Another city, another update 1.31.11

Well, we said a fond goodbye to Viña del Mar and Valparaíso on Sunday. Before we left, we had a great boat ride through Valparaíso's harbor with some Chilean friends to get an up close look at the big boats, the docks, and the sea lions. We had a delightful evening with Carlos Caceres, a Chilean professor who taught at Oberlin College recently. We also put some serious kilometers on our tennies, walking around and checking out lots of neighborhoods in both cities. Finally, Dan and the kids had a fun geo-caching adventure, but Theo has promised to blog about that....

On Sunday, we headed to La Serena. It was a 7 hour trip through really arid foothills, with the coast on one side and far off mountains on the other. We were riding in style; front seats, top floor of a double decker bus!!! Needless to say, there was lots of excitement about that.

La Serena sits on the coast and our hostel is close to the beach. The center of town has beautiful colonial architecture. Though less convenient to get to know the town, we opted for staying out of town in some cabañas, so the kids could have some outdoor space where they can run around and a pool.

We've also found a Spanish tutor for Grace and Theo this week. Paulina is a elementary teacher on summer break and the kids had their first hour and a half lesson with her today. It was the first time they have been without Dan or me for the last three weeks! Theo commented that having Spanish lessons with Paulina was a little easier than doing them with me.. we are all in agreement about that!!! Hurray for Paulina.

We had a little excitement when we arrived to La Serena, but Gracie says she'll share about that. Stay tuned. Hope you are all well.
Sincerely,
Laura