Day 2: La Serena

Since our bus back to Viña was scheduled to leave at 2 p.m., we didn’t have any formal plans for Sunday morning. The owner of the hostel we stayed at told us the beach was a brief 10 minute walk. He was about 30 minutes off. It was worth the trek, though, because the there was a neat lighthouse and the view from the beach was gorgeous. Most of the coastline in Viña and Valpo is rocky or used for docks, so there are fewer beaches than in La Serena. Too bad we won't be able to actually enjoy any beaches or go in the ocean while we’re here – maybe if it was 20 degrees warmer.

The lighthouse.

Vaish, Me, and Adrienne along the beach.

Since it was Sunday, basically everything was closed, including places to eat. Lacking any other options, we went back to the grocery store to have lunch at a restaurant there. The brownie ice cream was all too enticing to pass up afterwards. After lunch, we picked up our stuff from the hostel and walked to the bus terminal.

The 7 hr ride back was relaxing – the road paralleled the ocean most of the way and went through more mountains. They showed three movies on the return trip, two of which were some of the most violent gangster movies I have ever seen. It seemed a little out of place to look out the window and see picturesque mountains and then look at the t.v. screen and see a thug cutting off the hand of another thug.

We got back to Viña a little after 9 p.m. Adrienne lives relatively close to me compared to everyone else so we were going to take a micro from the bus terminal to our neighborhood. After waiting awhile, we discovered there were very few micros driving around (because it was a Sunday night?) so we ended up walking back. When I got home, the apartment was pretty quiet but that was okay with me - I was exhausted and still had homework to do. I think I fell asleep while reading “El chiflón del diablo.”