So I did my usual in a new place, finding my way to the "centro" of La Serena. I needed two things. A coffee and wifi, oh and a plug socket. My charger is rubbish. If I leave my chromebook charging overnight (which is a huge problem in itself. Do I leave it plugged in, in my dorm, with other travelers roaming around, and sleep? Or do it during the day meaning I'm tied to one area while it's doing it's thing?) it gets to only 25%. It seems to be getting worse actually so if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know. I'm managing though. So 5 mins after I got off the bus I thought, "s***!" I'd left my kindle under my pillow on the bus! I ran back to where the bus had dropped me off just in time to see it drive off into the sunrise! I pushed everyone who was in the queue out the way to get to the front and tell the lady behind the desk all about it. She summoned her English speaking friend over who got me to fill in a form and told me someone would email me in 15 days. Great. Why on earth they couldn't just call the bus (I knew the actual number of the bus and the seat number) and tell him exactly where it was and Bob's yer Uncle. Or yer Dad! But no. The whole stupid process took half an hour and I went to find a seat to recover and compose myself. I got my water out my bag and what did I find in the process? My kindle!

Anyway, La Serena is not geared up for tourists at all. So I didn't find wifi ANYWHERE. And if I did, I had no charge anyway. So I wandered back to the bus station to buy my onward bus ticket.

I hadn't showered since being in the hot springs so my skin was crawling, after the long bus ride too. The bus station has showers...YIPPEE! I paid and the woman showed me to a private (clean. with toilet paper) bathroom and gave me a package which contained not only a towel (which I was very excited about. That meant mine could stay dry in my bag), but also soap (saving mine), a sachet of shampoo (saving mine) AND A RAZOR!!!!! Now I don't know about you but I'm actually very fortunate regarding body hair. Well under arm hair in particular. If I haven't shaved for 3 weeks, as was the case here, you can't really notice, and I have happily been wearing my one vest top, as you know from the pics, without a care in the world. I couldn't bring a razor with me as I only had hand luggage, and I didn't want to buy a whole pack. Travelling light and all that. So I chose to just go without for the whole 3 months...I KNOW ha ha! Regardless of all that, this razor was like a little piece of heaven and I shrieked with delight when I saw it.

So my bus is at 1140pm and I have a whole day to kill. I start off by having a beer upstairs in the bus station. Well it was after 12! So I'm sitting there reading my book when there's a noise that sounds like a train or an aeroplane right next to us. The noise gets louder then the table starts to shake. My beer is bouncing around on the table and I have to hold on to it. There are about 12 people in the cafe. I look at them for guidance. Some get up suddenly, some stop what they're doing and look up at the ceiling, a 10 year old boy runs out and is stopped by his mother. Everyone seems tense, and waiting. The ground is shaking under me. The whole thing lessens after a minute and continues as a low grumble and slight tremor for another minute. Then everyone except me gets back to their eating and drinking as if not a thing has happened. I'm left physically shaking. I know it was an earthquake and I'm scared. Tears have filled my eyes at the thought of what if... It's all over and I asked afterwards. It was only a very small one. But to me it was huge and the scariest thing I've experienced possibly ever. Nature is a force not to be reckoned with.

The rest of the day I spent at the beach, reading my book and killing time. I could spend forever listening to the waves. At one point a surfer came along in his wetsuit. Great I thought. Some entertainment. He spent it must have been 20 minutes, seriously, warming up and stretching right in front of me and one or two others. I started getting bored but watched as he entered the water and spent another 15 what seemed like playing. So I diverted my eyes back to the gorgeous crashing waves. In the evening everyone is jogging along the prom. I need to do that. All I've done all day is eat. I'm putting on weight! Again! I watch the sun setting in an Italian restaurant. Once again, I've seen better.