I went down to Pichilemu on the recommendation of a friend and I definitely haven't been disappointed. It's a (not so) little fishing and surfing town about three hours south-west of Santiago and has been the perfect way to cap off my time in South America and my trip in general. It's a small enough town to walk around but they also (for tourists, I guess) have what New Yorkers would call "handsome cabs" being your standard two horses and a carriage type arrangement. I think the drivers must pride themselves on giving the horses a proper full-fibre diet, because apart from the general sea smell and fishing smells there is also a pervasive horsey earthiness to the town (and especially its streets).
Yesterday I left my guesthouse at night to go and get some food and have a walk around and I realised about two hours later that I'd left my lanyard with my keys on it inside my room, so I figured I should return and sort it out while everyone would still be awake. I explained to the (old and somewhat frumpy) landlady what had happened and she made a shrugging gesture and for a while continued her sweeping up. After about five minutes she sprang to life, went rummaging through the kitchen and returned with a large jar completely full with keys. Given that I had lost the keys I had to find the match - I got it down to about twenty "possibles" and then went upstairs to try and get into my room, but of course absolutely none of the keys worked. This didn't seem to bother the landlady (Elsa) too much. Then someone, I think her grandson, but possibly another guest showed up with a ladder so without too much difficulty the grandson scaled the ladder and got into my room (I offered to do it, but he thought he'd be better at it - I must really look uncoordinated too) and retrieved the keys.
Having sorted the problem out I was free to go out again (this time with the keys!) but I made a point of explaining (in Spanish) that I always keep the lanyard, forgot it this one time, thanks and sorry and all that. Elsa stopped her sweeping for a second, looked at me, smiled and said "todo es salvado" (all is saved) - which was good because I don't think her locksmithing skills were up to scratch.
It was so nice to get back to sea level and to see the beach again after about six weeks at some sort of altitude. I didn't see much of Iquique except for the beach - the coffee wasn't great in town so there wasn't really any other place to hang out. It was also good to be in a city (well, a country even, after Bolivia) that has proper supermarkets and be able to cook a bit of proper food - washed down with a bit of Chilean wine of course! Iquique made the perfect spot to relax before braving the 27 hour bus trip down the coast to Santiago.
It was a bit of a hike getting to Punta del Diablo: just over five hours on a bus with not much to look at - but I was very glad to have made the decision to trek out there once I'd found the hostel - there weren't any street signs nor were there any signs on the hostel the day I arrived, having not being officially opened as yet the sign went up I think on my third day there. So with the sun setting, and getting conflicting directions from every local person I asked I for a few moments it seemed that I'd end up sleeping on the beach, but luckily I bumped into someone from the hostel who put me in the right direction. The hostel where I stayed is brand new - unfinished is probably a better word to describe it, so long sleep-ins weren't really possible with workmen showing up early-enough in the morning to start work.
The great thing about the town is that there wasn't a huge amount of things to do, apart from swimming on the beach and walking around. For most of the year the town is pretty much locals-only (it's a fishing village for the most part), but from December to February there are a lot of tourists that come to take in the laid back vibe - mostly from Argentina and Brazil. In Punta del Este, Uruguay's main resort town, there is (at least from what I've heard) large scale development like on the gold coast and other places - but none of this style of development in Punta del Diablo so (for now) it'll keep it's decidedly low-key charm.
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