We woke feeling refreshed today after a major relaxation day yesterday (I think we had needed it!) The plan was to hire bikes and cycle along the seafront to the next town along called Coquimba (which was originally a port in its own right but by now had pretty much merged with La Serena.) The hostel helpfully could organise bike hire for us so we had a half hour to spare to nip to the bus station to buy our bus tickets to Valpraiso for the following day. The r...

Yawn yawn yawn... I am tired was to be the order of the day. Like Ju mentioned in yesterdays blog the last three weeks had definitely caught up with us. This morning it felt like we were made of metal and there was a large magnet under the bed keeping us pinned down. We just about made it to breakfast - although we looked and communicated like incoherent idiots half asleep. Apart from picking up our washing we didn't move from the hostel all day except for dinn...

Today we dragged ourselves out of bed for an early start on a tour to the Elqui Valley. It gets lighter later in Chile compared to Peru and Bolivia, so getting out of bed early is more difficult (although at least we're not getting up in pitch blackness as we would most likely be doing at home by now!) We were switching hostels as we had reserved our first choice (Hostel El Punto) for the following 3 nights. Hostel El Punto is run by a German couple and conseque...

Ahead of schedule we arrived in La Serena at 5am instead of 9am. This caught us off guard as we were both asleep. Slightly dishevelled we got our bearings and headed for the first hostel. Like San Pedro most places we tried were fully booked due to the holiday. We loitered around on the streets like professional travellers waiting for places to open - more like tramps actually. We managed to find a possible place to stay in Maria's Hostel. Just in case they didn'...