The bus journey was very pleasant and the bus attendant was very nice to me even though he couldnt speak English. The bus arrived in La Serena at 7am and I got a taxi to my hostel. I had to ring the doorbell several times before he answered. I think I woke him up! Although check in wasnt until 1pm my room was ready as there werent many people staying at the hostel, so he let me go to my room. I was the only one in it. I was still feeling quite tired so I layed down on the bed and had a little nap. I got back up 3 hours later at 10:30 and went out to see what La Serena had to offer.

I first came to some market stalls selling mostly bread and cakes. I bought a couple of bread rolls as I hadnt had any breakfast yet. I continued walking and came to the main shopping streets. I walked down the street looking in all the shop windows. I came across a department store called Ripley's and thought I would go in. I walked around looking at all the nice new clothes that wouldnt fit in my backpack. Then I came across the rails of coats, they were similar to the one I had stolen but without a hood. I looked at the price just out of curiousity and to my suprise it was only $9,990 (soles). Now for about 10 pounds I began to consider it ....it was going to be cold in New Zealand .... SOLD! I bought it! For 10 pound I couldnt resist, bargain! Feeling quite pleased with myself I then went on to buy several more things. Not clothes ... being a teacher I found myself in a stationary shop looking at books and pens. I needed a new notepad as mine only had a few pages left, my pen was starting to run out and my document folder was cracking. I ended up with all of those things. My new folder had a nice picture of a parrot on. Next I went to the supermarket and bought some food for dinner later. I then walked to the main square and back to the hostel. I made myself a jacket potato and watched a film in the hostel lounge before going to bed.

In the morning I went down to the kitchen to see what the free breakfast was like and I was disappointed. There was a jar of cereal on the table, well I say cereal, it looked more like hamster food. I gave it a miss and went to the market again and bought another bread roll. Then back to the hostel to get my taxi to the bus station yet again. This time to Valpraiso.