La Serena (El Norte Chico)

That night, I took a 20-hour very long bus ride from Iquique to La Serena, which I slept half the time, and worked on my computer the rest of the time.  This leg of the trip extends more than a quarter of the length of Chile, about 1200km.  

I sat by a nice man who apparently took pity on me, and fed me some of his bread rolls, which were actually quite delicious.  He didn't speak a lick of English, but each time we would stop along drug control points or pit stops to refuel, he would gesture to me when I needed to get off.  I was a bit confused at first, as they do things a little differently in Peru where you just go all the way through without stopping.

I got into La Serena early evening, and walked a mile to my hostel, which was really quite nice, with great common areas and patios.  La Serena is the ultimate beach town with a beach that continuously extends for many miles, and which is lined with many eateries and outdoor gym equipment.  While La Serena is not as sunny as Iquique, the sun would ultimately break through between 11am-1pm, providing more than sufficient sunshine for the remainder of the day.

I would end up staying 4 nights in La Serena, going on two guided tours the next couple days--one to an island bird sanctuary, and the other to Elqui Valley where they grow grapes for wine and Pisco.

In hindsight, I could have skipped these tours.  They would have been nice to go on at the beginning of my stay in Chile just to get into the swing of things, but after seeing what I saw in Iquique, San Pedro, and Uyuni, I was actually quite bored most of the time. 

The bird sanctuary was okay, but honestly, I'm not really into birds.  Penguins are cute and all, but after you've seen a couple of them, it's not big deal.  There was chance that we would see dolphins and even whales, but we had no such luck.  The time that I spent on the island, which I would have like to have explored more, was rushed.  I did get some nice pictures through.

There was really only one thing I liked about the next tour (Elqui Valley), and that was the dam.  

As beautiful as it is, there is a back story.  The powers that be needed to build the dam to provide a more controlled water supply to La Serena and the surrounding areas.  However, a few hundred indigenous people that were living in the area had to be forcibly moved to two nearby towns.  But I make no judgments as sometimes the interests of many outweigh those of the few.  But it did kind of suck for the indigenous people that had to be relocated.

Speaking of relocating, I saw this little critter making its way across the dam.  It did seem a little out of place.  It is difficult to tell, but this is a full grown tarantula.

I thought about picking him up, so I touched his abdomen to see if he was either a lover or a fighter.  When I did that, he quickly spun about and did this . . .

So that was my clue that I should just leave him be.  Luckily, he didn't lunge at me.  Honestly, had he done that, I would have screamed like a little girl as my phone went flying.  

The rest of tour, I could have skipped, being dropped off in two towns to shop and to look at a museum dedicated to a Chilean poet that I know nothing about.  One of my pet peeves about tours is when they drop you off in a shopping district, which always ends up to be a waste of my time.  But I made the best of it, and just took the time to relax.

I did get a nice picture of Eliqui Valley . . .

And this cool head thingy in the water . . .

I got back to the hostel at around 7pm, which gave me enough time to go to the beach and take in the sunset.

The next day I had planned to go on a tour to a cloud forest on the coast, but opted not to as I would rather not spend my day in a cloud.  So I decided to rent a bike from the hostel and explore La Serena.  In hindsight, I should have done this instead of the tours, as it was way better.  Now, biking does not seem to be dangerous, but urban biking is one of the most dangerous activities that one can do--certainly more than sand boarding or paragliding.  But I have good reactions and good instincts on the streets, so I was not too worried.

I was told to go to a lookout point that was 10km away.  It was cloudy when I left at 11am in the morning, but I was confident that the sky would clear up by the time I got there an hour later, and that it did.  My plan was to go to the look out point, and then go back to the hostel to pack and take the bus to Santiago that day.   

On the way there, I passed the finish line for a 10K race . . .

I visited a mosque (which I didn't know existed in Chile) way up on a hill that I had spotted from below . . .

I eventually got to the look out point, and the sky did start clearing up.

I also saw a nice hill that I could climb up to get a better look at the surrounding area . . .

So I hiked up as far as I could with my bike, and then left it in the bushes when I actually had to do some real climbing.  It looks a bit treacherous, but there were lots of nooks and crannies to climb on . . .

My only mishaps were grabbing a few cacti on the way up.  It was a bit painful, but I soon learned to look before I reach around and grab handholds.  Once I got to the top, I saw some great views . . .

On the way to the point, I saw a giant cross up on a hill called the "Third Millennium Cross." I wanted to see that when it was sunny out, so I decided to venture up there after seeing the point.  It was quite an engineering feat and work of art.  At its base, there were 14 stations of the cross embodied in nice black statues . . .

. . . and there was a modern church right below the cross . . .

But the highlight was, of course, the giant cross itself . . .

We were allowed to climb up to the platform below the cross, and then take an elevator up to the arms of the cross, and saw some great views of La Serena . . .

While I was up there, I spotted what appeared to be a clearing where I could ride my bike, and get a view of the bay of what I know now as La Herradura, a beach resort.

So I decided that I must go there.  On the way, I saw a dog perched on a rock, which was a bit strange, as I have no idea how the dog, having no opposable thumbs, got there.  The back side of the rock was just as steep as the front side.

From the clearing, I had a great view of the cross that I had just seen . . .

. . . and the bay on the other side . . .

I had plenty of daylight left (doesn't get dark until after 9pm), so I decided to ride down and visit La Herradura.  At this point in time, I had given up the thought of taking a bus to Santiago that day (five hour trip), since I didn't want to arrive in Santiago too late.  So I just decided at that moment that I would spend another night in La Serena.  This is the good thing about not over planning, and just winging it.  I did not make bus reservations, and I did not make hotel reservations in Santiago for just this reason.  So I could just chill and take the bus to Santiago the next day.

So I did take the ride down to La Herradura and got a picture of the cross at the top of the hill from the point that I had just previously seen from the cross.

. . . and I got to take in the scene for a few minutes . . .

Having seen everything that I needed to see, I then made the bike ride all the way back to my hostel.  What I initially planned to be a 2-hour bike ride, turned into a 7-hour bike ride.  I was tired, and had to ride most of the way home off the very hard seat, as my ass hurt like hell, which seems to be a common theme on my trip.

But it turned out to be a perfect day.