Days 67 - 72: La Serena and Santiago

Not sure what to report on La Serena, it was very pretty, still great to be in Chile, but the purpose of stopping there was definitely to break up our long journey. We went for a huge 15km walk along the beach from La Serena to Coquimbo to go up the huge concrete cross on the headland - built to commemorate 2000 years of little baby Jesus. It was pretty, and the view from the cross was spectacular, but it was not as bustling as we had expected.

But we weren't there long before heading to Santiago the next day.

We have absolutely loved Santiago, the first SA city we could live in. The city is picturesque, nestled in among huge snow-capped mountains. Only one negative, which is the smog. The people have a lot of character, it is a very pleasant warm dry heat, there are beautiful parks and reserves and the city is modern and organised!

So we arrived on mayoral election day, we read about it on Stuff so you guys should know about it too!! Chile has just changed from optional enrollment and enforced voting to automatic enrollment and unenforced voting, hope that makes sense! At the same time, the president will be elected soon, so there was a lot of interest in the outcome. Everything shut on election day, so our first meal in Santiago was trusty McDonalds. But the next day we were able to explore. We took the subway (civilisation!!) to the brand new biggest mall in SA, decided we didn't like malls, and walked home on the scenic route through the city. This included up the hill reserve to the huge statue of the Virgin Mary, and up the little hill by our hotel which has been a convent and a fortress in the past, but is now a very pretty park. That evening we said goodbye to a few of our number and our guide, in anticipation for the next leg, Santiago to Buenos Aires!! the second to last with one month until home!

The next day we went on another wee mission to the neighbouring seaside towns of Viña del Mar and Valparaiso. Viña del Mar is a popular beach holiday destination for the people of Santiago, but seemed a bit quiet and run down out of season. Valparaiso is more bohemian, with great views and amazing street art! So we spent the day exploring before returning to meet our new guide Mark, our first native English guide.

Sadly we are leaving Santiago tonight on the night bus, so our last explore today.

A lot of travelling ahead, through the north of Patagonia, bit looks like there will be some awesome outdoorsy stuff to do on the way!!

One month to go xoxoxo