36 hours in La Sarena
Trip Start
Dec 14, 2007
1
178
187
Trip End
Mar 16, 2009
La Serena,
Chile
Monday, December 29, 2008
It was great being back at sea-level, filling our lungs with beautiful oxygen, so we wasted not time getting out for a walk with all this extra energy. We basically spent a few hours exploring the town centre which had a real holiday feel as it was filled with Chilean holiday makers before we made our way down to the beach a few kilometres away.
It had been a long time since we'd seen the sea or taken a stroll on the beach so we were pleasantly surprised to find a long stretch of beautiful beach
Sunset in the Atacama Desert
. The fresh smell of the sea and feel of the soft cool sand between our toes was a welcome change from the dry, hot desert we'd experience over the past few weeks. It was great just walking between all the picnicking families spread out on blankets and beach towels while kids were playing in the waves. We really looked forward to the day when we would have the opportunity to share something like this with our children. Towards the end of the beach we were a few restaurants and bars where we stopped off for a few drinks to watch an amazing sun set over the 88m high cross on the horizon. It was a beautiful afternoon and was a great stop-off to break the long bus trip to Valparaiso.
The next morning it was up early to catch the first bus to Valparaiso which was fortunately now only a few hours (7 to be exact) away.
As we had experienced to many times before on the trip, it was important for us to plan a little alone time, a little time apart to miss each other for a change. No matter how much you think you love each other, spending 24 hours a day together for long periods of time, with often no other company takes its toll and with no other release, tensions often begin to surface.
The funny thing is that pressure is either released before it reaches boiling point by willingly taking a little time out, or else it eventually just explodes and forces you to take a time out. We were still working quite hard to release the pressure and get a little alone time, but when there are so many beautiful and amazing places you want to share with the most important person in your life it hard to do this. Hopefully the few days in Santiago would give us a chance to miss each other again.
