day when the 9 Spanish girls showed up that all decided to shower right as we were about to do the same (there were only 3 bathrooms).
According to the guidebook, there was easy access to the beach, so we decided to walk. After going through a supermarket, a park, and past a circus tent where they were hosting "Russia on Ice" we decided it had to be close. 20 minutes later, our hunger had gotten the best of us so we took a taxi back into town. LonelyPlanet told us we could eat a cheap set lunch with the bomberos at the fire station, which sounded like great fun. Unfortunately, we didn't see anywhere to eat much less an entrance to the fire station so we had to settle for the empty restaurant next door. Afterward, we took a taxi back to the beach, only to realize we'd been about five minutes away when we'd turned around the first time.
The next day we took a bus to Vicuña, a little pueblo in the middle of the Elqui Valley and the birthplace of Chilean escritoraGabriela Mistral. While the bus cost twice as much as LonelyPlanet told us, it was still pretty cheap and the paisaje was BEAUTIFUL! We were tired and wanted to sleep, but every turn was a new, beautiful view and we didn't want to miss one second. Vicuña was nice, although not super lively. I think we saw about 3 jovenes during our entire time there. We ran into the same group of Asian men 4 times and saw the same couple at lunch and dinner (there are really only 2 restaurants and they have pretty much the same menu). Once again our guidebook led us astray describing a hopping bar full of 80's music that we decided to try out that night. Not only was the bar less than hopping, but it had a different name, played Chilean music, and was mainly a 40+ crowd. And when some random Chileno started trying to convince the Asian men to ask us to dance we decided it was time to leave.
The next day we enjoyed another beautiful paisaje to Pisco Elqui, home of the Destileria Mistral, probably the best pisco that Chile makes. Everyone commented that it was almost unfair how beautiful this country is. Especially after spending a few weeks in Santiago, which is by no means ugly, but a city none-the-less. The strangest thing was that the bus didn't seem to have stops, but rather stopped wherever anyone needed to get off and also stopped to pick up random people on the road. I guess it's the only means of transport for many so they have to be pretty flexible. We enjoyed walking around the town and even made a new friend on the distilery tour. He was a Harvard student who'd spent the last semester in Chile and was enjoying his last few days before returning to the states. As we were beginning to not trust our book, we asked for his commentary on all the Santiago suggestions so that we knew which ones were actually worthwhile. To finish off the trip, our return bus got pushed for about a block before the driver could get it to start. Oh, Chile...
The highlight of the trip was going to Cerro Mamalluca, an astronomy observatory about 10 minutes from Vicuña. We did an Andean Cosmovision tour, which was very interesting (from what we could understand - an astronomy lecture is not the easiest thing to hear in a different language). After a brief lecture and an introduction to the computer program Stellarium (which, like the nerd I am, I plan to download and play with), we got to go outside and look through the telescopes. Our fingers nearly fell off because it was so cold, but it was also one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life. I felt so small and yet so filled with wonder at the same time. Ive never seen so many stars at once. Not to mention, you could see the Milky Way as well as two other galaxies (Magallanes) that are only visible in the Southern Hemisphere. It was a night of wishes as well - I saw about 5 shooting stars AND a meteor.
We spent our last day in Coquimbo which actually ended up being our favorite town. It's more of a port but had a lot of character and a lot of life. We stayed in a hostel that used to be the house of the French consulate members. It was beautiful, although run-down and very backpacker-y. Highlights included talking to a sweet young Chilena in the supermarket with her baby sister (or daughter, we weren't sure which because she was about 15). She couldn't stop staring at us and our "ojos preciosos." To top off the hilarity of our adventures, we almost accidentally went into a cafe con piernas but were stopped outside when a woman told us it was only for hombres. I guess the curtains and burlesque music should have tipped us off, but we were all really in need of a mocha.
We've got a few hours at home before an orientation at the Universidad de Chile and then tonight we're off on the next half of our adventure. Hopefully, the guidebook will be a little bit more spot-on regarding Pucón.
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