So with San Pedro behind us wuith a memorable a few days in the (wet) desert, next stop was the coastal city of La Serena. A 17 hour bus ride south.

After our bus experiences in Bolivia we were expecting a night of no sleep but then we remembered that we are now in Chile, which is a more developed, safer and better organised country,

The bus was very comfortable indeed, and you can not believe the pleasure of driving on tarmac roads again, oooooh sooo smooth! The only downside was the customary Latin American who sits in his seat and plays music very loud on his stereo, this happened a lot in other countries and is rather annnoying as everyone on the bus is trying to sleep but has to put up with one persons terrible loud music!

Luckly he fell asleep after a while so we all drifted off whilst the sun went down over the Atacama desert. The next morning we arrived in a very hot and sunny city and headed to our new hostel. A nice little place with multiple courtyards and terraces to take in the summer sun.

However we are starting to suspect Chile is trying to test the engaged couple with another twin room instead of a double. We keep booking double rooms and they keep giving us a twin! Maybe in Chile it is not acceptable to share a bed?

Not only that but another bunk bed was proivided. And one where the upper bed is very high up indeed and with nothing to stop you falling out.

So being sensible travellers we pulled down the matress and slept on the floor. Visions of the bed throwing Dave off like a horse stopped him even considering sleeping at such a height!

So La Serena City is indeed quite serene. A pleasent place that is near the beach, where cars stop at pedestrian crossings and also stop at red lights (we could not believe it, a first time for everything!)

However we did not get more than 100 metres into town before Emily fell in love with a big red cow and without much serious discussion of how we were going to transport the cow back home, it was purchased.

The following afternoon consisted of a complete re-arrangement of our backpacks so the cow can be transported safely back home. After 5 months of systematically reducing our load we have now increased it with 3 weeks left!

We also enjoyed the beach for a while (about 2 hours is our maximum) and then enjoyed some more Chilean ´Completo´ hotdogs with a cold beer.

One thing that has become very clear since we have arrived in Chile is how developed and modern this country is, it really is a great country to finish our travels in as it is so easy to get around, to organised stuff and have more time just to sit back and enjoy. You would not believe how excited we got by visiting a large shopping mall in La Serena!

Its funny the things you miss when you have been in developing countries for so long!