Glimpses of La Serena, Chile

This museum map will give you an idea as to the location of La Serena in northern Chile. It is directly east of Easter Island (which belongs to Chile).

La Serena is the 2nd oldest city in Chile, after Santiago.

The trunks of these trees are quite interesting.

I cannot read the inscription on this statue, but I believe it is Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia, a Spanish conquistador from Extremadura who was first Royal Governor of Chile. (Closer observation--it may very well be Francisco de Aguirre, also a Spanish conquistador, who was influenced by Valdivia.)

Archaeological Museum

Whaling Boat

Working on board the whaling boat

Azulejo tile on the seat in from of the museum

This is the friendly city dog who welcomed me to La Serena by licking the lens of my new camera as I had it focused on him to take his picture. This is the dog photo after I cleaned the slobber off the lens.

Favorite Lighthouse, La Serena

I really do like this lighthouse!

The lighthouse was built in 1951.

Heading South to Northern Chile

At this point, I should remind my readers that this trip was taken in the fall of 2012 (as the Hurricane Sandy was heading up the east coast of the U.S.)

We were on Holland America's ship, Veendam, traveling from Boston to Buenos Aires. After we left Callao, the port city for Lima, Peru, we sailed south off the western coast of South America towards La Serena, Chile. This city lies to the west of the Atacama Desert. (Veendam,  now showing in the Header is docked at La Serena, Chile--not Lima.)

When one is traveling by ship along the coast of western South America, it is necessary to be well off the coast, and therefore, out of sight of land. It is for this reason that I will introduce you to a sampling of the towel zoo on board the Veendam. It was fascinating to see what new creatures would be waiting for us each evening as we returned from dinner.