La Serena & Vicuna

La Serena is a beach town popular with Chilians. It is the first chance we had to swim in the Pacific and it is freeeeezing. I went in anyway because the weather was hot and the waves were huge. I had fun getting wiped out until I couldnt feel my extremities any more so we chilled on the beach for a bit. I had a quick nap on the sand and woke to feel the familiar tightness of sunburn, so we left the beach to go back to the campsite while Dee prepared dinner.

The next morning the whole right side of my body had turned a lobster pink colour. I wasnt the only one though, at least 2 other people had got burnt. Suzies feet and legs had swollen and blistered pretty badly and she couldnt walk for the next few days.

After 2 nights we left La Serena to go to Vicuna, where the observatory is. On the way (at 10am) we stopped to look round a Pisco factory. Pisco is the national drink of Chile and we learned that it is basically under-distilled brandy. The usual way of drinking them is in a Pisco sour, which is mixed with egg and lemon juice. I dont like it.

The campsite we arrived at at Vicuna was only about an hour from our last one so we had to unload all the stuff again and put up the tents. Dee needed to go to the pharmacy (as usual) so we got a lift into town. Well, I say "town", but it was actually only a few shops selling crap (Dee bought some new earrings) and some unclean cafes around a central square. We sat in the square for a while, while Dee moaned about how bored she was and then went back to the campsite. The campsite had a pool, but i was too burned to go out in the sun so i had to sit in the shade and sleep for a while.

That night we left to go to the observatory and as we left the exit to the campsite, James, one of the new aussies, told Vernon that he saw some suspicious people lurking about on the other side of the river next to the camp. Vernon said it would be a good idea to load all the bags back onto the truck, so we reversed back into the camp and got out to get our bags. Emily noticed that her tent was undone and ran to check that her bags were ok. They werent. Hers and Kates large bags had been stolen. I spotted a couple of dodgy men crossing the river and shouted "Oi" at them. They started to run and Vernon and James lept into the river fully clothed to try to catch them. The men took off down the opposite side of the river and 4 or 5 of us ran down the other bank to try to keep an eye on where they were headed. They disappeared into the woods and we lost track of them.

We hurried back to the camp and some people had spotted what looked like a bag on the opposite bank, so Gaz took off his shorts and waded across the river to get them. Most of the bags were found abandoned, but there was still no sign of Vernon and James, so me and Gaz acted the heroes and waded across to try to find them. On the other side of the woods was a large vinyard and we crept about looking under the vines to try and see some sign of movement. It reminded me a bit of the bit in "The Beach" where Leonardo DeCaprio is being chased by cocaine dealers through a cocaine farm. We came across a couple of (non-cocaine) famers and they pointed enthusiastically back where we had come from to signal that was where our friends were. We were confused and worried now because we had been calling out but we hadnt heard anything and we turned back to try to find some more clues. At that moment we heard shouting and spotted James at the end of the lane jumping over a metal fence. Gaz and me ran over to him and James explained that they had caught one of the robbers and locked him in a portaloo! We followed James until we saw Vernon sitting at the door of the loo while the robber was banging to try to escape. It was decided that I should run back and get more people so we could transport the prisoner back to the campsite. I got Ian and Simon to come with me (Carl cant swim, and the river runs pretty fast) and the 3 of us legged it to the portaloo.

The robber was locked in the temporary cell and could see us through the air holes at the top. We put on a show of banging the sides and shouting at him. Ive got a moheican at the moment and can look pretty threatening when I want to. I put on my famous serial killer face and signalled that he was going to die. He started crying (pretending) and explained that he has a sick child. We didnt give him much sympathy because if we hadnt come back to the camp he would have taken all of our bags. We prepared the transport party and I found a baseball bat sized piece of wood to hold menacingly. The prisoner was quite compliant. Vernon actually told me to stop holding the rod so threateningly because I was scaring the guy too much. We passed the farmers who told us to go in the wrong direction and I gave them a free dose of the serial killer look and they quickly hurried on doing their farming stuff.

We managed to get the robber back safely and all the bags had been found so we waited for the police while the criminal complained that his foot hurt and tried begging us to let him go. Emily swore at him in Spanish a lot. Eventually the police came and took the guy along with Emily and Kate to the station to make a statement. Apparently it wasnt the first time he had robbed the campsite and he had had 3 warnings so he was facing 3 and a half years in jail.

We hung around the central square watching some breakdancers while Emily filed the papers and, luckily, we still had time to go to the late showing at the observatory, so one of the policemen gave us a police escort there. The stars werent the brightest we had seen because the moon was out, but the guide did point out the Southern Cross, Leo, Virgo, Scorpio, Orion and we looked at Saturn and the Moon through the big telescope.