La Serena
Is a village in the (summer) vacation time is the most important source of income.
However currently it is winter. The hotels are cheaper, the city and the restaurants are almost empty …
Downtown is very nice but the shopping centers is almost crowded at 10:30am (although some shops do not open before 11:00am)!
The lunch at the restaurant Porota’s bar and restaurant is very good! This is rare in Chile !
La Serena is worth a visit – you only need a few days for seeing all of it!
In the summer (December to February) it will be so crowded that you can hardly find any place anywhere – we believe that at once! Even in the winter it is nice!
the pacific ocean
Due to the Humboltstream the water is to cold to swim for most people (even in Summer time). Nevertheless, we like to look at it while Max is playing in the sand.
Yes, Rio was warmer, but here the sea is still somehow nicer …
Max collects tons of shells. It will be quite expensive sending them home…
One of the “wild” dogs has settled with Max and “guarded” him for a while … somehow surreal for and Europeans.
Vicuña
From La Serena we drove to the wine valley to Vicuña. It is a small, charming village with two wineries and felt 20 private observatories. Our hostel is located in the middle of vineyards and also offers there own observatory – that was the reason for Kasia to book it!
Unfortunately, it is mostly cloudy today and we where not able to look to the stars.
Viña del Mar and Valparadiso
How are the sea again – almost in the habor city of Santiago. Several cities have grown together here.
Valparaiso was “the” habor town after the Cape Horn, before the Panamakanal was built. Even now, about 1/3 of Chile’s foreign trade is being handled through this port.
Next to it lies Viña del Mar – where we stayed. Here it is somehow more beautiful and elegant. Those with more money will live here. One of the most important sources of income is the casino (in every major city).
Today we did a four-hour trip, with Valparadiso and Streetart as focus.
