Friday, October 25, 2013

La Serena, back on the Pacific

Our overnight bus slowly pulled into the La Serena Terminal at about 11:30 AM, and we were greeting by a slight Pacific breeze...

We sat on a bench and tried to figure out a hostel situation for the night, and found the closest one we could to the terminal.

"Hostal Maria" was just up the road, about a 5 minute walk.  We were greeted by the nicest people upon entering into their 'home' turned-hostel.  It was a brother and sister duo in their 60's, respectively Maria, and Pancho.  They showed us our room for the night, and then sat us down, offered us coffee, and gave us the low-down on La Serena, and what there was to do there.

We walked all the way to the beach, which took about a half hour, and were a little disappointed in the result...It was a huge beachfront area, but was pretty littered with trash, and all the way down the beach was high rise apartments and hotels.  Not as attractive as we had hoped, but still a nice walk.  There was a huge lighthouse structure right on the beach, that a ton of tourists were posing in front of, and all the local kids went there to make out.


We walked around for a while, then back to grocery store, grabbed some things to make dinner, and hung out at the hostel for the night.  Next day, Maria and Pancho gave us directions and some tips on getting to the Valle del Elqui, where we wanted to do some camping...

The hostel was a very nice place.  Nice kitchen, beautiful yard and garden with fruit trees.  It was the perfect jump off point for us in the area, albeit it being super expensive...

Hostal Maria's backyard


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