Week 4: Santiago and La Serena

Where: Santiago (Chile) and La Serena (Chile)

The good: Wonderful day exploring Chilean coast near Santiago (Zapallar, Vina del Mar, and Valparaiso, especially Zapallar). Beautiful sunsets from the beach in La Serena over the Pacific Ocean rate a close second.

The bad: Losing stuff. Not a huge deal, but a big inconvenience as I somehow managed to part with the following without my knowledge: 1 pair of underwear (I'm down to 5!), my wonderful North Face windbreaker (big loss), the most comfortable sleep shades and earplugs I've ever encountered (huge loss!), Swiss Army knife, mini-flashlight, big bag of trail mix, box of chocolates from Mendoza, and 1 large Space Bag (which is also a big loss though it probably doesn't sound like it). I've spent way too many hours already trying to replace these and have generally be unsuccessful since I am fairly particular about quality since I'm packing light.


The possibly interesting: There was quite a bit of hotel room availability in La Serena, a 100% tourist town, on Easter weekend, one of the biggest holiday weekends of the year, which was fortunate (long story).

Biggest surprise: Chile is significantly more expensive than Argentina/Uruguay and Chilean Spanish very difficult to understand as Chilenos speak very quickly, drop the last syllables of many words, and use a lot of slang.

Lesson learned: Plan ahead. I was fortunate in being able to book the very last available bus seat available from Santiago to Buenos Aires for the Monday after Easter that arrived just in time for me to catch my flight to Ecuador. If the bus ticket weren't available (~$70), I would have had to buy a one way plane ticket for $350.

Regrets: Not being able to spend more time in Zapallar/Vina del Mar/Valparaiso.