From La Serena - there is life!!!!! by Mike & Madeline

Along with its interesting culture, cuisine, and breathtaking natural beauty, Chile is one of the best places in the world for up-close encounters with wildlife, from penguins and rare birds to dolphins, sea lions, and more. With the fate of many of these species in jeopardy, many travelers are planning trips to see them in their natural habitats while they can.

Beautiful La Serena is a one great Chilean destination for adventure, as Realtravelers Mike and Madeline found out recently:

“We began our lovely few days in La Serena! We managed to do all the tours we’d wanted. The Humbolt penguin reserve day was really memorable as we got a little fishing boat out into the ocean to the Islas Chorros & Damas. We were lucky enough to see dolphins twice in pods near the boat. One swam right next to us!!! Amazing! At the island we saw loads of sea lions on the rocks and then – the start of the show – cute little Humbolt penguins swimming about and waddling around on rocks and beaches!

Our next day trip was down the Elqui valley where they produce ‘Pisco’ the nation’s alcoholic beverage…as well as wine of course! It’s made from fermented grapes of special varieties and is very tasty! Went to a course in ‘Piscology’ where we learnt how it was made, saw where they store the barrels and watched a video (thankfully subtitled) and tasted the drink. Most of the day was spent going from one little village to the next and we saw where Gabriela Mistral lived (she was a nobel prize winning poetess and Chileans are very proud of this). Then in the evening we went to the Mamalluca Observatory for a 2 hour tour where we got to see the moon through a big telescope and saw nebulas and Jupiter and star clusters…all very amazing and we loved it!

For our last tour we went to Fray Jorge National Park (a cloud forest in the middle of the desert – v odd!) and to see 3000 year old petroglyphs in the Valle de Encanto. Sadly in 30 years scientists think the forest will be gone due to global warming so we felt quite lucky to see it!” (more…)

Click here to see more of their wonderful pictures from Chile, and visit these useful links to learn more about this destination:

La Serena Travel Guide
Chile Travel Guide
Chile Travel Map
Wildlife Viewing in Chile
Penguins of Chile