La Serena - there is life!!!!!

Pod of Dolphins at Isla Damas!
see all photos »

We happily set ourselves up again in our new hostel, with our own bathroom!!! Mad got herself a heater, she was very pleased and we headed into town for a well earned cold beer!!!

…and began our lovely few days in La Serena! We managed to do all the tours we’d wanted. The Humbolt penguin reserve day was really memorable (although the tour group was a weird and uncomfortably quiet group on this trip!) as we got a little fishing boat out into the ocean to the Islas Chorros & Damas. We were lucky enough to see Dolphins twice in pods near the boat. One swam right next to us!!! Amazing! The at the island we saw loads of sea lions on the rocks and then – the start of the show – cute little Humbolt penguins swimming about and waddling around on rocks and beaches! Our next day trip was down the Elqui valley where they produce ‘Pisco’ the nation’s alcoholic beverage…as well as wine of course! It’s made from fermented grapes of special varieties and is very tasty! Went to a course in ‘Piscology’ where we learnt how it was made, saw where they store the barrels and watched a video (thankfully subtitled) and tasted the drink. Most of the day was spent going from one little village to the next and we saw where Gabriela Mistral lived ( she was a nobel prize winning poetess and Chileans are very proud of this). Then in the evening we went to the Mamalluca Observatory for a 2 hour tour where we got to see the moon through a big telescope and saw nebulas and Jupiter and star clusters…all very amazing and we loved it!

Lucky enough to see Dolphins

Wrapped up Mad on the boat to Isla Damas.
see all photos »

For our last tour we went to Fray Jorge National Park (a cloud forest in the middle of the desert – v odd!) and to see 3000 year old petroglyphs in the Valle de Encanto. We had a fab guide called Denis who drove us around and was really chatty and friendly and we had a great day. Sadly in 30 years scientists think the forest will be gone due to global warming so we felt quite lucky to see it!

Had some time pottering around La Serena – going to the beach for walks (and getting followed by 6 stray dogs – there are lots here as people abandon their puppies as they grow up...it’s so sad. They all look at you as if to say ‘will you take me home? I miss being in a family…’). It’s a lovely place. We were there for the September 18 Independence day parade with Cueca music and dancing in traditional costumes. Had lovely food too – our stomachs are finally recovering from meat overload in brazil!!!! We stayed at a lovely B & B with a sweet family who basically adopted us and let us use their kitchen. Again sad to move on but ready for some greenery after a week of desert!