La Serena Day Dos

We woke up very early on day two in La Serena in order to get the Punto de Chorros, a nature reserve on the coast, to see penguins and whales. The drive took about an hour and a half and we got to Punto de Chorros in time to catch our boat. Unfortunately for our whale watching plans, there had been plans to build a hydroelectric power plant in the nature reserve and the day we were there was the day the official announcement came from the president that the plans had changed and they were not going to build the plant. The people in the town were understandably very happy, the plant and its emissions would have killed a great deal of the wildlife that lived there. Presidente Sebastian Piñera was coming to Punto de Chorros to make the official announcement, greet the townspeople and get some badly needed good publicity. Because of security reasons, our boat trip was canceled. However, we did get to see Piñera up close and personal. He arrived in a helicopter and then walked the short way to the beach to make a short speech before getting on a boat to the island where the penguins lived. On his walk, there was virtually no security, I could have walked up and shook his hand if I wanted. My friend Hattie walked up and did the Chilean kiss on the cheek greeting with him and introduced herself. The people of the town were very happy to see him and were shouting “gracias” and trying to shake his hand all at once. It is incredible to me that the president of Chile was so accessible, that would have never have been possible in the U.S.

El Presidente

The chief of the navy was also in Punto de Chorros for the announcement and he ate at the same restaurant as our group. While we were waiting for Piñera, some people in our group were climbing around on the big boulders that were in the water. My friend Jeff was trying to climb up the side of one and the rock broke in his hand and he fell into the ocean. His clothes were soaked and everyone had left their bag at the hotel. Maricarmen and he walked into town and stopped at a random house to see if they would dry Jeff’s clothes. They lent him some of their clothes while Jeff’s dried and after Piñera left we went to their house/store and all ate empanadas. The people in the town were so friendly to complete strangers.
After meeting Piñera, we lounged on the beach some more and then headed back to La Serena to get dinner. That night we went bar-hopping and then got to sleep in later the next morning.
The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and then left in the bus to go to the beach at Coquimbo, the next town over. We hung out at the beach and had lunch at a swanky hotel buffet before catching out plane back to Santiago.
It was an amazing weekend, even though I didn’t get to see any penguins.

llama

The Pacific