Day 11 - La Serena, Chile (Thursday 29 March 2012)

Day 11 - La Serena, Chile (Thursday 29 March 2012)

Started off this morning with a walk into town to have a look around.  It is quite a nice city with 29 churches around the place.  We then decided to walk around the suburbs and to the beach which was about a 30 minute walk.  On the way we passed a couple of market type stalls.  I had lost my sunglasses about a week ago (the sunglasses I purchased in Australia in 1999 on my Marist rugby trip, so wasnt a huge loss) so I bought some for CH$2,000 (about NZ $6).  We continued to the beach which was quite pleasant but was quiet.  The reason being it has just become off season and we arrived at the beach late morning.  Quite often in La Serena the weather is foggy and cold in the mornings and then the fog burns off in the early afternoon to become a nice day.  This is exactly what happened today.

We walked back into town and tried to book a city tour.  The tour company we tried to book with only did tours when they had enough numbers.  Since it was the off season they didnt have the numbers so we got some info off the travel guide and did our own city tour.  First stop was a walk up the hill to the army base which has some fantastic views of the city.  We then went back into town and went to the market which was great! A few things I would have liked to have bought but couldnt as, once again, the room in my backpack dictates my spending.  We then went to a museum about the history of La Serena, was pretty interesting.  On our way back to our hostel we had a look at the Cathedral which is located on the main square in the city, Le Plaza de Ames.  It was built during the mid 1800's and was very nice.

We have booked our bus to San Pedro de Atacama for tomorrow.  We leave at about 4pm and it is a 17 hour journey (overnight bus, obviously).  We have booked Cama seats which means we effectively have a bed.  So shouldnt be a bad trip at all!