La Serena, Chile
Yesterday was a longer than expected travel day.
We left right on time from the Tur-Bus terminal in Santiago, at 10:51 AM precisely. We were riding on one of the most luxurious buses we have ever been on, in what are called "Salon Cama" seats. The first few hours passed in the expected manner, watching an onboard movie in Spanish (with Spanish subtitles as well), dining on the provided sandwiches and Canada Dry ginger ale, while watching the scenery go by at 100 kph.
Then suddenly it all came to a halt, in what was to turn out to be the first of two breakdowns along the way. In both cases, the driver and mechanics were able to get us going again, but not before we spent over 1-1/2 hours stranded in the middle of nowhere. During the 2nd breakdown, since we were not too far from one of the more major stops, several of the passengers were able to contact friends who came and got them and took them home. Another bus from the same company did come by and pick up a few people as well, but they were not going as far as La Serena. Regardless, we did get there eventually, pulling into the La Sarena bus terminal around 8 o'clock in the evening. Fortunately our hotel was not far away, and it was still light outside - a short taxi ride got us there. This is all part of the adventure.
Our hotel is pretty nice and would probably be even better if the weather was a little warmer. This is supposed to be a beach resort but it is overcast for most of the day and the temperature peaks at around 18 degrees in the late afternoon; not what we would normally think of as beach weather. From what we can determine, this is only a couple of degrees cooler than normal for the summer here - that is the effect of the cold Humbolt current that runs northward along this coast, bringing the Antarctic waters as far north as Ecuador. There are people who look like they are sunbathing, lying on towels on the beach, but they are all wearing many layers of clothing. A few brave souls are doing some surfing, in wetsuits of course.
Today, since we couldn't really lie around on the beach, or by the pool for that matter, we walked into the old part of town to take in some of the charm of this somewhat older city. Of course, we also paid a visit to a local shopping mall to see how the Christmas season is shaping up - it is a lot more subdued than in Santiago.
One interesting find was a very nice Japanese garden, a gift from some Japanese steel companies that must do a lot of business here.
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