The West Coast!

Chile is unreal! I know I said Arica had beautiful beaches, but I think Iquique may have topped them! Honestly, instead of Cuba or Dominican, I think Iquique should be everyones next vacation destination! We spent 3 days in Iquique, hanging out on the beach and watching the locals surf ( the waves were wayyy to big for lessons). Our hostal was practically on the beach, with a roof top patio to watch the sunset. We then headed to Copiapo, the town of the mining disaster, but only for the day as we caught an over night bus to La Serena. As of right now there nothign to see at the mine anyways, but I hear there may be an upcoming movie?! Spent another 3 days in La Serena. One day we walked 4 hours down the beach and ended up at the next town Coquimbo- a dog followed us for most the trek, it was quite entertaining. Beautiful scenery all the time. Last night we headed up to this Observatory about an hour from La Sererna. It was awesome- the skies are so clear here you can see soo many more stars than at home. The milky way, 2 other galaxies, and Jupiter were very neat to see through the telescopes ( yes I am aware this just further confirms my science nerd status lol)
Today we arrived in Valparaiso, a very unique town, on the coast, close to Santiago. All the houses are built along the cliffs, and all brightly painted different colours- a very artsy town- I like it. We plan to head to its sister town, Vina Del Mar tomorrow, the beaches and surf are supposed to be great! Another update- we added another adventure to the mix, next Friday we are getting on the Navimag, a ferry boat for 4 days that takes you from Peurto Montt to Peurto Natales. This region Patagonia is supposed to be amazing, something you can´t miss if you down here; glaciers, penguins and whales oh my! :) We heard about it from the New Zealand teachers we met in Arica, turns out we will be joining them again in Peurto Montt next week for the tour!
Happy October everyone! Glad to hear so many of you are enjoying the blog, time well spent! Love ya! xo J