Coasting Round Chile

Hello Again,
I write this as I´m about to leave La Serena to head south in Chile to search for some surf!

I have recently visited the city's of Valparaiso and La Serena and have little in the way of excitement to update you with I´m afraid. I have spent many hours on buses and in bus stations getting more and more fed up of the lack of new songs on my iPod!
On the plus side I feel very relaxed and well read currently.

Valparaiso was a real mixed city and didn´t live up to the high expectations that I´d been set.
The city was dirty and felt very industrial after the lake district. There was very clear evidence throughout of the strong maritime influence on the city (particularly from the Navy) which gave it a functional rather than beautiful feel.
What rescued the city for me was the "Cerros" or small mounts that were picture perfect inland. Making for very nice strolls round small boutiques and galleries in a maze of narrow cobbled streets on impossible gradients. The colours of the houses were stunning and I managed to find a few good places to eat.
The most noticeable thing about staying in Valparaiso was a different type of traveller was present at the hostel compared to the rest of South America. For the first time numbers of Australasians appeared in numbers as they were either just heading to or had just come in from Santiago.

Following from Valparaiso I made the decision to head further north to La Serena.
En route the scenery and vegetation changed dramatically into one that was almost dry desert landscape.

The primary function of La Serena is as a seaside resort and as such it appears to do a very sound job. There were a great number of South American tourists, mainly families from Chile and Argentina.
I met some friends who have spent some time here and made the most of the fact that there was few Gringos around. We went to the cinema and saw some poor action film (Agent 47 or something) and then suffered again the very bizarre feeling when leaving the cinema. I expected to be coming out of the enclosed screen into Maidenhead or Wycombe or somewhere and not a car park in Chile! The feeling is not nice and a bit of a shock and takes a few moments to get bearings again, but underneath there is a slight feeling of sadness. You may think I`m mad but try it and I`m sure you`ll feel the same.

The biggest positive about La Serena was the costs were cheap (although I was staying in a shed complete with window!) and the Chileans very friendly but the place did not light me up and as such I only decided to stay for a few nights. The surf was not up to much and the weather was average.
I did a couple of trips to different places including visiting the nearby resort of Coquimbo and the amazing fish market (with some very interested pelicans looking on!). Whilst there took the opportunity to climb the giant concrete Christian cross for a good view, but it didn´t leave me in awe (or spiritually moved!).
The best trip was to the observatory to view the brilliant night sky from the desert in the best start spotting area on the planet. The only problem was that it was a full moon, which was very impressive but dominated the sky. The guide actually pointed out that we`d missed the full moon by a few hours as it was only 99.6% full at midnight at getting smaller again.
The guide was knowledgeable and although it didn´t make me want to rush out and buy a telescope it certainly was insightful and thought provoking.
The most memorable thig was the telescope size race which is ongoing and is the equivalent of male penis envy. The US and Europe keep battling out for the grandeur of having the largest scope (with largest mirror) on the planet (despite then putting it in Chile!). The names of these things are ridiculous as well and you can tell that the people spend too long looking at the sky! Currently US is winning with the California Extremely Large Telescope (30m mirror) due for completion around 2014.
Europe is busy with the owl or Overwhelmingly Large telescope, but it will not be ready for about 50 years due to the size of the mirror (approx 50m)!


So that's once again it folks. Although I have now loaded on some more photos so please click on the links to view the albums. You will need to sign up to have a Snapfish account and then just follow the link and login to see the latest pictures.

Hope all is well back in the damp UK and its getting lighter again in the evenings (at least a little). Trying to now work out what I can fit in my last two weeks in South America and what I can get rid of from my bag!