una viaje al valle del elqui y el desierto florido

making memories and experiencing adventures are definitely my favorite things in life. our trip to valle del elqui and desierto florido is worthit to tell. my travel buddies were two girls who study architecture with me here in valparaiso. we started to plan our trip the week before we went and it turned out very spontaneous and great. so let´s start talking about our trip:

trip one: valparaiso to la serena and then to vicuña

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thursday evening we went to santiago to take a night bus to la serena which is six hours north of where we live. when we arrived at six am we stayed in the bus terminal for a few hours till we could go to a café. after getting our very-needed coffee we explored the city and visited the house of gabriela mistral and the lighthouse. we had an amazing brunch at the beach and then went on the next bus to vicuña where our hostel was. the hostel was amazing everything was built out of wood and the two brothers who ran it were really kind. in the evening we wanted to do an astronomic tour because valle del elqui is one of the best places in the world to watch the stars. sadly we had a full moon and the fog came over the mountains, so the tour got canceled. we enjoyed the evening in the center and then went to the hostel and just did our own star-watching.

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saturday we enjoyed an amazing breakfast and then went to the little village close to our hostel. there we decided to expand our stay for another night and visit the centro magnetico and monte grande. which was one of the best decisions we could have made. we tremped to the cochiguas and had an amazing experience there and in monte grande. we were able to explore the rio magico and the day passed by really fast. in the evening we enjoyed a barbeque night with an open mic at the hostel.

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on sunday we went to pisquera aba and did a free tour. it was so cool to get to know how pisco is produced. afterward, in vicuña, there was a food festival so we enjoyed lots of food and some time in the city.

trip two: la serena to copiapo

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another night another bus. we took another night bus for six hours to the atacama desert. because between vallenar and copiapo was the nature wonder desierto florido. with certain weather conditions, the desert is blooming and we wanted to see that before it´s over. when we arrived (way too early in the morning) we found a collectivo driver that agreed to spend the day with us in the desert and it was definitely worth the trip.

trip three: copiapo to valparaiso

have you ever been on a bus for twelve hours without a break? i was. this bus trip was next level and luckily it was overnight so i slept almost the whole trip. and i arrived in valparaiso with only 500 pesos left to pay for the micro.

if you ever visit chile these places are worth a visit. i recommend doing a weekend trip up north and i also recommend renting a car when you do so. the public transport in the north is not like in santiago or valparaiso.

drink pisco!

yours nike ^^