Sunday in La Serena and Goodbye Santiago!

We slept in Sunday, and after figuring out that we wouldn’t be able to go to Isla Dama to see the penguins, sea lions and other adorable marine life, we stowed our bags at the train station and started exploring the city of La Serena. La Serena is Chile's second oldest city, founded 2 yrs after Santiago in 1543. It is well-known for it's beautiful beaches and temperate climate: it is rain-free about 9 months of the year, and never really gets cold. The colonial renaissance style of architecture is also really beautiful, and we ended up walking down a few streets that were simply charming.
We wound up on the beach, where I laid out for a bit (finally getting a tan in Latin America!)

After a relaxing ocean-side lunch we made our way into the center of the city. Every Chilean town seems to have a Plaza de Armas, which is a great place to sit and enjoy the city center. Usually there are a few vendors with toys and candies.

AND, do you remember the ads for power wheels from when we were younger? As a city kid, there was no way I would ever get one of those so obviously I wanted one really badly. I’m not sure I ever even told my mom how much I wanted to be able to drive Barbie’s pink jeep around town. My cousins had a lower-tech, Flintstone’s style car like this one: http://edge2.dealsdirect.net/images/products/27688/1/product1_27688_600x600.jpg
Which I coveted -- along with their He-Man/Shira castles, full collection of Care Bears and house with working fireplaces-- throughout my childhood. Anyway, all this to say that kids in Chile can rent these awesome vehicles and DRIVE them around the town square. BRILLIANT! Here is a picture (yes, Nikoletta I am now one of those creepy people who take pictures of children in parks):

Some other pictures from our exploration of La Serena:
This Church was closed on Sunday:

Astoria in Chile:

It was starting to get dark and we still had to wait a few hours for our overnight bus back to Santiago, so from the park we went to… THE MALL:

and in the Mall we went to the movies! In Spanish!

I basically understood 25% of the dialogue in Las Fantasmas de Scrooge, but since I am obsessed with Christmas I know Dickens’ A Christmas Carol well (let’s be honest: I know the Mickey Mouse version well!) Also, that movie was SCARY! I was jumping out of my seat the whole time – I can’t believe it was marketed to children!
From the movies to the bar in the bus station, where we drank them out of mini bottles of red wine:

Then it was back to Santiago for a full day of class (not sure why I thought this would be a good idea).
During my last week in Santiago, I tried to do some touristy things and some real-life stuff as well. We walked up Cerro Santa Lucia and visited the Presidential palace, drank one last bottle of wine at Bar Liguria and had a picnic in the park by school. Of course, we also went to our last MiercolesPo – the party for foreigners and the Chileans that love them – and danced the night away.

I cannot express how sad I was to leave Santiago. It was such a nice month and I made great friends that I hope to see again (some I definitely will: 5 of us are traveling on to Argentina). The 4 weeks flew by fast and Annie keeps telling me I’ll love Buenos Aires as well. Before then, we’re off to Mendoza for the weekend to drink delicious Malbec!

Chao (can you believe that’s how it’s spelled here?!)

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