La Serena - Coquimbo

Tuesday August 21

Breakfast at the hostel El Tesoro. We checked out around 10:30. We paid 31500 pesos for the night. About 65 dollars.

We walked the a couple blocks to the square and caught a bus back to La Serena. I was about a two hour ride and cost 3000 per person.

The valley between La Serena and Vicuña contains many farms (fundos). Avocados and papayas are grown in this valley. In La Serena dried or candied papayas are widely available.

We had reserved a suite at Hostel El Punto. It was a beautiful room in a separate building on the second floor. It had a private covered porch. Spacious and attractive.

We had lunch at Daniella II - a menu of the day that we somehow screwed up. We ended p being served cazuela as well as some frijoles. Plus we ordered some empanadas. We still ended up spending about 20 dollars - our usual lunch amount for even the simplest of meals.

The afternoon had started overcast but soon sun and blue sky predominated. We took a twenty minute walk to the beach. The beach area was dominated by large white high rises. The barren, grey sand beach stretched for miles along the crescent-shaped bay. Not particularly attractive.

Wether caught a number 1 bus (500pesos per person) to the Barrio Ingles section of the nearby town of Coquimbo. The ride took about a half hour. Many stops. And it was a directo bus.

We spent about 15minutes walking around the English section. That was enough. Gritty is the adjective most often used to describe this town. There restored section was only a few blocks. Interesting but not enough to linger. We easily caught another bus back to La Serena.

A quick meal at a nearby comida rapida restaurant (ElReal) , a walk to the nearby supermarket (Jumbo - a higher class Walmart-type store) and then we returned to the hostel.

No heat in our room but plenty of blankets. The rooms get colder that the outside.