Sunday 6th May, La Serena, Midday.

Well, since my last blog a lot has happened! Even my travel plans have changed! Today I go on to Copiapo which is inland quite a long way and will stay there two nights before traveling further North.

Friday was an "interesting" day - I met up with a bi lingual Argentinian "guide" by sheer chance and as she is also traveling North to San Pedro on the border of Bolivia and Chile I suggested we travel together so she can teach me Spanish and she can improve her English. Already she has helped with translations I couldn't understand and I'd have to say that if you can't speak Spanish you will get by here, but you'll miss a lot of things and possibly get ripped off by merchants who know you are a tourist (it sticks out a mile!). A Spanish speaking guide can cost almost nothing but can save you megabucks! Already today she has saved me 4,000 pesos on the cost of coach fares from here to Copiapo.

Friday night I did the Mamalluca Observatory tour from Las Serena to Vicuna, 23,000 pesos (about NZD$50.00) which included the minibus from La Serena to Vicuna (65 kms) and return as well as admission to the observatory. The trip from La Serena to the observatory was as much an adventure as the observatory itself! The road to Vicuna (Route 43, which goes through to Argentina) is paved but from Vicuna to the observatory - a dusty, dirty, winding, steep one way track in the dark with sheer cliffs on one side and a canyon on the other - and the driver has done this trip so many times before he doesn't go slow! Adrenalin City! But the sky was clear and the English speaking tour guide interesting and informative - puts the universe in perspective when you learn it takes 18,000 light years for the light from some of the stars we looked at through the telescope to reach Earth! Got back to my AirBbB around 12:30am Saturday morning - hence I slept in and missed the 9:30am coach from La Serena to Vicuna/Pisco on Saturday morning which my "tour guide" did manage to catch. The next coach didn't depart until 11:30am and I didn't want to wait that long but the cashier gave me directions to where I cold catch a colectivo (shared taxi) from La Serena town centre to Vicuna for about the same price as the bus (3,000 pesos). I found the location easily and got the front seat and waited only a few minutes before two more tourists and native Chilean woman filled the car and we set off. The two tourists were a young Aussie guy (Jeff) from Nigaloo Reef (Western Australia) and his traveling companion, Julia from Denmark. We talked a lot on the way here and as they've traveled extensively his Spanish language skills were very good and he could converse easily with the driver. They got out at Vicuna (cost was only 2,500 pesos per person for the taxi - 65 kms - compare that to my taxi fare from La Serena to my AirBnB 8 kms away the previous night - 10,000 pesos! - and you can see why people use Uber!!) Greta is going to download it to my phone so I can start using it as well. The tourists planned to hire bikes to tour around the town. I met my "guide" in the square at Vicuna and after a short walk around the town (not a lot to see there) and a 700 peso instant coffee (if you could call it that) that the dispenser automatically adds too much sugar to we walked to the bus station and caught a local bus to here - about another 50 kms (2,000 pesos). The scenery from Vicuna to here up the Elqui valley is superb and I took lots of photos - and Pisco is a lovely little town, too, very traditional with narrow paved streets, old homes, some with thatched roofs, adobe walls of course. A lovely town square which seems to be the norm for every town in Chile - a place where old men sit around on the benches and smoke and talk waiting for God and amourous youngsters sit around and snog dreaming of bigger and better things (Mustangs and Camaros)! It's was sunny and warm there, which is probably normal for this time of year (I had to discard my light cardigan).

Greta is still exploring the town on foot while I write this and shortly we'll catch a local bus from here directly to La Serena (I'm hoping it may pass close to where I'm staying so I can get off  and walk from there). I'm so glad I cancelled my AirBnB at El Molle (they pronounce "El Moy Yay") as it is too far from Vicuna and would have added a lot to the cost of the observatory tour.

After half an hour my translator has come back with a nice local couple in tow who offered to take us down to the river for a walk. It was lovely down there and we sat on a BBQ table under the willow trees beside a lovely clean stream while they chatted away together in Spanish and smoked some kind of local herb (in a cute little ceramic pipe) that looked a bit like dried parsley and which they assured me had medicinal values - I couldn't pronounce the name of it. 

Later in the afternoon we stopped for a snack before catching a bus back to La Serena directly - only 3,000 pesos (about NZD$7.00) for about 120 kms / 2 hours). Bus travel here is very cheap, as are colectivos (shared taxis).

The light was fading as we headed back down the valley but I still got some nice photos of the stunning mountains with the sun setting on them - too many to publish on my blog.

I hope everyone understands my need to travel with a translator in this country - while I have mastered a few essential phrases my pronunciation often leaves the listener unable to understand me and of course I haven't a hope of understanding what they are asking. It's only costing me an extra bus fare (which is cheap) as she is "couch surfing" (which is a way of getting your accommodation free, apparently). I don't know much about it but I know Phil and Jean traveled that way across Europe and the Middle East on their big trip (read about that by Googling Elveysbigadventure - it's a good read). Couch surfing doesn't suit me - I prefer a proper bed and bathroom facilities (preferably private). 

So, this afternoon I travel on to Copiapo (about 5 hours by luxury coach - 8,000 pesos each or about NZD$18 each - with my translator and tomorrow will explore that area for two days before heading further North again. Some photos of the Elqui Valley and in Pisco Elqui.