Where in the world is Lani?

Today we really started to feel like we were on holidays as we finally hit the beach! We travelled with our new buddies (Liz from Holland & Adrian from Birmingham) from Valparaiso to the neighbouring town of Viña which is like the Gold Coast i guess. A long strip of beaches running alongside a massive cycleway / walkway, across from the main road & loads of high rise apartments which are rented by visitors for the Summer.

When i say beach, i mean grainy sand - nice golden colour though, which is about 15 meters wide before hitting the water. We enjoyed a nice picnic on the beach for lunch, but we didnt enjoy the sunburn we felt in the afternoon after the heat of the sun. Now i understand why most Chileans hit the beach between 4 - 8pm each day!

In the evening we had lunch at our favourite Bohemian place called the "Colour Cafe" one last time before leaving Valparaiso. We hopped on a semi cama bus ready for the 7 hour overnight journey to La Serena. Semi-cama supposedly means semi-bed (you can adjust your chairs to lie down slightly) and that kind of ticket is cheaper than a full cama (bed) coach. I think the real meaning of cama is comfortable as the semi-cama was only partially comfortable, whilst the cama looked much more luxurious. To be fair, the semi cama was MUCH more comfy than sleeping on the plane though.

We arrived at 6.30am here in La Serena and after checking about 5 hostels out we settled on Casa Maria - a cheap & cheerful casa run by a family who take pride in 2 things - their garden (its just beautiful) and playing South American beats all day long! http://www.hostalmariacasa.cl/

Can´t wait to explore the town & markets. We also can do day tours to the islands off the coast to see penguins, sea lions & birds so we will stay until (at least) the weekend.

Tonight we are having our first go at cooking Chilean beef Aussie bbq style for our Dutch & Pommie mates. Weve got all the essentials - great beef, onions, bread rolls & beer.

Until next episode,

Take care

Lani